January 31, 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 31, 2005


1//The Daily Star, Lebanon--LOSING FEITH, OR IS THE BUSH TEAM SHEDDING ITS SHARPER EDGES? (The departure by mid-2005 of the number three man at the Defence Department, announced by the Pentagon Wednesday, marks the latest hint that President George W. Bush is moving foreign policy in a more centrist direction… ''I think they decided to get rid him of long ago but were afraid that doing so would have been seen as a tacit admission that Bush screwed up in Iraq,' said one administration official who asked not to be identified. He added that Feith's authority over policy had been gradually reduced over the past 18 months due to complaints about his performance from Congress, the uniformed military, and Washington's coalition partners in Iraq, particularly British Prime Minister Tony Blair who, according to one source, had asked Bush to remove Feith well over a year ago.)

2//Albawaba.com, Jordan--IRAN DENIES RUMORS CLAIMING FM "NEGOTIATED" WITH US SENATOR (Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi denied rumors circulated by various foreign media that Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi had entered into negotiations with an American senator on the sidelines of the ongoing World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.)

3//Islam Online.net, Qatar--KUWAITI ISLAMISTS FORM FIRST POLITICAL PARTY (Kuwaiti Islamists announced Saturday, January 29, the creation of the first political party not only in the emirate but also the Gulf region, with political reforms high on the agenda. "We will work to set up a society ruled by the teachings of Islam. It will seek the implementation of Islamic Shari`ah laws in all political, economic, legislative and social sectors," the nascent Ummah (Nation) Party’s spokesman Jaber al-Murri said in a statement reported by Reuters… Letters had been sent to Kuwaiti Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah, the parliament speaker and lawmakers to amend laws to allow formation of political parties, Mutairi added… "We hope that your government will amend laws restricting freedom in order to enable peaceful parties and political groups to operate freely," read the letter sent to the Kuwaiti premier. Mutairi said it is not expected that the government, which backs political pluralism and rotation of power in war-torn Iraq, will refuse to license the party’s formation. Political parties are not allowed in Gulf countries. There are some political groups operating in Kuwait, including a branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamic Constitutional Movement and the Salafist Movement… The launching ceremony of the new party were attended by officials from the US embassy in Kuwait.)

4//Asia Times Online, Hong Kong--CHINA'S WORSENING NORTH KOREAN HEADACHE
(The problem of China's intractable neighbor North Korea developing nuclear weapons could grow even worse for Beijing if the United States seeks United Nations Security Council sanctions against Pyongyang. Then what will China do? How will it vote? Will its problem with its old Korean ally become a Sino-US problem - or even crisis? …Now it is becoming clear that the evangelical Christian soldiers of the Bush administration are marching onward to a regime-change strategy against Pyongyang. Bush said in his inaugural address, "It is the policy of the United States to seek and support the growth of democratic movements and institutions in every nation and culture, with the ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our world... We will defend ourselves and our friends by force of arms when necessary." The US North Korean Human Rights Act of 2004 is another example of this regime-change strategy, as is the recent testimony by new Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.)

5//The Moscow Times, Russia--UKRAINE'S PRESIDENT TAKES THE STAGE (At a lunch with journalists Saturday, Yushchenko said it would soon be clear who had poisoned him during last fall's presidential election campaign. "I don't think it's a complicated case," he told a half-dozen journalists sitting at his table. "The circumstances are very specific, very obvious. The prosecutor general said yesterday that they are narrowing the scope of the investigation." He refused to identify the suspects. "This will have to be answered by the prosecutors," he said. He also refused to respond to a question on whether the trail will lead back to Moscow. "Can I refrain from answering this?" he said. If the evidence points to Russian involvement, it could complicate Yushchenko's efforts to patch things up with President Vladimir Putin, who backed his opponent in the disputed election. Both leaders, who met in Moscow on Jan. 24, have given assurances that they are ready to turn the page and will work together.)

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1//The Daily Star, Lebanon Monday, January 31, 2005
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition...

LOSING FEITH, OR IS THE BUSH TEAM SHEDDING ITS SHARPER EDGES?
The resignation of Undersecretary of Defense suggests the administration may be moving foreign policy in a more centrist direction

By Jim Lobe
Special to The Daily Star

The departure by mid-2005 of the number three man at the Defence Department, announced by the Pentagon Wednesday, marks the latest hint that President George W. Bush is moving foreign policy in a more centrist direction.

Combined with several other personnel shifts, as well as a concerted effort to reassure the public and U.S. allies abroad that last week's messianic inaugural address did not portend any dramatic new foreign-policy departures, the resignation of Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Douglas Feith suggests that the administration is deliberately shedding its sharper and more-radical edges. The fact that the Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security, John Bolton, who had hoped to be promoted to Deputy Secretary of State under Condoleezza Rice, has still not been assigned a new job, has contributed to that impression.

Like Feith, Bolton, the administration's most outspoken exponent of unilateralism, has generally been regarded as an extremist on key issues, such as Iraq, the International Criminal Court (ICC), and Iran and other nuclear proliferation issues, that have wreaked havoc on U.S. ties with its European allies. With a number senior posts, including Feith's, still unfilled, however, it remains too soon to conclude that Bush's second term will tack to the centre. While Rice's decision to appoint Trade Representative Robert Zoellick as her deputy and to rely on career diplomats - rather than political appointees as urged by Cheney and the neo-conservatives - for other top spots suggests strongly that the State Department will remain a realist redoubt in Bush's second term, other key vacancies remain up in the air. Speculation about who may replace Feith ranges from Bolton and another neo-conservative hard-liner and Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, Lewis Libby; to the more pragmatic, if hawkish, deputy assistant secretary of defence for Asia, Richard Lawless; while Elliott Abrams, Rice's former Middle East advisor, is considered the inside pick. Although neo-conservative, Abrams is considered more flexible - and far more diplomatic - than either Feith or Bolton.

While Feith's hard-line neo-conservative backers, including his mentor, former Defence Policy Board chairman Richard Perle, insisted that his decision to leave the administration was taken solely for "personal and family reasons" as stated in the Pentagon the announcement, many analysts dismissed that explanation, citing his well-known ideological zeal. ''I think they decided to get rid him of long ago but were afraid that doing so would have been seen as a tacit admission that Bush screwed up in Iraq'', said one administration official who asked not to be identified. He added that Feith's authority over policy had been gradually reduced over the past 18 months due to complaints about his performance from Congress, the uniformed military, and Washington's coalition partners in Iraq, particularly British Prime Minister Tony Blair who, according to one source, had asked Bush to remove Feith well over a year ago.

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2//Albawaba.com, Jordan 30-01-2005, 07:05
http://www.albawaba.com/en/news/179460

IRAN DENIES RUMORS CLAIMING FM "NEGOTIATED" WITH US SENATOR

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi denied rumors circulated by various foreign media that Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi had entered into negotiations with an American senator on the sidelines of the ongoing World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Speaking to the official IRNA news agency Saturday night, Asefi said that the foreign minister had only expressed his opinion in response to the remarks of one of the speakers of the World Economic Forum which was attended by global political and economic leaders.

He said that the American senator likewise expressed certain opinions of his own during their conversation.

Asefi stressed that no such negotiations took place during the Forum`s meetings but that various speakers did air many of their viewpoints on various issues.

3//Islam Online.net, Qatar Sun., Jan. 30, 2005- Dhul-Hijjah 20 - 18:20 GMT
http://www.islamonline.net/English/News/...

KUWAITI ISLAMISTS FORM FIRST POLITICAL PARTY

KUWAIT, January 30 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Kuwaiti Islamists announced Saturday, January 29, the creation of the first political party not only in the emirate but also the Gulf region, with political reforms high on the agenda.

"We will work to set up a society ruled by the teachings of Islam. It will seek the implementation of Islamic Shari`ah laws in all political, economic, legislative and social sectors," the nascent Ummah (Nation) Party’s spokesman Jaber al-Murri said in a statement reported by Reuters.

Women's legitimate rights will be guaranteed, in addition to backing political pluralism, peaceful transition of power, commitment to majority rule and rejection of all forms of political tyranny, added the statement.

Kuwait is the only Gulf country to have an elected parliament, but women are not allowed to vote or stand for public office.

The country’s 1962 constitution says that both men and women are equal. But an all-male parliament, in seeming direct opposition to the constitutional edict, has adopted laws barring women from voting.

In 1999, the country's ruler, Sheikh Jabir Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, issued a decree giving women full political rights. But the move was defeated in the National Assembly by 32 votes to 30.

In January 2001, Kuwaiti court rejected a request by women rights advocates granting women the right to vote in parliamentary elections.

Gulf Unity

The Ummah party said it would endeavor to achieve political, economic and military unity among the Gulf countries to protect the region and to dispense with the foreign military presence which threatens its sovereignty and independence.

There are thousands of US forces deployed in Gulf countries, including 30,000 in Kuwait alone.

The fledging party further added that the Arab League and the Organization of the Islamic Conference, the world's largest Muslim body, must be revamped to support the Palestinians and other Islamic causes.

(SNIP)

First Party

"This is the first party in the Gulf region," al-Murri told Reuters.

"It presents the concept of political pluralism through popular participation," he said.

Letters had been sent to Kuwaiti Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah, the parliament speaker and lawmakers to amend laws to allow formation of political parties, Mutairi added.

"We hope that your government will amend laws restricting freedom in order to enable peaceful parties and political groups to operate freely," read the letter sent to the Kuwaiti premier.

Mutairi said it is not expected that the government, which backs political pluralism and rotation of power in war-torn Iraq, will refuse to license the party’s formation.

Political parties are not allowed in Gulf countries.

There are some political groups operating in Kuwait, including a branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamic Constitutional Movement and the Salafist Movement.

There are also 15 Islamists in the 50-member Kuwaiti parliament.

The launching ceremony of the new party were attended by officials from the US embassy in Kuwait.

4//Asia Times Online, Hong Kong Jan 29, 2005
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/GA29Ad01.html

CHINA’S WORSENING NORTH KOREAN HEADACHE
By Kosuke Takahashi

TOKYO - The problem of China's intractable neighbor North Korea developing nuclear weapons could grow even worse for Beijing if the United States seeks United Nations Security Council sanctions against Pyongyang. Then what will China do? How will it vote? Will its problem with its old Korean ally become a Sino-US problem - or even crisis?

A Chinese diplomat close to the talks, speaking on condition of anonymity, showed this correspondent four four-character Chinese idioms commonly used in North Asia and specifically used these days to describe North Korea's duplicity, especially with China. An example: Speaking pleasing words but ready to stab you in the back.

On Friday, Reuters quoted diplomatic sources as saying China has proposed working-level talks to prepare for a fourth round of six-party talks. Three rounds have been held since August 2003. A fourth round had been scheduled for last September, but North Korea refused to attend, saying it would wait and see how US policy developed.

With US President George W Bush extolling freedom and tough, military-backed diplomacy in his second inaugural speech in Washington, China is falling further into a Catch-22 situation over the North Korean nuclear standoff. Beijing, host of the six-party talks, is faced with the problem of how to keep the negotiations from collapsing; it is lobbying Pyongyang to return to the negotiating table soon, and to respond to pressures from and requests by other parties, especially the United States, to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula for regional stability.

Chinese intellectuals suggest that North Korea is increasingly becoming a downright troublesome ally for China in its strategic and political relations. The more Pyongyang delays nuclear talks, the more Beijing loses face in the eyes of the international community as host nation, especially when China strives to promote proactive diplomacy in Asia and elsewhere as a rising economic and political power. The six parties are North and South Korea, China, Japan, Russia and the United States.

The true test of China's status as a responsible great power in international politics would surely come, possibly in the second half of this year, if and when the North Korean nuclear issue were finally taken to the Security Council, after Pyongyang's stubborn refusal to dismantle its estimated six to eight nuclear weapons and its nuclear-development program. Should the Security Council vote to impose economic sanctions upon North Korea, what stance would Beijing take? Would China abandon its longtime ally by at least not voting against economic sanctions? Or would China veto sanction efforts in order to protect the Hermit Kingdom? Or would it just abstain at the last minute?

US seeks regime change

Now it is becoming clear that the evangelical Christian soldiers of the Bush administration are marching onward to a regime-change strategy against Pyongyang. Bush said in his inaugural address, "It is the policy of the United States to seek and support the growth of democratic movements and institutions in every nation and culture, with the ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our world.... We will defend ourselves and our friends by force of arms when necessary." The US North Korean Human Rights Act of 2004 is another example of this regime-change strategy, as is the recent testimony by new Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

(MORE)

5//The Moscow Times, Russia Monday, January 31, 2005. Page 1.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2005/01/31/001.html

UKRAINE'S PRESIDENT TAKES THE STAGE
By Lynn Berry, Staff Writer

DAVOS, Switzerland -- The comparisons are inevitable. A year ago, it was the newly elected Mikheil Saakashvili who came to Davos to announce ambitious plans for transforming his country. Bursting with boyish energy, he seemed almost giddy from suddenly finding himself among world leaders curious to meet the young Georgian president.

This year it was Viktor Yushchenko in Davos holding out the promise of a new democratic country on former Soviet soil where corruption would no longer be tolerated.

When the new Ukrainian president rose to speak Friday before about 1,000 of the political and business elite gathered at the World Economic Forum, the well-heeled audience honored his bravery with a standing ovation.

His bruised and bumpy face enlarged on a giant video screen behind him, Yushchenko said Ukrainians had shown that they belong in Europe, and he laid out his plans for a future Ukraine worthy of membership in the continent's ultimate club, the European Union. He asked for the foreign investment necessary to help make these hopes a reality.

Some Davos participants said they found him too soft, lacking in charisma. Others saw, instead, a gentleness, perhaps a wiseness, which touched a chord. All saw a once-handsome face disfigured by dioxin poisoning that nearly took his life.

At a lunch with journalists Saturday, Yushchenko said it would soon be clear who had poisoned him during last fall's presidential election campaign. "I don't think it's a complicated case," he told a half-dozen journalists sitting at his table. "The circumstances are very specific, very obvious.

The prosecutor general said yesterday that they are narrowing the scope of the investigation."
He refused to identify the suspects. "This will have to be answered by the prosecutors," he said. He also refused to respond to a question on whether the trail will lead back to Moscow. "Can I refrain from answering this?" he said.

If the evidence points to Russian involvement, it could complicate Yushchenko's efforts to patch things up with President Vladimir Putin, who backed his opponent in the disputed election. Both leaders, who met in Moscow on Jan. 24, have given assurances that they are ready to turn the page and will work together.

Yushchenko said he would seek treatment for his disfigured face, though he would not say where. "I still cannot get used to the face of Yushchenko that you see today," he said at a news conference earlier Saturday.

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