October 22, 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 OCTOBER 22, 2004

1//Inter Press Service News Agency, Italy--U.N., IRAQ CLASH OVER ELECTIONS (U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan is at loggerheads with the U.S.-installed interim government in Iraq over national elections scheduled to take place in that strife-torn country in January 2005... The world body now has only 35 international staffers in Iraq, of which six are election experts. In contrast, the United Nations had more than 600 international employees monitoring elections in Afghanistan last week. Asked if Iraq should postpone the vote because of the deteriorating security environment, Annan said: ''It will be their call, not ours.'' The ''ownership'' of the elections belongs to the Iraqis, he added. So far only one country -- Fiji -- has pledged to send troops to protect U.N. staff members in Iraq, despite a Security Council resolution urging all 191 member states to help provide a military force...''It will probably take weeks before the Fijians are trained on how to handle Australian weapons,'' one diplomat told IPS. Judging by the widespread insurgency, he added, the more important question is, ''who is going to protect the Fijian force?'')

2//Asia Times Online, Hong Kong--PRECISION-STRIKE DEMOCRACY (Fallujah may become the new Gaza. Or the new Grozny. Meanwhile, here's what's happening on the ground, as summarized to Asia Times Online by sources in Baghdad very close to the Fallujah resistance... As a national liberation movement, the Iraqi guerrillas, increasingly unified, are bound ultimately to prevail. For example, the Imam al-Mujahideen Brigades, a resistance coalition now operating under a central command, has grown to more than 7,000 members all over Iraq. They have access to an unlimited supply of heavy weapons - strategically placed throughout Iraq before the US invasion. At least 25,000 guerrillas - and counting - may now be in operation all over Iraq...The guerrillas meanwhile are succeeding in mobilizing the Iraqi urban masses, Sunni and Shi'ite, against the occupation. The ultimate aim of the guerrillas is urban revolution - exactly what Sistani will inspire if he does not get his fair elections. That's why every day the guerrillas target the already crumbling Iraqi infrastructure and bomb crowds of civilians: their aim is to make people realize that the key reason their lives are so miserable and dangerous is because the invaders refuse to leave.)

3//The Jordan Times, Jordan--HARIRI DEPARTURE THROWS COUNTRY INTO DEEPER POLITICAL, ECONOMIC UNCERTAINTY (The resignation Wednesday of Prime Minister Rafik Hariri threw Lebanon into yet more political and economic uncertainty amid international pressure on influential neighbour Syria to pull its troops out of the country...The resignation and an apparent opposition boycott of consultations to form a new government are widely expected to give Lahoud a free hand to appoint a pro-Syrian figure as prime minister. Analysts said Hariri's resignation opened the way to a period of uncertainty until legislative elections scheduled for next spring. "But more than these elections, it is Syria's standoff with the international community that remains the main problem faced by Lebanon," a Lebanese banker specialised in Lebanese-Syrian affairs told AFP. "The question is to know how Syria, known for its immobility, will deal with the situation, under the pressure of the international community," he said.)

4//The Toronto Star, Canada--MARTIN MUZZLES CABINET ON U.S. ELECTION (Prime Minister Paul Martin served notice to his Liberal cabinet today to clam up with their personal opinions on the U.S. presidential election. He was responding to media questions in the wake of a newspaper column that quoted some cabinet ministers saying they favour Democrat John Kerry over U.S. President George W. Bush...Antagonism between the federal Liberals and U.S. Republicans exploded in the run-up to the American-led war in Iraq last year, with a string of verbal attacks against Bush. A spokeswoman for then-prime minister Jean Chrétien was forced to resign after calling the president "a moron," and former cabinet minister Herb Dhaliwal labelled Bush a failed statesman. Then there was the infamous "those bastards" comment by Liberal MP Carolyn Parrish.)

5//The Moscow Times, Russia--GENERAL ELECTRIC PLAN LIGHTS UP PUTIN (The visiting head of U.S. manufacturing and financial giant General Electric Co. told President Vladimir Putin on Thursday that Russia's energy and rail transport industries are prime for investment by Western investors...Putin said he was "happy" that GE was raising its activity in the country... Putin also made a pitch for Russia's energy and rail sectors and he praised U.S. President George W. Bush for helping to consolidate Russian-American relations in recent years.)

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1//Inter Press Service News Agency, Italy October 21, 2004
http://ipsnews.net/interna.asp?idnews=25973

U.N., IRAQ CLASH OVER ELECTIONS
Thalif Deen

UNITED NATIONS, Oct 21 (IPS) - U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan is at loggerheads with the U.S.-installed interim government in Iraq over national elections scheduled to take place in that strife-torn country in January 2005.

The Iraqi government, backed by the United States, wants Annan to despatch a huge contingent of U.N. monitors to Iraq's capital Baghdad -- primarily to provide legitimacy to what some observers suggest might evolve into a truncated election that shuts out voters from insurgency-hit provinces.

But the secretary-general, who has called the March 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq ''illegal'' and condemned the killings of civilians, is dragging his feet, refusing to make any commitment.

Responding to Iraqi criticism, Annan told reporters Thursday he does not plan to send his staff into an increasingly violent Iraq unless there is ''genuine improvement in the security environment or solid arrangements for the protection of the staff.''

Annan also made clear the United Nations is not ''planning'' or ''organising'' the elections. ''We are offering support and advice. And we will continue to do that.''

On Wednesday, Iraq Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari was quoted as saying: ''We feel very disappointed that the participation of U.N. employees is not up to the required level and there is a limited number of officials, and we are at the end of October.''

The world body now has only 35 international staffers in Iraq, of which six are election experts. In contrast, the United Nations had more than 600 international employees monitoring elections in Afghanistan last week.

Asked if Iraq should postpone the vote because of the deteriorating security environment, Annan said: ''It will be their call, not ours.'' The ''ownership'' of the elections belongs to the Iraqis, he added.

So far only one country -- Fiji -- has pledged to send troops to protect U.N. staff members in Iraq, despite a Security Council resolution urging all 191 member states to help provide a military force.

Fiji is sending about 130 troops while Australia has volunteered to provide logistics and military equipment.

(MORE)

2//Asia Times Online, Hong Kong Oct 22, 2004
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/FJ22Ak04.html

PRECISION-STRIKE DEMOCRACY
By Pepe Escobar

"In Iraq, no doubt about it, it's tough. It's hard work. It's incredibly hard. It's ... and it's hard work. I understand how hard it is. I get the casualty reports every day. I see on the TV screens how hard it is. But it's necessary work. We're making progress. It is hard work." - President George W Bush, presidential debate, September 30

Fallujah may become the new Gaza. Or the new Grozny. Meanwhile, here's what's happening on the ground, as summarized to Asia Times Online by sources in Baghdad very close to the Fallujah resistance.

More than 1,000 marines, supported by a few hundred US-trained Iraqi forces, are entrenched less than a kilometer away from the city. There are constant firefights in the eastern and southern sectors. Thousands of families have left, "90% of them" - according to guerrilla leaders themselves - but there is no looting. Hospitals are badly overstretched. All shops are closed. And the city may be running out of food. The Americans even bombed a local institution - the top kebab restaurant in a city that prides itself on making the best kebabs in Iraq.

Fallujah at the moment is still basically controlled by the Iraqi police and dozens of different mujahideen groups from different clans. They all fiercely coordinate the defense strategy among themselves. The unifying banner is Islam, not the tribal clan. The police - as long as they are not perceived as being bossed around by Americans - and the mujahideen get along very well.

According to the sources in Baghdad, Fallujans vehemently deny the presence of foreign jihadis - including of course the ubiquitous al-Qaeda-linked Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, blamed by the Americans for virtually everything that happens in Iraq. The few dozen foreign jihadis who indeed may be in action have blended in smoothly. Fallujah tribal leaders are notoriously suspicious of foreigners: they fear they may be spying for the Americans. One of the key organizers of the guerrillas is Mohammed Younis al-Ahmed, a former senior Ba'athist official also badly wanted by the Americans.

The majority of Fallujah's citizens yearn for peace. But they also believe US military precision strikes - at times imprecision strikes - and the almost inevitable assault against the city will happen because the mujahideen, after three weeks and hundreds of casualties in April, inflicted a de facto military defeat on the Americans. Most citizens also believe the central government in Baghdad is split between President Ghazi al-Yawar, a Sunni sheikh, deeply involved in negotiations, and Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, a Shi'ite surrounded by a coterie of thuggish neo-Ba'athists, taking orders from the Americans and ready to level Fallujah to the ground. The problem is negotiations collapsed last week. Senior Sunni clerics are adamant: if the Americans attack, they will issue a fatwa proclaiming jihad all over Iraqi territory.

"Democracy" is not the issue in Iraq. How can people believe that precision strikes against civilian neighborhoods are a persuasive weapon conducive to winning hearts and minds and establishing democracy? Moreover, there's nothing "precise" about it: US ground intelligence is sketchy at best.

(SNIP)

As a national liberation movement, the Iraqi guerrillas, increasingly unified, are bound ultimately to prevail. For example, the Imam al-Mujahideen Brigades, a resistance coalition now operating under a central command, has grown to more than 7,000 members all over Iraq. They have access to an unlimited supply of heavy weapons - strategically placed throughout Iraq before the US invasion. At least 25,000 guerrillas - and counting - may now be in operation all over Iraq.

'Free and fair'
As for the January elections, if they indeed take place, the majority of Iraqis, Sunnis and Shi'ites alike, will not accept the concept of a "free and fair election" with 138,000 US troops occupying the country. So most Sunnis will boycott them. Shi'ite rebel leader Muqtada al-Sadr is inclined to boycott them - because they are being imposed by the occupying power. Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the influential Shi'ite leader, wants them as free and fair as humanly possible. But if he doesn't get what he wants, he can issue a fatwa and start a widespread urban revolution that will the make the US presence absolutely untenable. So even if elections do happen, few people will vote, there's a risk of enormous bloodshed and the whole process will be regarded as illegitimate.

The guerrillas meanwhile are succeeding in mobilizing the Iraqi urban masses, Sunni and Shi'ite, against the occupation. The ultimate aim of the guerrillas is urban revolution - exactly what Sistani will inspire if he does not get his fair elections. That's why every day the guerrillas target the already crumbling Iraqi infrastructure and bomb crowds of civilians: their aim is to make people realize that the key reason their lives are so miserable and dangerous is because the invaders refuse to leave.

Meanwhile, in the US elections
The European diplomat in Washington does not mince his words: "The Americans know they have lost the war in Iraq. What they are trying to find now is an exit strategy."

On the political level, inside the US, a dynamic is set: Bush desperately tries to destroy Democratic candidate John Kerry on the campaign trail as the Iraq bloodshed - more than 100 daily attacks - slowly destroys Bush. On the military level, inside Iraq, the Bush administration's counter-insurgency strategy consists of precision strikes in heavily populated neighborhoods - even during the holy Islamic month of Ramadan that is now under way. If Bush is re-elected, as administration strategists spin it in euphemism alley, "you'll see us move very vigorously", meaning the leveling of whole cities.

(MORE)

3//The Jordan Times, Jordan Friday-Saturday, October22 -23,2004
http://www.jordantimes.com/fri/news/news7.htm

HARIRI DEPARTURE THROWS COUNTRY INTO DEEPER POLITICAL, ECONOMIC UNCERTAINTY
By Henri Mamarbachi, Agence France-presse

BEIRUT - The resignation Wednesday of Prime Minister Rafik Hariri threw Lebanon into yet more political and economic uncertainty amid international pressure on influential neighbour Syria to pull its troops out of the country.

The resignation itself was no surprise, as Hariri had promised it several weeks ago. But the premier's decision not to head a new government under political rival President Emile Lahoud, who is favoured by Lebanon's political masters in Damascus, did catch people off guard.

The resignation and an apparent opposition boycott of consultations to form a new government are widely expected to give Lahoud a free hand to appoint a pro-Syrian figure as prime minister.

Analysts said Hariri's resignation opened the way to a period of uncertainty until legislative elections scheduled for next spring.

"But more than these elections, it is Syria's standoff with the international community that remains the main problem faced by Lebanon," a Lebanese banker specialised in Lebanese-Syrian affairs told AFP.

"The question is to know how Syria, known for its immobility, will deal with the situation, under the pressure of the international community," he said.

He also expressed fear that the departure of a man with the stature of Hariri, who is a canny politician with close ties to Western leaders and financial creditors, would cast a further cloud over the economic health of the country, which is $32 billion in debt.

The resignation comes a day after Syria and Lebanon rejected outright a renewed UN Security Council call for Damascus to pull its troops out of its tiny neighbour, calling the international body's decision "interference."

(MORE)

4//The Toronto Star, Canada Oct. 21, 2004 04:34 PM
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagen...

MARTIN MUZZLES CABINET ON U.S. ELECTION
From Canadian Press

OTTAWA - Prime Minister Paul Martin served notice to his Liberal cabinet today to clam up with their personal opinions on the U.S. presidential election.

He was responding to media questions in the wake of a newspaper column that quoted some cabinet ministers saying they favour Democrat John Kerry over U.S. President George W. Bush.

"It's Kerry," Environment Minister Stephane Dion told Globe and Mail columnist Lawrence Martin. "Intellectually, I'm attracted to Kerry," said Human Resources Minister Joe Volpe.

Public-opinion polls suggest Canadians massively prefer Kerry to Bush, but that didn't stop Martin from warning his cabinet.

"The Americans will choose their president like Canadians will choose their prime minister and I think the commentary should end there," Martin said in French.

Antagonism between the federal Liberals and U.S. Republicans exploded in the run-up to the American-led war in Iraq last year, with a string of verbal attacks against Bush.

A spokeswoman for then-prime minister Jean Chrétien was forced to resign after calling the president "a moron," and former cabinet minister Herb Dhaliwal labelled Bush a failed statesman.

Then there was the infamous "those bastards" comment by Liberal MP Carolyn Parrish.

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5//The Moscow Times, Russia Friday, October 22, 2004. Page 5.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2004/10/22/041.html

GENERAL ELECTRIC PLAN LIGHTS UP PUTIN
Combined Reports

The visiting head of U.S. manufacturing and financial giant General Electric Co. told President Vladimir Putin on Thursday that Russia's energy and rail transport industries are prime for investment by Western investors.

"We are excited about two areas: railways and energy," GE CEO Jeffrey Immelt told Putin in televised remarks. "This is a very good time to invest in Russia," he said.

Putin said he was "happy" that GE was raising its activity in the country.

(SNIP)

Immelt said the Connecticut-based diversified manufacturer and financial services conglomerate could invest up to $100 million in coming years to bring technology, modern management techniques and investments to Russian partner companies -- particularly in the rail transport and energy sectors.

Immelt said GE was considering investing in a Russian energy company to "develop the Russian market and export needs."

He did not specify which companies GE was looking at.

Putin also made a pitch for Russia's energy and rail sectors and he praised U.S. President George W. Bush for helping to consolidate Russian-American relations in recent years.

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