January 14, 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 14, 2005

1//Asia Times Online, Hong Kong--ZOELLICK PLIES A NEW TRADE (The president's nomination of Condoleezza Rice as secretary of state and her selection of Robert Zoellick as her top deputy indicate that the ultra-hawks and neo-con foreign-policy revolutionaries won't completely dominate the second administration. Neither Rice nor Zoellick, who served as the US Trade Representative (USTR) during the first administration, is an ideologue. But neither are they moderate conservatives. Only when compared to such figures as Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and his deputies, such as Paul Wolfowitz, Stephen Cambone, and Douglas Feith, could they be considered moderates… Rice's surprise selection of Zoellick was greeted with an almost palpable sense of relief inside Washington's foreign-policy circles. The great fear, outside the neo-conservative and militarist camps, was that Vice President Richard Cheney and company would insist that the shrill unilateralist John Bolton, current under secretary for arms control, serve as Rice's deputy… A protege of James Baker, who served as treasury secretary during the Reagan administration and secretary of state during the Bush Sr administration, Zoellick has close ties to the Bush family. He was an adviser to George W Bush when he was governor of Texas and served as a foreign-policy adviser to presidential candidate Bush.)

2//The Independent, UK--BLAIR PAYS TRIBUTE TO 'THE MOST SUCCESSFUL CHANCELLOR SINCE WAR' (Tony Blair took steps to heal his rift with Gordon Brown yesterday by accepting the Chancellor's criticism that the Labour government had not fulfilled the hopes the nation had when it came to power in 1997. In a speech launching Labour's "long campaign" for a 5 May general election, the Prime Minister lavished praise on Mr Brown, who he called "the most successful British post-war Chancellor." He vowed to fight the election on an "unremittingly New Labour" ticket and put the economy at the heart of the campaign. "Everything we do must be for this one central purpose: increased personal prosperity and well-being for all," he said. The Prime Minister hopes Labour's strong economic record will help it to break through the "trust barrier" it faces in the electorate because of the Iraq war. The party will also trumpet the help it has given to people on low incomes in the hope of wooing more affluent voters disillusioned with Mr Blair over Iraq.)

3//Inter Press Service News Agency, Italy--SOON-TO-BE-RELEASED GUANTANAMO DETAINEE MULLS LEGAL ACTION (The U.S. and Australian governments could face legal action for damages after the Pentagon announced that it would release Australian citizen Mumdouh Habid from the notorious Guantanamo Bay prison, in Cuba, after three years in detention without charges… According to the court document Habib said he had been forced to stand on an electrified drum. ''When Mr. Habib did not give the answers his interrogators wanted, they threw a switch and a jolt of electricity ran through the rod, electrifying the drum on which Mr. Habib stood,'' the document stated… At a media conference on Wednesday, Australian Prime Minister tersely dismissed the suggestion that an apology to Habib was warranted. ''We don't have any apology to offer,'' he bluntly told reporters at a media briefing in Canberra. "No, we won't be offering compensation," he said. ''I haven't questioned, the right of the (North) Americans, given the circumstances, to apprehend him. But we have argued all along that they had to either charge him or let him go,'' added Howard.)

4//The Daily Star, Lebanon--ARAMCO CONFIDENT IN UPDATED SECURITY MEASURES FOLLOWING AL-QAEDA THREAT (Threats by Al-Qaeda to attack Gulf oil installations sent jitters through international markets last year but employees at Saudi Arabia's oil giant Aramco are now confident their security measures are adequate. Along the shores of the Gulf at Ras Tannura, the world's largest outlet of crude oil, Aramco staff do not readily provide information about security but seem self-assured all the same. "We have a (security) system in place... We also cooperate with the government," said a company representative standing on the largest oil tank-farm in the world, which with its adjacent refinery together have a total storage capacity of 52 million barrels… But according to one company official, Aramco's security set-up does not include monitoring the skies over the installations, which falls under the responsibility of the government's air defenses. The radar system also does not detect small fishing boats, which could be used in suicide attacks, such as the small inflatable vessel that ripped a huge hole in the side of the American destroyer U.S.S. Cole in Yemen in October 2000, killing 17 American sailors, which was claimed by Al-Qaeda.)

5//Xinhuanet.com, China--US TO CONSIDER SUPPORTING INDIA FOR SECURITY COUNCIL (The US will consider supporting India for permanent membership of the United Nations Security Council after examining a second report on reforming the world body, the American envoy said Thursday, according to Indo-Asian News Service. Ambassador David Mulford said that the US administration would consider the issue after UN Secretary General Kofi Annan issued his own report on the issue in March. "The administration will also take into account the views of the US Congress," he said.)

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1//Asia Times Online, Hong Kong Jan 14 2005
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Global...

ZOELLICK PLIES A NEW TRADE
By Tom Barry

To what degree do neo-conservatives and militarists control US foreign policy? And how much influence do the less ideological figures such as National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice have over President George W Bush?

Those were the questions continually debated by foreign-policy observers during the last three years of the first Bush administration. And at the onset of Bush's second term, assessing the new ideological-realist balance in the foreign policy team is the main topic of Washington's foreign-policy community.

The president's nomination of Condoleezza Rice as secretary of state and her selection of Robert Zoellick as her top deputy indicate that the ultra-hawks and neo-con foreign-policy revolutionaries won't completely dominate the second administration. Neither Rice nor Zoellick, who served as the US Trade Representative (USTR) during the first administration, is an ideologue. But neither are they moderate conservatives. Only when compared to such figures as Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and his deputies, such as Paul Wolfowitz, Stephen Cambone, and Douglas Feith, could they be considered moderates.

Both Rice and Zoellick are non-ideological foreign-policy operatives who are not idealists or true believers. Rather, they are realists who accept the neo-conservative premise of US global supremacy but want to manage that power wisely to further their notions of US national security and interests. At first glance, Zoellick could be mistaken for an ideologue, as an evangelist for free trade and a member of the neo-conservative vanguard. But when his political trajectory is more closely observed, Zoellick is better understood as a "can-do" member of the Republican foreign-policy elite - a diplomat who always keeps his eye on the prize, namely the interests of Corporate America and US global hegemony. Based on his record in the administration of president George H W Bush and the current Bush presidency, Zoellick is highly regarded as an astute deal-maker.

Rice's surprise selection of Zoellick was greeted with an almost palpable sense of relief inside Washington's foreign-policy circles. The great fear, outside the neo-conservative and militarist camps, was that Vice President Richard Cheney and company would insist that the shrill unilateralist John Bolton, current under secretary for arms control, serve as Rice's deputy.

(SNIP)

A protege of James Baker, who served as treasury secretary during the Reagan administration and secretary of state during the Bush Sr administration, Zoellick has close ties to the Bush family. He was an adviser to George W Bush when he was governor of Texas and served as a foreign-policy adviser to presidential candidate Bush.

A new Republican foreign policy

Zoellick's essay in Foreign Affairs in January 2000 titled "Campaign 2000: A Republican Foreign Policy" highlighted Zoellick's grasp of the radical new foreign-policy directions that would come with a Bush Jr administration. Zoellick faulted the administration of president Bill Clinton for focusing too narrowly on economic policy and for promoting social and environmental clauses within free trade organizations, as Clinton did at the outset of the World Trade Organization (WTO) ministerial in Seattle. He spelled out a new foreign policy that would be based on the preeminence of military power - a concept of a new American century in which unquestioned US military superiority would allow the United States to shape international order.

Zoellick was perhaps the first associate of Bush Jr to introduce the concept of "evil" into the construct of Bush's radical overhaul of US grand strategy. A year before Bush was inaugurated, Zoellick wrote: "A modern Republican foreign policy recognizes that there is still evil in the world - people who hate America and the ideas for which it stands. Today, we face enemies who are hard at work to develop nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons, along with the missiles to deliver them. The United States must remain vigilant and have the strength to defeat its enemies. People driven by enmity or by a need to dominate will not respond to reason or goodwill. They will manipulate civilized rules for uncivilized ends."

Although regarded as a pragmatic promoter of US economic interests, Zoellick has an idealist streak that also aligns him with the neo-conservatives. In his Foreign Affairs article, Zoellick points to the need for a foreign policy that recognizes the "appeal of the country's ideas are unparalleled," and points favorably to the idealism of presidents Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson in promoting their visions of an international order based on their visions of America's transformational role in world history.

(MORE)

2//The Independent, UK 14 January 2005
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/...

BLAIR PAYS TRIBUTE TO 'THE MOST SUCCESSFUL CHANCELLOR SINCE WAR'
By Andrew Grice, Political Editor

Tony Blair took steps to heal his rift with Gordon Brown yesterday by accepting the Chancellor's criticism that the Labour government had not fulfilled the hopes the nation had when it came to power in 1997.

In a speech launching Labour's "long campaign" for a 5 May general election, the Prime Minister lavished praise on Mr Brown, who he called "the most successful British post-war Chancellor".

He vowed to fight the election on an "unremittingly New Labour" ticket and put the economy at the heart of the campaign. "Everything we do must be for this one central purpose: increased personal prosperity and well-being for all," he said.

The Prime Minister hopes Labour's strong economic record will help it to break through the "trust barrier" it faces in the electorate because of the Iraq war. The party will also trumpet the help it has given to people on low incomes in the hope of wooing more affluent voters disillusioned with Mr Blair over Iraq.

He said: "We know what works. New Labour works. But we have more to do to fulfil the promise of that early vision - to do what it takes to further improve the lives and living standards of the British people, all of them, not some of them, unshackled by old thinking, vested interests or political correctness, left or right."

This was intended as an olive branch to Mr Brown, who is worried that Labour is in danger of squandering the goodwill it enjoyed when it took power after the 1997 election and of failing to create the "new politics" it promised.

The Chancellor told The Independent last month: "We must open up new alliances. In 1997, people voted for progressive politics as well as progressive policies."

Yesterday, Mr Blair insisted that the economy was always going to be "centre stage" in Labour's campaign, dismissing claims from the Brown camp that the Prime Minister wanted to focus on a new raft of public sector reforms. One Blair aide said: "That was a deliberate canard - we were always going to do both."

Earlier this week, Mr Blair was furious with Mr Brown over a new book which claimed the Chancellor told him he would never trust him again after he changed his mind about standing down last year. But yesterday he tried to cement the fragile truce he has struck with Mr Brown.

(SNIP)

3//Inter Press Service News Agency, Italy January 13, 2005
http://ipsnews.net/interna.asp?idnews=27019

SOON-TO-BE-RELEASED GUANTANAMO DETAINEE MULLS LEGAL ACTION
Bob Burton

CANBERRA (IPS) - The U.S. and Australian governments could face legal action for damages after the Pentagon announced that it would release Australian citizen Mumdouh Habid from the notorious Guantanamo Bay prison, in Cuba, after three years in detention without charges.

While Habib's legal team was taken by surprise by the Pentagon's decision, future legal moves will only be taken after his return to Australia, which is expected to be next week. ''We just want to get him home first,'' said Habib's main lawyer, Stephen Hopper.

Possibilities for legal action include defamation suits against Australian politicians and suits against U.S. officials for contravening the U.S. Torture Act. Australian government agencies will also be targeted for failing to protect the rights of a citizen while he was overseas.

''We have just got to wait and see what happens when he (Habib) comes home ... and debrief him and find out what has gone on and whether he wishes to proceed with anything,'' Hopper told IPS.

Last week lawyers for Habib filed a document with a U.S. court alleging that Habib was tortured on Oct. 5, 2001 after being detained on a bus while traveling from the Afghanistan-Pakistan border to the Pakistani city of Karachi.

In his affidavit, Habib said that men with a North American accent interrogated him with an Australian official present. The Australian government denies that one of its officers witnessed the torture.

Habib was subsequently moved to Egypt where his lawyers allege he was ''subjected to unspeakable brutality'' over a six-month period. He was moved once more to the U.S. military base at Bagram in Afghanistan and then, on May 4, 2002 to the notorious Camp X-Ray at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba where it is also alleged he was mistreated.

According to the court document Habib said he had been forced to stand on an electrified drum. ''When Mr. Habib did not give the answers his interrogators wanted, they threw a switch and a jolt of electricity ran through the rod, electrifying the drum on which Mr. Habib stood,'' the document stated.

(SNIP)

The U.S has claimed that Habib had prior knowledge of the Sep. 11 attacks in the United States and had trained with al-Qaeda.

But lawyers for Habib dismiss the accusation as ludicrous. ''As far as I'm aware the only evidence they have got against Mumdouh Habib are these admissions induced under torture. What are they worth?'' asked Hopper.

A U.S. Pentagon statement on Tuesday announced the release of the Habib and four remaining British men and insisted on describing them as ''enemy combatants''. It said the five would be released on the grounds that ''the governments of the United Kingdom (Britain) and Australia have accepted responsibility for these individuals and will work to prevent them from engaging in or otherwise supporting terrorist activities in the future.''

(SNIP)

At a media conference on Wednesday, Australian Prime Minister tersely dismissed the suggestion that an apology to Habib was warranted. ''We don't have any apology to offer,'' he bluntly told reporters at a media briefing in Canberra. "No, we won't be offering compensation," he said.

''I haven't questioned, the right of the (North) Americans, given the circumstances, to apprehend him. But we have argued all along that they had to either charge him or let him go,'' added Howard.

While Australian Attorney-General Phillip Ruddock has repeatedly acknowledged that Habib cannot be prosecuted under existing Australian law, Howard refused to concede that Habib should be considered innocent. ''It is not for me to proclaim matters of guilt or innocence. That is the last thing that a member of the executive should do,'' he said.

Australian Greens Senator Bob Brown, who gained major coverage in the United States when he interrupted the speech by U.S. President George W. Bush to the Australian Parliament in October 2003 to protest against the illegal detentions in Guantanamo Bay, has welcomed the Australian's impending release.

''The Bush administration, after torturing Habib, now admits it has no case against Mr. Habib that would stand up in a U.S. court,'' Brown said.

(MORE)

4//The Daily Star, Lebanon Friday, January 14, 2005
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition...

ARAMCO CONFIDENT IN UPDATED SECURITY MEASURES FOLLOWING AL-QAEDA THREAT
Despite constant monitoring, installations remain vulnerable to suicide attacks

By Ali Khalil
Agence France Presse

RAS TANNURA, Saudi Arabia: Threats by Al-Qaeda to attack Gulf oil installations sent jitters through international markets last year but employees at Saudi Arabia's oil giant Aramco are now confident their security measures are adequate. Along the shores of the Gulf at Ras Tannura, the world's largest outlet of crude oil, Aramco staff do not readily provide information about security but seem self-assured all the same. "We have a (security) system in place... We also cooperate with the government," said a company representative standing on the largest oil tank-farm in the world, which with its adjacent refinery together have a total storage capacity of 52 million barrels. An eerie silence prevails while hardly a police car appears to patrol the premises. But this stretch, sandwiched between the vast desert and the waters, feels secure. Two barbed-wire fences surround the installations located in the oil-rich eastern province, as the land beyond the fence reveals pristine deserts save for the pipelines linking Ras Tannura to other oil installations throughout the vast kingdom.

Sitting in the watchroom at the top of a 60-meter-tall control tower, the chief pilot boasts that every vessel moving across the adjacent waters appears on the radar system. Saudi "coast guards and Aramco's own security patrol the waters all night," he said, stressing the effectiveness of the security measures. But according to one company official, Aramco's security set-up does not include monitoring the skies over the installations, which falls under the responsibility of the government's air defenses. The radar system also does not detect small fishing boats, which could be used in suicide attacks, such as the small inflatable vessel that ripped a huge hole in the side of the American destroyer U.S.S. Cole in Yemen in October 2000, killing 17 American sailors, which was claimed by Al-Qaeda. Such dangers could render the Sea Island, a half-kilometer long metal platform which can dock six tankers at a time, vulnerable to attacks by small boats eluding the radar's range. The chief pilot nevertheless played down such a threat, insisting that coast guards monitor the waters thoroughly.

(MORE)

5//Xinhuanet.com, China 2005-01-14 01:32:32
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005...

US TO CONSIDER SUPPORTING INDIA FOR SECURITY COUNCIL

NEW DELHI, Jan. 13 (Xinhuanet) -- The US will consider supporting India for permanent membership of the United Nations Security Council after examining a second report on reforming the world body, the American envoy said Thursday, according to Indo-Asian News Service.

Ambassador David Mulford said that the US administration would consider the issue after UN Secretary General Kofi Annan issued his own report on the issue in March.

"The administration will also take into account the views of the US Congress," he said.

Mulford's remarks came shortly after a four-member US congressional delegation, currently touring India, expressed support for India being given permanent membership of the Security Council with veto power.

"There is no tier position. If a country is on (the Security Council), it will have the same powers as others," Senator Sam Brownback told a news conference Thursday.

(SNIP)

In December, Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed his support for permanent Security Council membership with veto power to India, but the US has so far not commented publicly on the issue.