February 11, 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 FEBRUARY 11, 2005

1//Asia Times Online, Hong Kong--THE SHI’ITES’ FAUSTIAN PACT (Abdel Mahdi, currently the finance minister and a member of the SCIRI, remains a strong contender for prime minister, alongside Ibrahim al-Jafaari of Da'wa. On December 22, Mahdi - with US Under Secretary of State Alan Larson by his side - told the National Press Club in Washington in so many words, and to the delight of corporate US oil majors, that a new oil law would privatize Iraq's oil industry. The new law would allow investment in both downstream and "maybe even upstream" operations, meaning foreigners could become de facto owners of Iraqi oilfields. No wonder Mahdi has been touted by US corporate media as the next best candidate for prime minister after "the Americans' man", former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) asset and current Prime Minister Iyad Allawi.

Apart from an item by Inter Press Service at the time, Antonia Juhasz, a Foreign Policy in Focus scholar currently writing a book about the economic invasion of Iraq, has been the only one to sound alarm bells: Is it possible that Washington has made a deal - oil for power - with the SCIRI?)

2//Arab News, Saudi Arabia--WOMEN CAN’T BE LEFT FAR BEHIND (There was a mixed reaction among voters yesterday when Arab News asked them if they wanted to see women included in the next round of municipal elections as voters or candidates. Views varied between supporters of the move, and others who said women do not need to vote as their husbands, fathers, or brothers are doing the job on their behalf…Asked about the absence of women from the election scene, Dr. Abdul Aziz ibn Abdul Rahman Al-Thunayan, a Shoura Council member and professor of pedagogy, replied: “I was asked the same question by a woman journalist from the West and I said, ‘First of all, there are six million women in Saudi Arabia. I, as a member of the Shoura Council, a husband and a father, represent a large number of women voters in the Kingdom. And as we know, democracy is about majority. And if we go and ask six million women what they want, they would answer that they do not want to vote. They either want their men to vote for them, or do not want to vote at all. Women in Saudi Arabia are comfortable being represented by men…Mushabab’s views were not shared by another Saudi voter. Dr. Fahd Al-Tayyash, former editor in chief of Al-Majalla, said: “Women’s participation in the next round is coming. And it is inevitable. This is the law of evolution. I think that Saudi society has quite a good number of Saudi women of caliber who have valuable views on public life and progress as well as development.”)

3//The Chosun Ilbo, South Korea--WHAT DOES NORTH KOREA’S ‘INDEFINITE SUSPENSION’ OF SIX-PARTY TALKS MEAN? (North Korea expert Nam Seong-uk, a professor at Korea University, said North Korea launched a sudden sneak attack at a time when South Korea, the U.S. and Japan were preparing for the talks to resume. The North effectively wrong-footed the partners in the talks by playing both its talk suspension and nuclear weapons cards - in hopes of getting more out of the negotiations. Professor Nam said by “indefinite” Pyongyang meant the talks could reconvene as early as tomorrow: it was merely telling South Korea and the U.S. to offer security guarantees and economic compensation… One Unification Ministry official said, “It’s not impossible that North Korea may make a couple of even stronger statements in the days ahead.” He said it could try to stir things up by admitting that it did export nuclear materials or by restarting missile tests...The researcher also suspects that North Korea, which had been vague about the nuclear issue, might return stronger to the negotiating table after consolidating its position as a nuclear state. If this analysis is correct, it would appear that resumption of the talks will be delayed at most a couple of months from late March to April - which is what South Korea and the U.S. initially predicted.)

4//The Independent, UK--TORIES FEAR ‘FEELGOOD’ EFFECT ON MAY ELECTION (Senior Tories fear that Tony Blair will try to exploit the Prince of Wales's wedding by announcing just a few days before the nuptials that a general election will be held on 5 May…The Tories suspect Mr Blair has orchestrated the timing of both events. One Shadow Cabinet member said: "It was clearly part of the spin to try to give Blair a feelgood factor."…One Labour official admitted, however, that the timing of the wedding was "remarkably helpful". Downing Street said the Prime Minister had known about the wedding plans "for some time". Mr Blair's official spokesman said: "He only told a very, very few people - less than the fingers of one hand.")

5//Inter Press Service News Agency, Italy--DEBT RELIEF MOVES AHEAD, BUT DETAILS ARE FUZZY (An agreement by the group of seven most industrialised nations (G7) over the weekend to back 100 percent debt cancellation for poor nations has been applauded by long-time debt campaigners, but they warn that the proposal still faces some tough decisions. ”I think now it's very hard for G7 to go back on this move towards full debt cancellation,” said Neil Watkins, national coordinator of Jubilee USA Network, a prominent anti-debt group…Jubilee USA Network and the American Friends Service Committee's Life Over Debt Campaign say that the World Bank and the IMF both have significant funds available to fund full and permanent debt cancellation for impoverished nations struggling with the HIV/AIDS pandemic and other disasters…Activists argue that it is unacceptable for the two institutions -- whose missions explicitly involve poverty alleviation -- to sit on more than 50 billion dollars of spare funds when millions of people are dying daily for lack of food and health care. That 50 billion dollars happens to be precisely the amount of additional aid needed to achieve the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals, which seek to cut poverty and hunger in half by 2015; provide universal primary education; reduce child mortality by two-thirds; cut maternal mortality by three-quarters; promote gender equality; and reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases.)

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1//Asia Times Online, Hong Kong Feb 11, 2005
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/GB11Ak02.html

THE SHI’ITES’ FAUSTIAN PACT

In Najaf, the holy Shi'ite city, the grand ayatollahs are busy advancing a religious agenda: Ali al-Sistani, Mohammad Ishaq al-Fayad, Bashir al-Najafi and Mohammad Said Hakim compose the al-marja' iyyah (source of infallible authority on all religious matters). They are unanimous: the Shi'ite religious parties, the big winners in the elections, must implement Sharia (Islamic) law - and in fact this is one of the parties' top priorities. This does not mean that Sistani wants - or needs - to control an Iraqi theocracy: it means that the Shi'ite religious parties themselves - led by secular people - will give birth to an Iraqi Islamic republic.

Sistani's representatives have been stressing in the past few days that what matters for the grand ayatollah is equal rights for all. According to his senior aide, Mohammad al-Haboubi, the top priority in the writing of the future Iraqi constitution is "the preservation of the rights of all citizens, majority or minority, so they are all equal in the eyes of the law".

Most Shi'ite scholars insist the Americans must stay away from the writing of the new constitution. Whether the Americans like it or not, Sharia law will prevail over civil law. What's left is a matter of degree: how deep will Sharia in Iraq rule over everything - apart from stating that women may not shake hands with men, music is allowed only "if it is not for enjoyment" and daughters inherit less than sons?

Sistani will have the last word as far as who will be the new Iraqi prime minister, not to mention the turbulent process of drafting the permanent constitution. He will refuse to allow the Kurds a veto power over the constitution - something they already have thanks to an administrative law passed by the Americans. Baghdad sources confirm that a key reason for Sistani to "bless" the Shi'ite-dominated United Iraqi Alliance (UIA) was that he was assured a primordial role in drafting the constitution. Moreover, Sistani himself is infinitely more popular and respected than the two main Shi'ite parties, the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) and the Da'wa Party. For the majority of Sunnis and even for some secular Shi'ites, they are Iranian agents: during the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s, the SCIRI was on Iran's side, ie against Saddam. Without Sistani's "blessing", these parties would never have been voted for en masse on January 30.

What about all that oil?
Abdel Mahdi, currently the finance minister and a member of the SCIRI, remains a strong contender for prime minister, alongside Ibrahim al-Jafaari of Da'wa.

On December 22, Mahdi - with US Under Secretary of State Alan Larson by his side - told the National Press Club in Washington in so many words, and to the delight of corporate US oil majors, that a new oil law would privatize Iraq's oil industry. The new law would allow investment in both downstream and "maybe even upstream" operations, meaning foreigners could become de facto owners of Iraqi oilfields. No wonder Mahdi has been touted by US corporate media as the next best candidate for prime minister after "the Americans' man", former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) asset and current Prime Minister Iyad Allawi.

Apart from an item by Inter Press Service at the time, Antonia Juhasz, a Foreign Policy in Focus scholar currently writing a book about the economic invasion of Iraq, has been the only one to sound alarm bells: Is it possible that Washington has made a deal - oil for power - with the SCIRI?

This is the fine print that President George W Bush's freedom rhetoric does not cover. Iraq may have a new "elected" National Assembly and a new Iraqi constitution may be written in the next few months. But the fact is that during 2005 the US remains in total control. Follow the money: US$24 billion funded by American taxpayers toward the reconstruction, plus all the rules that have been passed by the US that control Iraq's economy, plus the military occupation.

(MORE)

2//Arab News, Saudi Arabia Friday, 11, February, 2005 (02, Muharram, 1426)
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=1&section=0&article=58847&d=11&m=2&y=2005

WOMEN CAN’T BE LEFT FAR BEHIND
Raid Qusti & Nasser Al-Salti, Arab News

RIYADH, 11 February 2005 — There was a mixed reaction among voters yesterday when Arab News asked them if they wanted to see women included in the next round of municipal elections as voters or candidates.

Views varied between supporters of the move, and others who said women do not need to vote as their husbands, fathers, or brothers are doing the job on their behalf.

Yet another group rejected the idea on the ground that Saudi Arabia has its own cultural and social aspects. A few did not specify their reasons, and said there was no need for their involvement. Asked about the absence of women from the election scene, Dr. Abdul Aziz ibn Abdul Rahman Al-Thunayan, a Shoura Council member and professor of pedagogy, replied: “I was asked the same question by a woman journalist from the West and I said, ‘First of all, there are six million women in Saudi Arabia. I, as a member of the Shoura Council, a husband and a father, represent a large number of women voters in the Kingdom. And as we know, democracy is about majority. And if we go and ask six million women what they want, they would answer that they do not want to vote. They either want their men to vote for them, or do not want to vote at all. Women in Saudi Arabia are comfortable being represented by men.

“For instance, in Saudi Arabia, it is the law itself, not the habit, which requires men to serve women and accommodate all their needs, i.e., housing, food, clothing, education, etc.
“She is a lady and we are the servants. Men are servants of women. So why should we drag women into issues normally handled by men?

(SNIP)

Mushabab’s views were not shared by another Saudi voter. Dr. Fahd Al-Tayyash, former editor in chief of Al-Majalla, said: “Women’s participation in the next round is coming. And it is inevitable. This is the law of evolution. I think that Saudi society has quite a good number of Saudi women of caliber who have valuable views on public life and progress as well as development.”

Asked about the justifications given by the Election Commission for the exclusion of women, he said: “I think the excuses are unreasonable. Nevertheless, in the next term it will be unavoidable.”
Muhammad Al-Yamani, another Saudi voter, said he does not see any reason why women cannot participate in the next round. “It’s a possibility. Why not? I wouldn’t think there would be any problem for women to participate. The electoral system for the council is not so old. And we can possibly see women voters in the next round.”

Abdullah Jabarti, another citizen who took part in yesterday’s historic elections, said citizens mean men and women.

“Women are citizens in the first place. And even if they are absent they influence opinion everywhere. Sooner or later they will participate. “Women are in every house. And women are half of our society. What is needed is the mechanism of having women participating in the elections and we can see that it is coming,” said Jabarti.

3//The Chosun Ilbo, South Korea Updated Feb.10,2005 21:28 KST
http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200502/200502100026.html

WHAT DOES NORTH KOREA’S ‘INDEFINITE SUSPENSION’ OF SIX-PARTY TALKS MEAN?

North Korea on Thursday poured cold water on expectations that the six-party talks on its nuclear program will get under way again. Through direct and indirect contacts at the beginning of the year, South Korea, the U.S., China and others had been setting the stage. Unification Minister Chung Dong-young had said during a Cabinet meeting Sunday that North Korea would decide its position on intra-Korean dialogue and the talks after February, and his government judged that Pyongyang would decide to take part.

(SNIP)

North Korea expert Nam Seong-uk, a professor at Korea University, said North Korea launched a sudden sneak attack at a time when South Korea, the U.S. and Japan were preparing for the talks to resume. The North effectively wrong-footed the partners in the talks by playing both its talk suspension and nuclear weapons cards - in hopes of getting more out of the negotiations. Professor Nam said by “indefinite” Pyongyang meant the talks could reconvene as early as tomorrow: it was merely telling South Korea and the U.S. to offer security guarantees and economic compensation.

In the opinion of Dongguk University professor Go Yu-hwan, North Korea expects the coming rounds of the six-party talks to be used to put pressure on it and issued the statement to dodge that pressure and force a change in U.S. policy. The North’s propaganda media has always insisted that the U.S. must abandon its hostile attitude toward Pyongyang before the talks can start again.

“It catches the eye that North Korea in the statement demands strategic decisions, like giving it a good reason to participate and creating conditions and an atmosphere in which it can expect results,” Institute of Foreign Affairs and National Security researcher Prof. Kim Song-han said. “To buy time, North Korea has put the put the ball back in the U.S. court.”

Experts also bring up the possibility that recent reports in the New York Times and Washington Post may have influenced the North Korean response. The papers reported the U.S. was “90 percent certain” that North Korea exported nuclear materials to Libya.

One Unification Ministry official said, “It’s not impossible that North Korea may make a couple of even stronger statements in the days ahead.” He said it could try to stir things up by admitting that it did export nuclear materials or by restarting missile tests. One researcher at the Korea Institute for National Unification, offering his personal opinion, said it could not be ruled out that North Korea would ultimately conduct a nuclear test. It would be a potentially lucrative gamble with the United States, he said.

The researcher also suspects that North Korea, which had been vague about the nuclear issue, might return stronger to the negotiating table after consolidating its position as a nuclear state. If this analysis is correct, it would appear that resumption of the talks will be delayed at most a couple of months from late March to April - which is what South Korea and the U.S. initially predicted.

4//The Independent, UK 11 February 2005
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/story.jsp?story=609935

TORIES FEAR ‘FEELGOOD’ EFFECT ON MAY ELECTION
By Andrew Grice

Senior Tories fear that Tony Blair will try to exploit the Prince of Wales's wedding by announcing just a few days before the nuptials that a general election will be held on 5 May.

Ministers believe Mr Blair will announce polling day on Monday, 4 April. There would then be a scramble to rush Bills through Parliament, which would be prorogued on the Thursday, the day before the wedding.

(SNIP)

The Tories suspect Mr Blair has orchestrated the timing of both events. One Shadow Cabinet member said: "It was clearly part of the spin to try to give Blair a feelgood factor."

Ministers denied the charge, saying that the election campaign would not start until the week after the wedding, which would take place during a brief "political pause". One Labour official admitted, however, that the timing of the wedding was "remarkably helpful".

Downing Street said the Prime Minister had known about the wedding plans "for some time". Mr Blair's official spokesman said: "He only told a very, very few people - less than the fingers of one hand."

5//Inter Press Service News Agency, Italy
http://ipsnews.net/interna.asp?idnews=27382

DEBT RELIEF MOVES AHEAD, BUT DETAILS ARE FUZZY
Emad Mekay

WASHINGTON, Feb 9 (IPS) - An agreement by the group of seven most industrialised nations (G7) over the weekend to back 100 percent debt cancellation for poor nations has been applauded by long-time debt campaigners, but they warn that the proposal still faces some tough decisions.

”I think now it's very hard for G7 to go back on this move towards full debt cancellation,” said Neil Watkins, national coordinator of Jubilee USA Network, a prominent anti-debt group.

”We'll judge any proposal that they put forth based on the standard which they have now set. In that sense, it's progress.”

However, the plan is still vague on issues like a commitment to actual cancellation, not just debt service relief, the need to apply it to all impoverished countries, and whether it should come without economic and political strings attached.

The G7 comprises Canada, Germany, France, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States, which dominate the executive boards of public lenders like the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and its sister institution, the World Bank.

”This is the first time as much as 100 percent debt relief has ever been detailed in a G7 communiqué,” said British Finance Minister Gordon Brown at the meeting's conclusion. ”It is the richest countries hearing the voices of the poor.”

However, one sign of the long road ahead is that despite appeals from civil society groups and developing nations to act quickly, differences among G7 members already abound over step one -- how to fund the plan.

The main proposals revolve around using the IMF's vast gold reserves. But this is shaping up as one of the thorniest issues, with some key countries still unconvinced.

Jubilee USA Network and the American Friends Service Committee's Life Over Debt Campaign say that the World Bank and the IMF both have significant funds available to fund full and permanent debt cancellation for impoverished nations struggling with the HIV/AIDS pandemic and other disasters.

They say that the World Bank can mobilise 10 billion dollars of reserves to fund cancellation, and could commit an additional 7.5 billion dollars in accumulated and future profits up to 2020. Meanwhile, IMF gold sales could generate another 35 billion dollars.

The potential gain from gold sales arises because the IMF understates the value of its total gold holdings in its financial statements. A hidden reserve of gold profits arises from the difference between the IMF book value and the market value of the gold..

Activists argue that it is unacceptable for the two institutions -- whose missions explicitly involve poverty alleviation -- to sit on more than 50 billion dollars of spare funds when millions of people are dying daily for lack of food and health care.

That 50 billion dollars happens to be precisely the amount of additional aid needed to achieve the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals, which seek to cut poverty and hunger in half by 2015; provide universal primary education; reduce child mortality by two-thirds; cut maternal mortality by three-quarters; promote gender equality; and reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases.

(MORE)

Copyright 2005, Gloria R. Lalumia