January 12, 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 12, 2005

1//The Scotsman, UK--BROWN IS SILENCED AS BLAIR TRIUMPHS (Tony Blair will this week tie Gordon Brown to a radical New Labour reform agenda - while imposing silence on the Chancellor as he attempts to raise his own profile during a tour of Africa. In a move to consolidate his victory in last week’s power struggle, the Prime Minister has demanded that Mr Brown does not make any speech abroad without the express permission of No 10. The Prime Minister is understood to be furious at what he regards as the exposure of a deliberate attempt by the Chancellor to undermine him - and Mr Blair’s allies say he will reclaim the agenda this week. The Prime Minister will on Thursday make a speech saying the future of Labour lies in independent state schools and market-based health reform - binding the Chancellor to the pro-market agenda he has opposed for three years.)

2//The Independent, UK--MPs SAY THEY WILL ENFORCE BLAIR AND BROWN TRUCE (Labour MPs vowed yesterday that they would take action to force Tony Blair and Gordon Brown to stick to their truce because they are worried that their bitter feud will erupt again before the general election. Many Labour backbenchers fear that relations between the Prime Minister and the Chancellor are so frosty that their hastily struck ceasefire will soon give way to another outbreak of damaging hostilities… But Mr Brown is cautious about promising a new raft of reforms to extend the role of the market into public services that are not carefully thought out. As the clear front-runner to succeed Mr Blair before the election after next, the Chancellor does not want to inherit what allies call "half-baked policies and gimmicks." Despite yesterday's show of unity, Labour MPs are worried that the media will now view everything through the prism of the Blair-Brown rift, and that the image of a divided party will take hold with the public. "We are not prepared to see the party self-destruct," one MP said last night. "But there is a fear that things are so bad that we won't be able to paper over the cracks for very long.")

Related: LABOUR WOULD GET MASSIVE BOOST IF BROWN WERE LEADER (Labour would enjoy a dramatic rise in support if Gordon Brown rather than Tony Blair led the party into the general election, according to a poll by NOP for The Independent.)

3//The Daily Star, Lebanon--IRAQ, TURKEY, U.S. DISCUSS TACKLING KURDISH REBELS (Iraqi and U.S. officials Tuesday discussed with their Turkish counterparts measures to tackle Turkish Kurd militants hiding in northern Iraq, including intelligence cooperation, but failed to pledge any immediate military action. Turkey has often expressed frustration over U.S. reluctance to employ military means against rebels from the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which both Ankara and Washington consider a terrorist group, since October 2003 when the two sides agreed on an action plan against the PKK, including military measures… Bayati said the priority at the moment was "to have bilateral meetings between our two governments to exchange information...and to agree on measures in the future." He said any future action against the PKK would include the United States. A top U.S. general, in Ankara for separate talks with Turkish officials, said that US troops in Iraq are already swamped with unremitting violence in other parts of the conflict-torn country.)

4//Asia Times Online, Hong Kong--THE TAMING OF SADR CITY (Sadr City - the overcrowded, under-serviced 3 million-person Baghdad slum that has been the site of some of the fiercest fighting in Iraq - is the linchpin of the war. Though there have been more spectacular battles in Fallujah and Najaf, Sadr City is of paramount importance because it is the center of the Shi'ite rebellion, and the Shi'ites represent 60% of the Iraqi population. As a consequence, the Mehdi army - the military arm of the Sadrist movement that has dominated the area's politics for the past quarter century - has become the most important of all the insurgent groups, and a close look at how it operates in its home base yields some startling conclusions about the trajectory of the struggle for control of Iraq… So far, Sadr City has escaped the frontal assaults visited upon Tal Afar, Samarra, Mosul and Fallujah. In some sense, the failure of the American military to complete the pacification of these cities may be Sadr City's main protection, since the US troops have been stretched thin by the ongoing fighting there. Sadr City's status as the center of Shi'ite insurgency is another protection, since a full-scale attack there could well trigger insurrections throughout the currently quiescent Shi'ite areas of Iraq. As this article is written, the US has honored a semi-official truce that keeps American troops out of the guerrilla-held area, and therefore allows for the Sadrist government to continue its rule of the nascent city-state. As long as this lasts, there will be "law and order" in Sadr City, even if the law is anti-American and the order is fundamentalist Islam.)

5//Spiegel Online, Germany--MAKING MUSSOLINI’S GRANDDAUGHTER SMILE (After scoring a stunning a goal on Thursday, di Canio -- who is one of the country's best-known players -- raised his right arm straight up to the crowd and gave what appeared to be a fascist salute. The Lazio fans -- a portion of whom are well-known to be right-wing racists -- erupted in cheers. Alessandra Mussolini, the granddaughter of World War II fascist dictator Benito Mussolini and herself the founder of a currently active far-right party was in attendance and applauded loudly. "What a delightful Roman salute!" she exclaimed. "I was deeply moved. I will write him a thank you note." Lazio was, after all, her grandfather's beloved soccer club and he often attended their games. Even now -- 60 years later -- the team maintains something of a fascist aura… Italy's Minister for European Union affairs, the conservative Rocco Buttiglione, also expressed dismay. "The Roman salute brings back painful memories for many Italians," he said. "...He [di Canio] should think about the offspring of those who were killed and what it would be like for them to see that." Police and soccer officials are viewing video footage of the salute and trying to decide if it warrants a fine or penalties.)

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1//The Scotsman, UK Tuesday, 11th January 2005
http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=30902005

BROWN IS SILENCED AS BLAIR TRIUMPHS
Fraser Nelson and Gerri Peev

Tony Blair will this week tie Gordon Brown to a radical New Labour reform agenda - while imposing silence on the Chancellor as he attempts to raise his own profile during a tour of Africa.

In a move to consolidate his victory in last week's power struggle, the Prime Minister has demanded that Mr Brown does not make any speech abroad without the express permission of No 10.

The Prime Minister is understood to be furious at what he regards as the exposure of a deliberate attempt by the Chancellor to undermine him - and Mr Blair's allies say he will reclaim the agenda this week.

The Prime Minister will on Thursday make a speech saying the future of Labour lies in independent state schools and market-based health reform - binding the Chancellor to the pro-market agenda he has opposed for three years.

Mr Blair took Mr Brown with him to address Labour MPs last night, hoping to symbolise an end to their feuding.

But the Chancellor stood silent throughout, as Labour MPs vented their anger about what many saw as his attempt to launch a personal leadership campaign.

Lord Campbell-Savours, a Labour peer, directly challenged Mr Brown to deny the quote attributed to him in the extracts of a book released over the weekend that "there is nothing you [Mr Blair] could ever say to me now that I would ever believe."

Although the Chancellor wore a fixed grin on his way into the meeting, he was said to have been brooding throughout as Mr Blair told MPs he would let "nothing stand in the way of a third Labour victory."

(MORE)

2//The Independent, UK 12 January 2005
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/story.jsp?story=599971

MPs SAY THEY WILL ENFORCE BLAIR AND BROWN TRUCE
By Andrew Grice and Colin Brown

Labour MPs vowed yesterday that they would take action to force Tony Blair and Gordon Brown to stick to their truce because they are worried that their bitter feud will erupt again before the general election.

Many Labour backbenchers fear that relations between the Prime Minister and the Chancellor are so frosty that their hastily struck ceasefire will soon give way to another outbreak of damaging hostilities.

Concern that the feud could harm Labour's election prospects led to the warning delivered to Mr Blair and Mr Brown at Monday's meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP). The Prime Minister insisted that he had "got the message" and the Chancellor moved to heal the wounds yesterday by insisting that he trusted the Prime Minister - contradicting the claim in a new book about him, Brown's Britain.

At an awkward poster launch trumpeting Labour's economic record, Mr Brown appeared alongside Alan Milburn for the first time since the latter was appointed to Mr Brown's former role as Labour's general election chief in September. Relations between the Chancellor and Mr Milburn are in the deep freeze; Mr Brown regarded his recall to the Cabinet as a signal that Mr Blair wanted Mr Milburn rather than Mr Brown to succeed him as Prime Minister.

There is also tension between the Chancellor and the former health secretary over the contents of the Labour manifesto. Mr Milburn, like Mr Blair, wants an "unremittingly New Labour" programme to show the party has not run out of steam and prevent the election becoming a referendum on the Prime Minister.

But Mr Brown is cautious about promising a new raft of reforms to extend the role of the market into public services that are not carefully thought out. As the clear front-runner to succeed Mr Blair before the election after next, the Chancellor does not want to inherit what allies call "half-baked policies and gimmicks."

Despite yesterday's show of unity, Labour MPs are worried that the media will now view everything through the prism of the Blair-Brown rift, and that the image of a divided party will take hold with the public. "We are not prepared to see the party self-destruct," one MP said last night. "But there is a fear that things are so bad that we won't be able to paper over the cracks for very long."

(MORE)

Related: http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/story.jsp?story=599657

LABOUR WOULD GET MASSIVE BOOST IF BROWN WERE LEADER
Exclusive poll: Vote would rise by one-third if Chancellor replaced Blair
By Andrew Grice, Political Editor

11 January 2005

Labour would enjoy a dramatic rise in support if Gordon Brown rather than Tony Blair led the party into the general election, according to a poll by NOP for The Independent.

The survey suggests that the Chancellor would increase Labour's ratings by a third - winning over people who are undecided or who would back the Liberal Democrats if Mr Blair remains his party's leader.

The findings will reignite the debate about whether Mr Blair should have quit last year. A book serialised at the weekend claimed that a promise to Mr Brown to stand down because he had become a liability after the Iraq war was broken.

(MORE)

3//The Daily Star, Lebanon Wednesday, January 12, 2005
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id...

IRAQ, TURKEY, U.S. DISCUSS TACKLING KURDISH REBELS
Sibel Utku Bila, Agence France Presse

ANKARA: Iraqi and U.S. officials Tuesday discussed with their Turkish counterparts measures to tackle Turkish Kurd militants hiding in northern Iraq, including intelligence cooperation, but failed to pledge any immediate military action.

Turkey has often expressed frustration over U.S. reluctance to employ military means against rebels from the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which both Ankara and Washington consider a terrorist group, since October 2003 when the two sides agreed on an action plan against the PKK, including military measures.

About 5,000 armed militants of the PKK, held responsible by Ankara for a 15-year civil conflict that claimed more than 30,000 lives in southeast Turkey, are believed to have found refuge in the mountains of neighboring northern Iraq since 1999 when the group declared a unilateral truce. Some of them have reportedly infiltrated Turkey recently to engage in renewed violence, after the PKK, now also known as KONGRA-GEL, called off the cease-fire on June 1. "We agreed on intelligence-sharing mechanisms ... on all kind of activities including the funding of terrorist groups," Iraqi Deputy Foreign Minister Hamid al-Bayati told reporters after the three-way talks in the Turkish capital.

"We discussed military measures but ... we are now at a stage of trying to secure the (Iraqi) election which is going to take place soon," he said. "Then we will have future meetings, but eventually, yes, we will take military actions."

Bayati said the priority at the moment was "to have bilateral meetings between our two governments to exchange information ... and to agree on measures in the future." He said any future action against the PKK would include the United States. A top U.S. general, in Ankara for separate talks with Turkish officials, said that US troops in Iraq are already swamped with unremitting violence in other parts of the conflict-torn country.

(MORE)

4//Asia Times Online, Hong Kong Jan 12, 2005
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/GA12Ak02.html

THE TAMING OF SADR CITY
By Michael Schwartz

(Michael Schwartz, professor of sociology at the State University of New York at Stony Brook has written extensively on popular protest and insurgency, and on American business and government dynamics.)

Sadr City - the overcrowded, under-serviced 3 million-person Baghdad slum that has been the site of some of the fiercest fighting in Iraq - is the linchpin of the war.

Though there have been more spectacular battles in Fallujah and Najaf, Sadr City is of paramount importance because it is the center of the Shi'ite rebellion, and the Shi'ites represent 60% of the Iraqi population. As a consequence, the Mehdi army - the military arm of the Sadrist movement that has dominated the area's politics for the past quarter century - has become the most important of all the insurgent groups, and a close look how it operates in its home base yields some startling conclusions about the trajectory of the struggle for control of Iraq:

• The Sadrists have developed an effective political-military strategy aimed at converting Sadr City into a "liberated area," in the classic guerrilla warfare model.
  
• Their main military strategy is to expel the US from their domain; only when they are under attack themselves do they venture outside Sadr City to attack US bases or supply routes.
  
• The al-Sadr organization is attempting to construct a coherent "dual" government that replaces the central government and which administers the usual set of public services - from traffic control to apprehending street criminals - within limits set by their inability to coordinate with a national government. This proto-government has been particularly assiduous in addressing the number one problem of public order, street crime, and has actually cooperated with the local police in this campaign.
  
• Mehdi soldiers - the guerrilla forces led by the Sadrists - though prone to thuggery, are largely under the control of this dual government, which is led by civilians - tribal leaders and Muslim clerics. The Mehdi soldiers act as the police force within the community.
  
• The Sadrists have been surprisingly successful in co-opting the Iraqi police, by rewarding them for working on community issues and fighting them when they participate in efforts to suppress the rebel political-military structure. American military complaints about the unreliability of their Iraqi trainees is actually a reflection of successfully applied guerrilla policy.
  
• The Sadrists have begun to enforce strict Islamist fundamentalism by suppressing such "moral crimes" as liquor sales and prostitution. The have utilized an ugly brand of vigilantism (firebombing, assaults and even homicide) to remove moral criminals from the community.
  
• The Sadrists, and parallel groups in other cities (notably Fallujah), have publicly denounced the spectacular bombings perpetrated by various terrorists groups, complaining about their negative impact on the lives and livelihoods of Iraqi civilians and calling for an active alliance with the Iraqi police in suppressing foreign jihadis and domestic terrorists.
  
• The organization in Sadr City is an echo of similar developments in Sunni cities (with Fallujah as the center), and it may foreshadow similar developments in the all-important Shi'ite south. The American attacks on various Iraqi cities, including the brutal battle of Fallujah, was an attempt to reverse this trend toward self-governed cities into which American forces rarely intrude.
  
• The existence of these dual governments in many cities rebuts American claims that US withdrawal would result in chaos. Ironically, just the reverse is true; US success in defeating the guerrillas would result in chaos, whereas a guerrilla victory would bring greater stability (and perhaps too strict an order) to the Iraqi cities.

(SNIP)

The US effort to destroy the insurgency can only succeed if it also destroys the ability of Iraqis to govern their own communities. Since the local clerics and tribal leaders have - from the very beginning - been instrumental in the resistance, defeating the guerrillas involves detaining or killing the leaders who form the backbone of local civil society. This became apparent in the fall of 2004, before the demolition of Fallujah, when the US failed to convince "moderates" in key cities to negotiate truce agreements that delivered militant leaders to the Americans for arrest and punishment. The failure of these negotiations left the US with the choice of conceding rule to the insurgents or attempting to reconquer the cities and removing the local leadership. In Fallujah, the US military leadership decided that they could only accomplish this by demolishing much of the city and converting the vast majority of residents into refugees.

Contrary to the almost universally accepted mantra, the US is not preventing chaos in Iraq, it is creating it.

So far, Sadr City has escaped the frontal assaults visited upon Tal Afar, Samarra, Mosul and Fallujah. In some sense, the failure of the American military to complete the pacification of these cities may be Sadr City's main protection, since the US troops have been stretched thin by the ongoing fighting there. Sadr City's status as the center of Shi'ite insurgency is another protection, since a full-scale attack there could well trigger insurrections throughout the currently quiescent Shi'ite areas of Iraq. As this article is written, the US has honored a semi-official truce that keeps American troops out of the guerrilla-held area, and therefore allows for the Sadrist government to continue its rule of the nascent city-state. As long as this lasts, there will be "law and order" in Sadr City, even if the law is anti-American and the order is fundamentalist Islam.

5//Spiegel Online, Germany January 11, 2005
http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international...

Spiegel’s Daily Take/Blog
MAKING MUSSOLINI'S GRANDDAUGHTER SMILE
Soccer Shame

Professional European soccer has once again hit a political low. This time, the culprit is Rome's hero, Lazio team captain Paolo di Canio. The question is, did di Canio, abuse his larger than life stature on the playing field to break a political taboo? You decide.

After scoring a stunning a goal on Thursday, di Canio -- who is one of the country's best-known players -- raised his right arm straight up to the crowd and gave what appeared to be a fascist salute. The Lazio fans -- a portion of whom are well-known to be right-wing racists -- erupted in cheers. Alessandra Mussolini, the granddaughter of World War II fascist dictator Benito Mussolini and herself the founder of a currently active far-right party was in attendance and applauded loudly. "What a delightful Roman salute!" she exclaimed. "I was deeply moved. I will write him a thank you note." Lazio was, after all, her grandfather's beloved soccer club and he often attended their games. Even now -- 60 years later -- the team maintains something of a fascist aura.

For his part, di Canio has defended the gesture, insisting it had nothing to do with politics and that it was not a political gesture. No? At the ripe age of 36, di Canio should know better and especially in Italy, where the wounds of fascism have yet to completely heal. After all, this is a man who has the word "Dux," a reference to Mussolini, tattooed on his arm. As a child, he also belonged to a right-wing Lazio fan group. And, in his autobiography, he writes that he was "fascinated" by Mussolini and that the dictator was "basically a very principled, ethical individual" who was "deeply misunderstood."

Lazio fans already have a reputation for their far-right leanings. Several times last year, fans showed up at games with swastikas and posters of Mussolini. With fans like these, players -- especially role models like di Canio -- should be especially cautious, rather than pointedly provocative. The head of Rome's soccer federation, Franco Baldini has criticized di Canio, saying he has "greatly damaged the image of his club." Italy's Minister for European Union affairs, the conservative Rocco Buttiglione, also expressed dismay. "The Roman salute brings back painful memories for many Italians," he said. "...He [di Canio] should think about the offspring of those who were killed and what it would be like for them to see that." Police and soccer officials are viewing video footage of the salute and trying to decide if it warrants a fine or penalties.

(MORE)