August 9, 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 AUGUST 9, 2004

1//The Jordan Times, Jordan--WAR OF WORDS MOUNTS BETWEEN IRAN AND IRAQ (A war of words between Iran and Iraq intensified on Sunday, with the foreign ministry in Tehran now saying it was not prepared to discuss serious issues with Baghdad's interim authorities. In the latest blow to relations, Iran's foreign ministry said Sunday it was summoning Iraq's top diplomat here over claims that four Iranian spies have been arrested in Baghdad...Iran has yet to formally recognise the Iraqi interim government, which has been described by Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as "lackeys" of the Americans.)

2//The Sydney Morning Herald, Australia--PM STUNG BY ROARING 40 BAND OF TOP BRASS AND DIPLOMATS (John Howard was not impressed. In Samoa for the Pacific Islands forum, he was confronted with an extraordinary repudiation of his foreign policy, especially the Iraq war, by 43 of Australia's former military chiefs, department heads and senior diplomats...The statement from the "concerned group" of distinguished citizens demands truth in government, from whichever party wins power in the coming election. But it also accuses the Howard Government of deceiving the people over the war in Iraq. "It is wrong and dangerous for our elected representatives to mislead the Australian people," it says. "If we cannot trust the word of our government, Australia cannot expect it to be trusted by others. Without that trust, the democratic structure of our society will be undermined and with it our standing and influence in the world.")

3//The Philippine Daily Inquirer, Philippines--NO GREAT LOSS, SAYS LEFT-WING SOLON OF US ACTION VS RP (Representative Loretta Ann "Etta" Rosales (party-list Akbayan) shrugged off the United States' striking of the Philippines from the Coalition of the Willing in Iraq. "It's better that we have been dropped from this coalition on the basis of our willingness to save a human life and assert our national interest than risk that life and continue to support US policies and actions that were based on a lie,'' Rosales said in a statement Sunday. US Department of State spokesperson Richard Boucher said last week the Philippines was dropped from the coalition following the withdrawal of its token humanitarian contingent from Iraq as demanded by Iraqi insurgents who had captured Filipino truck driver Angelo de la Cruz and threatened to behead him.)

4//The Daily Star, Lebanon--HIGH OIL PRICES REVEAL OPEC'S FRAGILITY (The latest rumblings in the Yukos affair this week have raised more questions about OPEC's ability to control oil prices and further strengthened a widely-held view that a $50 barrel might not be too far in the future. OPEC, which has in the past been known to keep a tighter ship, has recently issued a string of contradictory statements which bring into question its ability to react to the current ructions...Analysts said there was little sign of any real let-up for several months given the imbalance between supply and demand. Indeed, demand looks set to grow sharply in the months ahead (an increase of 3.2 percent to 81.4 million barrels a day), nudged on by the recovery of the world economy and by rapid growth in India and China. Supply, on the other hand, already virtually at a standstill, will almost certainly not keep up. Experts rule out another major oil crisis, even though many now accept that the $50 a barrel price is on the cards. Adjusted to take account of inflation, rates remain well below the level they reached in the 1970s.)

5//The Mail & Guardian, South Africa--APARTHEID'S FINAL SURRENDER (The party that built apartheid and turned South Africa into a pariah state completed its march to oblivion on Saturday by deciding to merge with its one-time nemesis, the African National Congress. The New National Party, heir of a mighty movement that jailed Nelson Mandela and built nuclear bombs, said its shrunken membership would dissolve and fight future elections under the banner of the black ruling party.)

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1//The Jordan Times, Jordan Monday, August 9, 2004
http://www.jordantimes.com/mon/news/news4.htm

WAR OF WORDS MOUNTS BETWEEN IRAN AND IRAQ

TEHRAN (AFP) - A war of words between Iran and Iraq intensified on Sunday, with the foreign ministry in Tehran now saying it was not prepared to discuss serious issues with Baghdad's interim authorities.

In the latest blow to relations, Iran's foreign ministry said Sunday it was summoning Iraq's top diplomat here over claims that four Iranian spies have been arrested in Baghdad.

"Today we are going to summon the Iraqi charge d'affaires to the Iranian foreign ministry, and we are going to ask him to give us proof," spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told reporters.

"He should tell us whom they have arrested and if they have proof to give us," he added, saying Iraqi officials should also "stop creating a bad atmosphere" between Iran and Iraq.

On Saturday, a spokesman for the Iraqi interior ministry said four Iranian intelligence officers had been arrested by Iraqi authorities on suspicion of spying and carrying out acts of sabotage in the country.

Asefi also snubbed a call from Iraq's interim Defence Minister Hazem Al Shaalan, who has been widely lambasted in the Iranian press, that Tehran immediately return Iraqi planes sent to Iran before or during the 1991 Gulf War.

"We will discuss these [issues] with the coming elected government officials, and not with the interim government," Asefi said in what amounted to a major snub.

Iran has yet to formally recognise the Iraqi interim government, which has been described by Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as "lackeys" of the Americans.

(MORE)

2//The Sydney Morning Herald, Australia August 9, 2004
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/08/08/1091903447166.html?oneclick=true

PM STUNG BY ROARING 40 BAND OF TOP BRASS AND DIPLOMATS
By Matt Wade and Tony Stephens

John Howard was not impressed. In Samoa for the Pacific Islands forum, he was confronted with an extraordinary repudiation of his foreign policy, especially the Iraq war, by 43 of Australia's former military chiefs, department heads and senior diplomats.

A tight-jawed Prime Minister adopted a well-worn defence yesterday: "The argument that we took the country to war based on a lie is itself a misrepresentation and I continue to reject it."

The statement from the "concerned group" of distinguished citizens demands truth in government, from whichever party wins power in the coming election. But it also accuses the Howard Government of deceiving the people over the war in Iraq. "It is wrong and dangerous for our elected representatives to mislead the Australian people," it says. "If we cannot trust the word of our government, Australia cannot expect it to be trusted by others. Without that trust, the democratic structure of our society will be undermined and with it our standing and influence in the world."

The military brass signing up to the statement include the former defence chiefs General Peter Gration and Admiral Alan Beaumont, along with the former navy heads Admiral Mike Hudson and Vice-Admiral Sir Richard Peek.

Top diplomats included Richard Woolcott, a former ambassador to the United Nations; Alan Renouf, the former head of the Department of Foreign Affairs and ambassador to the US and France; Peter Lloyd, former ambassador to Iraq; and Cavan Hogue, the former representative on the UN Security Council.

(SNIP)

The statement says the international prestige of the US and its presidency has fallen precipitously over the past two years and Australia should seek a true partnership with it, rather than rubber-stamp Washington's policies.

It also claims terrorist activity has increased since the Iraq war and Australia now has a higher profile as a target.

The Opposition Leader, Mark Latham, seized on the statement, calling it a damning judgement on the Howard Government. "Truth in government is long overdue in this country," he said. "Mr Howard has an appalling record. He can barely lie straight in bed."

General Gration said the statement was not meant to be partisan political - "that's why we released it well before the election". And Mr Hogue said: "Many of these people are very conservative. It was not easy for them to sign. Others said they shared the sentiments but were not signers and some sympathisers have government consultancies or are looking for them."

Mr Woolcott, also a former secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, said: "In a healthy democracy, experienced former senior representatives are entitled to speak out if they feel the integrity of the decision-making processes are under threat."

(MORE)

3//The Philippine Daily Inquirer, Philippines Updated 04:13am (Mla time) Aug 09, 2004
http://beta.inq7.net/breaking/index.php?index=1&story_id=3279

NO GREAT LOSS, SAYS LEFT-WING SOLON OF US ACTION VS RP
Carlito Pablo, Inquirer News Service

Representative Loretta Ann "Etta" Rosales (party-list Akbayan) shrugged off the United States' striking of the Philippines from the Coalition of the Willing in Iraq.

"It's better that we have been dropped from this coalition on the basis of our willingness to save a human life and assert our national interest than risk that life and continue to support US policies and actions that were based on a lie,'' Rosales said in a statement Sunday.

US Department of State spokesperson Richard Boucher said last week the Philippines was dropped from the coalition following the withdrawal of its token humanitarian contingent from Iraq as demanded by Iraqi insurgents who had captured Filipino truck driver Angelo de la Cruz and threatened to behead him.

On Friday, US Ambassador to the Philippines Francis Ricciardone said the expulsion of the Philippines from the coalition was "not official."

Rosales asserted that the Philippines "should accept with dignity and pride'' the US decision. "After all, the US Senate Intelligence Committee, building upon the findings of the 9-11 Commission, had said that no unimpeachable proof exists to support the main arguments for which the US went to war in Iraq,'' she said.

(MORE)

4//The Daily Star, Lebanon Monday, August 09, 2004
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=3&article_id=7072

HIGH OIL PRICES REVEAL OPEC'S FRAGILITY
Cartel's ability to stabilize the market in doubt
Traders fear that prices could still rise further, to $50 a barrel

By Amelie Herenstein, Agence France Press

PARIS: The latest rumblings in the Yukos affair this week have raised more questions about OPEC's ability to control oil prices and further strengthened a widely-held view that a $50 barrel might not be too far in the future.

OPEC, which has in the past been known to keep a tighter ship, has recently issued a string of contradictory statements which bring into question its ability to react to the current ructions.

Its president, Purnomo Yusgiantoro, began by putting the wind up traders by declaring the current rates "mad" and adding that even Saudi Arabia, fittest of all OPEC's members, could not increase production in the immediate future.

Prices surged as experts interpreted the declaration as a sign there was no margin for safety available should a country default, an eventuality that gains extra significance in the context of oil producers Iraq, Nigeria, Venezuela and Russia, where oil giant Yukos staggers from one setback to the next.

Yusgiantoro attempted to make amends by saying shortly afterwards that OPEC did in fact have spare production capacity of up to 1.5 million barrels per day, before adding that whatever happened, no decision would be taken before the organization's next meeting in mid-September.

The inconsistency must also be seen in the light of a clear error in evaluation in April, which resulted in OPEC reducing its production ceiling by 1 million barrels a day, even though the price of oil was already above $30 a barrel.

It also led analysts and consumers to doubt OPEC's determination to genuinely stabilize the market. Since then the cartel has performed a U-turn, raising its quota several times.

These difficulties, compounded by the increasingly tenuous state of Yukos and the concerns swirling round a referendum in Venezuela that could lead to a change of regime, sent oil prices spiraling upwards.

On Friday they were hovering around the $41.50 per barrel mark in London and were at an historic peak of $44.77 in New York.

Analysts said there was little sign of any real let-up for several months given the imbalance between supply and demand.

Indeed, demand looks set to grow sharply in the months ahead (an increase of 3.2 percent to 81.4 million barrels a day), nudged on by the recovery of the world economy and by rapid growth in India and China. Supply, on the other hand, already virtually at a standstill, will almost certainly not keep up.

Experts rule out another major oil crisis, even though many now accept that the $50 a barrel price is on the cards. Adjusted to take account of inflation, rates remain well below the level they reached in the 1970s.

(MORE)

5//The Mail & Guardian, South Africa 08 August 2004 10:0
http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=120019&t=1

APARTHEID'S FINAL SURRENDER

The party that built apartheid and turned South Africa into a pariah state completed its march to oblivion on Saturday by deciding to merge with its one-time nemesis, the African National Congress.

The New National Party, heir of a mighty movement that jailed Nelson Mandela and built nuclear bombs, said its shrunken membership would dissolve and fight future elections under the banner of the black ruling party.

A meeting of the NNP's federal council proposed that members join the ANC, a bitterly ironic twist for a party founded almost a century ago to promote the interests of white Afrikaners and keep blacks from power.

Officials are to retain their party membership and parliamentary and local government seats as a transitional arrangement until September 2005. 'Individual members of the NNP would be encouraged to join the ANC in their respective localities. The NNP will in future contest elections under the banner of the ANC,' the NNP said in a statement.

Moisua Lekota, the Defence Minister, an ANC heavyweight nicknamed Terror during the struggle, welcomed the decision.

Just a decade ago such a marriage would have been dismissed as a surreal impossibility, but the NNP is so enfeebled from successive electoral batterings that the wonder yesterday was how it managed to last so long since dismantling apartheid.

In the first democratic elections in 1994 it won 20% of the vote by promising to defend the rights of whites and coloureds, those of mixed race, in a black-dominated ANC-led government.

When FW de Klerk stepped down as leader two years later, the party lost a towering figure and direction. The Nobel laureate's successor, Marthinus van Schalkwyk, was derisively nicknamed kortbroek (short pants). Tasked with transforming a racist dinosaur, he borrowed from Tony Blair by putting 'New' in front of National Party and rebranded it as a mixed-race movement committed to the ideals of Desmond Tutu's 'rainbow nation'.

Its shrivelled support in Western Cape bought an alliance with the ANC, which was a few votes shy of a majority in the provincial legislature, but the writing was on the wall in April's election when its national vote collapsed to 1,7%.

Whites disgruntled with the ANC backed the Democratic Alliance and other opposition parties that were more vocal in criticising the ruling party, which won more than two-thirds of the vote.

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