January 3, 2005

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 JANUARY 3, 2005


1//The News International, Pakistan--THE NEXT BIG THING FOR THE MIDDLE EAST IN 2005: ELECTIONS (From Baghdad to Cairo, from Riyadh to the Gaza Strip, election is the mantra for 2005. Iraqis, Palestinians, Egyptians, even Saudis will be going to the polls, giving them a new sense of power in a region largely run by monarchs and dictators even in places where parliaments exist. But some say it doesn’t necessarily signal real change. "Elections is a magic word. You have got the magic word but you don’t have magic without delivering," said Saudi analyst Mai Yamani, with the Royal Institute of International Affairs in London. "I don’t think there is any significance unless there is genuine intent to reform, share of power, minimize the power of the ruling elite, end corruption.")

2//The Daily Star, Lebanon--SYRIA COULD DO MORE TO HALT ACTIVITIES OF IRAQI BAATHISTS: ARMITAGE (Imad Mustafa, Syria's ambassador to the United States who attended the meeting with Assad, described Armitage's visit as "very successful" and said it did not reflect the tension often described in the media. But he said the U.S. and Iraqi accusations on Syria's alleged role in the Iraqi insurgency were not based on tangible evidence. "We asked the Americans to stop their statements to the media if they have nothing to support them," he said.)

3//The Jordan Times, Jordan--SUNNI ISLAMIST MPs FORCE KUWAIT’S ONLY SHIITE MINISTER TO QUIT (Kuwait's only Shiite Muslim Cabinet member was forced to resign Sunday under pressure from Sunni Islamist MPs, opening the door to a long-awaited Cabinet reshuffle and raising the spectre of sectarian tension in the tiny emirate. Information Minister Mohammad Abolhassan quit his post a day before he was to face tough parliamentary questioning by Sunni Islamists over allegedly failing to protect morality in the conservative emirate… Liberals, however, criticised the move and described the Kuwaiti government as weak. "The problem is that we have a weak government that has bowed to Islamists and with whom it has been in alliance for more than two decades," said Khaled Hilal Al Mutairi, head of the liberal National Democratic Alliance.)

4//The Moscow Times, Russia--YUSHCHENKO MAY BE A GIFT FOR BUSINESS (Although pro-Western Yushchenko is expected to forge closer ties with the European Union, experts still see plenty of opportunities for Russian investors… Russia is the country's fourth-largest investor, according to Ukrainian government statistics. Foreign direct investment from Russia totaled $377 million between 1999 and 2003, behind the United States' $1 billion, Cyprus' $779 million and Britain's $686 million. Russia's real contribution is much higher, experts say, because much of the money coming from Cyprus and Britain is actually Russian.)

5//The Independent, UK--GOVERNMENT ‘HAS GIVEN IN TO EU BAN ON HEALTH FOOD SUPPLEMENTS’ (Ministers were accused of hypocrisy yesterday over an EU directive which could force health shops to stop selling a number of remedies and food supplements used by cancer sufferers and obese people… Health ministers have assured consumers, retailers and manufacturers of health foods that they are doing all they can to ensure safe remedies are not banned. But EU documents obtained by The Independent reveal that the Government's lawyers have said the UK does not dispute the basis for the new regulations that threaten the sale of many health food products.)

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1//The News International, Pakistan Monday January 03, 2005-- Ziq'a Qad 21, 1425 A.H.
http://www.jang.com.pk/thenews/jan...

THE NEXT BIG THING FOR THE MIDDLE EAST IN 2005: ELECTIONS

CAIRO: From Baghdad to Cairo, from Riyadh to the Gaza Strip, election is the mantra for 2005. Iraqis, Palestinians, Egyptians, even Saudis will be going to the polls, giving them a new sense of power in a region largely run by monarchs and dictators even in places where parliaments exist. But some say it doesn’t necessarily signal real change.

"Elections is a magic word. You have got the magic word but you don’t have magic without delivering," said Saudi analyst Mai Yamani, with the Royal Institute of International Affairs in London. "I don’t think there is any significance unless there is genuine intent to reform, share of power, minimize the power of the ruling elite, end corruption."

Fahmi Howeidi, a liberal Islamic thinker in Egypt, says the Jan. 9 Palestinian elections are the only one where there are real political players and the possibility of change. In Iraq, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, it’s just "painting the house," he said. "The results are known and there will be no fundamental change ... a soap opera, a response to American pressure, and not a result of popular demand or a strong political action. There is no political struggle."

After toppling Saddam Hussein in 2003, the United States promised Iraq would become a model for Arab democracy, and pressured regimes in the region to yield to some local demands for change. Reform, Washington holds, will make Muslim and Arab societies less fertile ground for extremists. But many question whether elections under occupation (Iraq, West Bank and Gaza Strip) or under foreign pressure (Saudi Arabia) can really prompt change in the region.

Iraqis are scheduled to vote Jan. 30 in the first free elections since the overthrow of their monarchy in 1958, choosing a legislative assembly to draft a constitution. "Your vote is gold; more precious than gold," reads one Iraqi poster on a Baghdad street. "Your vote is the future," encourages another. Satellite TV ads show Iraqis proclaiming, "I am ready to vote," and outline a voter-registration process, a novelty for Arab viewers.

The Palestinians are voting for a successor to the late Yasser Arafat, who controlled Palestinian politics for more than 40 years.

In the Saudi capital, Riyadh, billboard messages prepare citizens for the kingdom’s first nationwide elections, for municipal councils. "Participate in the decision-making. Your voice will not be heard unless you register," they say. The balloting, set to start Feb. 10, is the first since municipal elections were held in a few cities in the 1960s.

Even now, councils won’t be wholly elected and women will not be allowed to vote or run for office. Saudi Arabia will remain an absolute monarchy. But authorities promote the election as a first step. Saudi men are exhorted to embrace the process out of national pride and to turn out in traditional dress _ white gowns and checkered headdresses _ when registering. But Yamani, the Saudi analyst, noted registration has been slow, and said the kingdom’s citizens have little hope for change through the elections. Less than 40 percent of the eligible male voters turned out to register for the kingdom’s first ballot in decades.

In Egypt, the Arab world’s most populous country, President Hosni Mubarak is up for a fifth six-year term. Parliamentary elections are also scheduled for late 2005. Egyptians vote yes or no to a single presidential candidate presented to them by Parliament, and Parliament has long been controlled by Mubarak’s ruling party. Mubarak’s candidacy, although not yet official, is almost certain, with the government rejecting opposition demands for term limits.

Voters will choose lawmakers in Lebanon and Yemen, and a president in Yemen and Iran. The vote in Lebanon comes after an international uproar over a constitutional amendment that extended the term of pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud, avoiding presidential elections. Neighboring, autocratic Syria is seen as having engineered the extension.

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2//The Daily Star, Lebanon Monday, January 03, 2005
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&...

SYRIA COULD DO MORE TO HALT ACTIVITIES OF IRAQI BAATHISTS: ARMITAGE
U.S. presses for more cooperation

By Nicholas Blanford
Special to The Daily Star

DAMASCUS: Syria has made progress in tightening its border with Iraq, but could do more on halting the activities of former Iraqi Baathists, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage said Sunday.

Armitage, accompanied by U.S. Assistant Secretary of State William Burns, was in Damascus to press the Syrians on further cooperation to help stabilize neighboring Iraq in the run-up to crucial elections on Jan. 30.

"Syria has made some real improvements in recent months on border security. We all need to do more, particularly on the question of foreign regime elements participating in activities in Iraq going back and forth from Syria," Armitage said after talks with Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Security in Iraq was the dominant theme of the visit by the highest-ranking American delegation in over a year and a half.

Armitage said he stressed to the Syrian leadership the "absolute importance" of the Iraqi elections and the need to have full Iraqi participation. "I believe I found here in Syria the same view," he said. "It's very important that the new Iraq has a very friendly relationship with Syria and I hope our Syrian friends are committed to that same type friendship."

Imad Mustafa, Syria's ambassador to the United States who attended the meeting with Assad, described Armitage's visit as "very successful" and said it did not reflect the tension often described in the media.

But he said the U.S. and Iraqi accusations on Syria's alleged role in the Iraqi insurgency were not based on tangible evidence.

"We asked the Americans to stop their statements to the media if they have nothing to support them," he said.

A statement issued by the Foreign Ministry said Syria expressed its "readiness to keep up the cooperation with the Iraqi side on the border security issue."

Armitage also visited Turkey and Jordan, but there was no word on his talks in the kingdom.

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3//The Jordan Times, Jordan Monday, January 3, 2005
http://www.jordantimes.com/mon/news/news8.htm

SUNNI ISLAMIST MPs FORCE KUWAIT’S ONLY SHIITE MINISTER TO QUIT

KUWAIT CITY (AFP) — Kuwait's only Shiite Muslim Cabinet member was forced to resign Sunday under pressure from Sunni Islamist MPs, opening the door to a long-awaited Cabinet reshuffle and raising the spectre of sectarian tension in the tiny emirate.

Information Minister Mohammad Abolhassan quit his post a day before he was to face tough parliamentary questioning by Sunni Islamists over allegedly failing to protect morality in the conservative emirate.

The process could have led to a vote of no-confidence which, if passed, would have meant the automatic dismissal of the minister.

"I have decided... to submit my resignation... not in order to abandon serving my nation or in fear of a political questioning, but to safeguard my country from being a subject of political controversy and squabbling in which all of us will be losers," Abolhassan said in his resignation letter to the prime minister, which was and carried by the state news agency KUNA.

(SNIP)

Abolhassan becomes the third information minister to resign in the last seven years in Kuwait due to pressure from hardline Islamist MPs.

Finance Minister Mahmoud Al Nuri, who narrowly survived a no-confidence vote in March before resigning, is still waiting for his resignation to be accepted.

Abolhassan's departure has opened the door to the possibility of a major reshuffle in the Kuwaiti Cabinet, which was appointed following parliamentary elections in July 2003.

The liberal-leaning premier, Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmed Al Sabah, who is leading his first Cabinet since being appointed after the elections, is expected to change a number of ministers also threatened with a public grilling.

Sheikh Sabah had warned last month that questioning Abolhassan could fan sectarian tensions between Kuwait's Sunni majority and the minority Shiites.

(SNIP)

Liberals, however, criticised the move and described the Kuwaiti government as weak.

"The problem is that we have a weak government that has bowed to Islamists and with whom it has been in alliance for more than two decades," said Khaled Hilal Al Mutairi, head of the liberal National Democratic Alliance.

Abolhassan served as Kuwait's permanent representative at the United Nations for 22 years before returning to the emirate and becoming information minister 18 months ago.

Shiites form about one-third of the emirate's indigenous population of some 950,000. They have five MPs in parliament, down from six in the previous chamber.

Since independence in 1961, Kuwait has traditionally appointed at least one Shiite minister to its Cabinets.

In April, Sheikh Sabah was forced to intervene to defuse tension between Shiites and Sunnis following a war of words between hardliners from the two communities through the media and in mosques.

4//The Moscow Times, Russia Friday, December 31, 2004. Page 1.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2004/12/31/003.html

YUSHCHENKO MAY BE A GIFT FOR BUSINESS
By Maria Levitov, Staff Writer

Orange revolutionaries may view the election of Viktor Yushchenko to the Ukrainian presidency as the best possible New Year's gift. But to supermarket chain Paterson, a month of street protests carried a high price.

Disruptions in distribution and sudden price rises forced the Moscow-based retailer to postpone the opening of its first Kiev store from early December to next year.

"Nobody really cared about new store openings or would have paid attention to commercial advertising campaigns," said Yeva Prokofyeva, spokeswoman for Paterson.

While there are no estimates of what Ukraine's Orange Revolution cost in terms of lost business overall, Paterson figures it missed out on at least $1 million in holiday sales.

Yet with the inauguration of former central banker Yushchenko looking ever more likely, an upswing in economic activity is in the cards, analysts say.

Russia is Ukraine's No. 3 trade partner after Germany and Belarus. In 2003, bilateral trade with Russia stood at $12.9 billion per year, up 30 percent from 2002.

Although pro-Western Yushchenko is expected to forge closer ties with the European Union, experts still see plenty of opportunities for Russian investors.

(SNIP)

While there are no estimates of what Ukraine's Orange Revolution cost in terms of lost business overall, Paterson figures it missed out on at least $1 million in holiday sales.

Yet with the inauguration of former central banker Yushchenko looking ever more likely, an upswing in economic activity is in the cards, analysts say.

Russia is Ukraine's No. 3 trade partner after Germany and Belarus. In 2003, bilateral trade with Russia stood at $12.9 billion per year, up 30 percent from 2002.

Although pro-Western Yushchenko is expected to forge closer ties with the European Union, experts still see plenty of opportunities for Russian investors.

(SNIP)

Earlier this month, Yushchenko indicated that as president he would revisit controversial privatizations made under his predecessor, Leonid Kuchma.

Yushchenko specifically mentioned the controversial privatization of Kryvorizhstal, the country's largest steel mill, this summer. Although Russia's No. 3 steel producer Severstal bid $1.2 billion, the plant ended up going to Kuchma's son-in-law Viktor Pinchuk and billionaire Rynat Akhmetov for $800 million.

"The [Kuchma] government is linked to oligarch groups, who did not invite Russian business either," said Marco Groen, Ernst & Young's managing partner in Kiev.

"Kuchma wasn't so much pro-Russia as pro-Kuchma," said Sovlink's Kraus.

A Yushchenko presidency is not an obstacle to Russian business, he said, and the Ukrainian economy still holds great potential.

Sergei Mikheyev, an analyst with the Center for Political Technologies, was less sanguine.

"Yushchenko already mentioned the possibility of undoing existing privatization deals," said Mikheyev. "Russian businessmen who own property [in Ukraine] may lose out."

While official Moscow frowned on the demonstrations in Ukraine, the protesters won sympathetic coverage in the Western media.

"The protesting itself has done a lot of good for the investment image of Ukraine," putting the country on the map, Ernst & Young's Groen said.

"Generally, if you look at foreign investors, Yushchenko is trusted more than the previous government."

Yushchenko has pledged his support to foreign investors, Groen said, meaning both Westerners and Russians.

Russia is the country's fourth-largest investor, according to Ukrainian government statistics.
Foreign direct investment from Russia totaled $377 million between 1999 and 2003, behind the United States' $1 billion, Cyprus' $779 million and Britain's $686 million.

Russia's real contribution is much higher, experts say, because much of the money coming from Cyprus and Britain is actually Russian.

(MORE)

5//The Independent, UK 03 January 2005
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/health_medica...

GOVERNMENT ‘HAS GIVEN IN TO EU BAN ON HEALTH FOOD SUPPLEMENTS’
By Colin Brown, Deputy Political Editor

Ministers were accused of hypocrisy yesterday over an EU directive which could force health shops to stop selling a number of remedies and food supplements used by cancer sufferers and obese people.

The row is over attempts by the EU to ban food supplements and vitamin-based products which could be harmful in large doses, and for which the makers have made exaggerated health claims. But campaigners including Carole Caplin, the self-styled health and lifestyle guru, and the actress Jenny Seagrove say hundreds of remedies will be included in the ban.

Ms Caplin told MPs at a protest meeting that the directive will ban the sale of supplements containing calcium, magnesium and boron used for strengthening brittle bones and by patients with hip replacements; nutrient supplements and antioxidants for cancer sufferers; food supplements to reduce obesity; and folic acid supplements for women to reduce neural tube defects such as spina bifida in babies.

Health ministers have assured consumers, retailers and manufacturers of health foods that they are doing all they can to ensure safe remedies are not banned.

But EU documents obtained by The Independent reveal that the Government's lawyers have said the UK does not dispute the basis for the new regulations that threaten the sale of many health food products.

In a submission to the European Court of Justice, where a case is being heard, officials from the Treasury solicitor's office said the new rules were not disproportionate and did not breach the principle of subsidiarity, which allows the UK to determine its own rules.

Furious campaigners accused the Government of hypocrisy. Sue Croft, the director of Consumers for Health Choice, said: "The Government is saying one thing to consumers, to industry and to Parliament while pursuing quite a different course in its negotiations with the EU."

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