February 28, 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.

* * *

WORLD MEDIA WATCH FOR FEBRUARY 28, 2005

1//GulfNews Online, United Arab Emirates--OPINION: A SEPARATE EUROPE LOOKS THE BETTER BET (…One can sum up that choice very simply: either the EU develops a defence dimension or Nato develops a trade and economics dimension. If the former, then Europe and America will eventually go their separate ways. If the latter, then the Euro-Atlantic community will become the next major player in world politics. At the moment a separate Europe looks the better bet. But there were signs in the president's speeches with their heartfelt and almost desperate emphasis on keeping Nato as the main Atlantic institution that he realises what is at stake. If he decides to fight for a united West under US leadership, however, then he will have the "Mother of All Battles" on his hands. And there will quickly be an end to all the smiles.)

2//The Independent, UK--NO 10 IN NEW DIRTY TRICKS ROW OVER ROLE OF US ‘GARBAGE MAN’ (Labour has hired an American spin doctor known as the "garbage man" for publishing pictures doctored to show George Bush taking cocaine. The party faces controversy over "dirty tricks" after it said Zack Exley, 35, is working full-time on its campaign. He is notorious in Washington as an expert in the use of the internet to spread black propaganda. President Bush was moved to call him a "garbage man." Other stunts included fake photographs of Mr Bush smoking a joint and spoof articles by him… A Labour Party spokeswoman said: "Zack Exley is working for the party as a campaign consultant specifically using his experience of working on www.moveon.org.")

3//The Daily Times, Pakistan--BENAZIR TO DISCUSS DEMOCRACY WITH US OFFICIALS (Benazir Bhutto, the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) chairperson and former premier, will visit the United States next week amid reports of new political arrangements in Pakistan. PPP sources said Ms Bhutto hoped to meet senior US officials in Washington to discuss “the eventual restoration of democracy in Pakistan.”)

Related: GOVT DISCUSSING POLLS WITH BENAZIR: RASHID

4//The Jordan Times, Jordan--KING MEETS SYRIAN PM, SAYS ARAB SUMMIT TO ACTIVATE PEACE INITIATIVE (HIS MAJESTY KING Abdullah on Sunday said Jordan's current efforts focus on achieving a just, comprehensive and sustainable peace in the region, including the Syrian and Lebanese tracks… The King said next month's Arab summit in Algeria is to look into means to activate and implement the initiative, which offers Israel recognition by all Arab countries in exchange for full withdrawal from all territory occupied in the Israeli-Arab wars of 1967 and 1973.)

5//The Moscow Times, Russia--HOUSTON COURT REJECTS YUKOS APPEAL (A Houston bankruptcy judge has dismissed Yukos' petition for bankruptcy protection in the United States, apparently lifting a major barrier in the Kremlin's drive to create a national energy champion via the merger of Gazprom with state-owned oil firm Rosneft. The ruling, issued late Thursday and immediately disputed in an appeal filed by Yukos the next day, came after days of deliberation in an unprecedented case that sought to pit the U.S. legal system against the Russian government over its plans to break up Yukos over back taxes… But in what Judge Letitia Clark called the "largest bankruptcy case ever filed in the United States," she ruled that Yukos' "sheer size" and "impact on the entirety of the Russian economy weighs heavily in favor of allowing resolution in a forum in which participation of the Russian government is assured," according to a copy of her ruling… But even as Yukos pushes to keep its case in the U.S. bankruptcy system, analysts said Clark's initial ruling appeared to give little hope for the oil major. "It's really difficult to see after all the deliberations that any appeal will be successful," said Steven Dashevsky, head of research at Aton.)

* * *

1//GulfNews Online, United Arab Emirates 27/2/2005, 07:50 (UAE)
http://www.gulfnews.com/Articles/Opinion...

OPINION: A SEPARATE EUROPE LOOKS THE BETTER BET

By John O' Sullivan
John O'Sullivan, former adviser to Lady Thatcher, is currently editor of "The National Interest" and a member of Benador Associates.

President Bush's tour of Europe has been full of smiles. Those smiles from both Bush and the European leaders he was meeting were carefully planned in advance.

The trip was designed to restore harmonious relations between Europe and the United States following their differences over the Iraq war.

Yet it almost went wrong before it began. Exactly one week before Bush's arrival, Gerhard Schroeder, the German chancellor, sent a speech to a Western security conference in Munich that amounted to a sudden snatching away of the "welcome" mat.

He dismissed Nato as an out-of-date organisation, suggested that transatlantic relations should be managed henceforth through the European Union, and called for a committee of "wise men" to ponder and propose some such new model of US-European allied cooperation.

(SNIP)

It is hard to overstate the significance of this speech. Until a few years ago, Germany was seen by Washington as the "swing" country in Europe.

The British were reliably pro-American and Atlanticist; the French were reliably opposed; but as long as the Germans remained on the Atlanticist side, all would be well with the transatlantic alliance.

Now the German chancellor was serving notice that Berlin had switched firmly to the French side and wanted the EU to be a "counterweight" to American power.

No one took comfort from the official assurances that Schroeder was merely thinking aloud. Heads of government do not think aloud unless they want their thoughts to signal a new direction in policy.

(SNIP)

Only in the most exceptional cases, however, do summits and presidential trips end in public failure. They are arranged in advance down to the smallest detail by advance committees of so-called sherpas to ensure success.

So each side made modest concessions to the other. Nato's European members agreed to send military and police training missions to Iraq.

Bush reiterated several times that he had no plans to invade Iran. There were expressions of high regard all round. The media reported an improvement in relations.

But the underlying dispute over the shape of the Atlantic alliance remained.

The United States supports the traditional model: an alliance in which the United States is the leader of middling and smaller powers acting together in world politics.

France and Germany, on the other hand, want the EU to develop into a single superpower with its own foreign policy and armed forces. Such an "equal partner" would inevitably develop as a rival to the United States in world politics.

And the West would gradually separate into two powers both superpowers but neither enjoying the overwhelming dominance of today's West.

Until very recently Washington has largely ignored this threat. How could an EU that spent an average of only 1.5 per cent of its gross domestic product on defence be a rival?

But Europe was never going to invade the United States. It could nonetheless damage US interests in lesser but still serious ways.

I can cite two examples:

1. A French "Green" politician, Noel Mamere, led a recent news broadcast with this statement: "The good thing about the European Constitution is that with it the United Kingdom will not be able to support the United States in a future war."

2. The new head of the European Defence Agency, Nick Witney, who is responsible for co-ordinating European defence procurement, said: "In matters of technology I think Europe is engaged in competition with America."

In other words an EU formed on Franco-German lines would prevent America's closest allies in Europe from cooperating with the United States in major crises and redirect defence spending away from joint Euro-American projects towards wholly European ones.

Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair is generally seen in world politics as the personal friend and political ally of Bush.

On a range of issues such as the development of a European defence force, however, the British under Tony Blair have quietly moved away from the United States towards the Franco-German position.

Franco-German vision

Blair keeps saying he does not want to choose between Europe and America. But when Paris and Berlin force him to do so, he always chooses Europe with the single exception of Iraq.

That will continue as long as the Franco-German vision of Europe is the dominant one or indeed the only one available.

(SNIP)

One can sum up that choice very simply: either the EU develops a defence dimension or Nato develops a trade and economics dimension.

If the former, then Europe and America will eventually go their separate ways. If the latter, then the Euro-Atlantic community will become the next major player in world politics.

At the moment a separate Europe looks the better bet. But there were signs in the president's speeches with their heartfelt and almost desperate emphasis on keeping Nato as the main Atlantic institution that he realises what is at stake.

If he decides to fight for a united West under US leadership, however, then he will have the "Mother of All Battles" on his hands. And there will quickly be an end to all the smiles.

2//The Independent, UK 27 February 2005
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/...

NO 10 IN NEW DIRTY TRICKS ROW OVER ROLE OF US ‘GARBAGE MAN’
By Francis Elliott, Deputy Political Editor

Labour has hired an American spin doctor known as the "garbage man" for publishing pictures doctored to show George Bush taking cocaine. The party faces controversy over "dirty tricks" after it said Zack Exley, 35, is working full-time on its campaign.

He is notorious in Washington as an expert in the use of the internet to spread black propaganda. President Bush was moved to call him a "garbage man". Other stunts included fake photographs of Mr Bush smoking a joint and spoof articles by him.

Mr Bush's team tried to close down one website run by Mr Exley during the 2000 presidential campaign. Mr Bush's supporters cried foul again last year after he was brought into the Kerry campaign fresh from running another Bush-baiting website, MoveOn. He has also worked with Stan Greenberg, a business partner of Philip Gould, Tony Blair's personal pollster.

A Labour Party spokeswoman said: "Zack Exley is working for the party as a campaign consultant specifically using his experience of working on www.moveon.org."

Jitters over the faltering campaign led Robin Cook to call for Gordon Brown to be given a greater role. "I have a grave anxiety about the negative tone of the campaigning we've done," the former foreign secretary said. "Two months of mud wrestling" with Tories would only help the Liberal Democrats.

(MORE)

3//The Daily Times, Pakistan Monday, February 28, 2005
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp...

BENAZIR TO DISCUSS DEMOCRACY WITH US OFFICAILS

WASHINGTON (SANA): Benazir Bhutto, the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) chairperson and former premier, will visit the United States next week amid reports of new political arrangements in Pakistan.

PPP sources said Ms Bhutto hoped to meet senior US officials in Washington to discuss “the eventual restoration of democracy in Pakistan.”

Although Pakistan has had a parliament and an elected government since October 2002, the real power is in the hands of President General Pervez Musharraf, who toppled an elected government in 1999.

Earlier this month, a US State Department spokesman urged General Musharraf to quit the army, rule as a civilian president and ensure the participation of all political parties in the 2007 elections. On February 24, General Musharraf told reporters that his government was in touch with Ms Bhutto.

RELATED:

GOVT DISCUSSING POLLS WITH BENAZIR: RASHID
Insists there will be elections in 2007
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default....

ISLAMABAD/LAHORE: The government is in contact with former prime minister Benazir Bhutto and discussing election dates with the Pakistan People’s Party chief, Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed has said.

Talking to a private television channel, Ahmed said the final round of talk had not yet been completed. “Only a sketch has been formed and it has not yet been finalised,” he said.

Asked whether he thought Bhutto’s visit to the United States would cause a change in the Pakistani political scene, he said there would only be a change after general elections in 2007.

He said that the PPP and the government had also discussed general elections. The PPP wanted elections in 2005, but the government was determined that elections would be held on schedule in 2007 after the current assemblies complete their tenure. At a press conference in Lahore on Sunday, Ahmed said the government was trying to reach a “broad understanding” with the opposition parties, but this would take some time.

“It would be unwise not to grasp the post-9/11 political scenario. I am confident that government-opposition meetings will yield positive results,” he added. He said the government and opposition were discussing every issue.

(MORE)

4//The Jordan Times, Jordan Monday, February 28, 2005
http://www.jordantimes.com/mon/home...

KING MEETS SYRIAN PM, SAYS ARAB SUMMIT TO ACTIVATE PEACE INITIATIVE
Agencies

HIS MAJESTY KING Abdullah on Sunday said Jordan's current efforts focus on achieving a just, comprehensive and sustainable peace in the region, including the Syrian and Lebanese tracks.

King Abdullah told Syrian Prime Minister Mohammad Naji Al Otari at a Royal Court meeting that the Arab Peace Initiative "is the way" to end the Israeli-Arab conflict and achieve security and stability in the Middle East, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

The King said next month's Arab summit in Algeria is to look into means to activate and implement the initiative, which offers Israel recognition by all Arab countries in exchange for full withdrawal from all territory occupied in the Israeli-Arab wars of 1967 and 1973.

Petra quoted the Monarch as saying that Jordan was keen on implementing international resolutions related to regional issues.

He stressed that the Kingdom was also keen on Lebanon's unity, sovereignty and security.
The King, meanwhile, said Jordan shares Syria's interest in boosting bilateral ties and cooperation in all fields.

Otari arrived in Amman yesterday on a two-day visit to head the meetings of Higher Jordanian-Syrian Committee with Prime Minister Faisal Fayez.

(MORE)

5//The Moscow Times, Russia Monday, February 28, 2005. Issue 3114. Page 1.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories...

HOUSTON COURT REJECTS YUKOS APPEAL
By Catherine Belton, Staff Writer

A Houston bankruptcy judge has dismissed Yukos' petition for bankruptcy protection in the United States, apparently lifting a major barrier in the Kremlin's drive to create a national energy champion via the merger of Gazprom with state-owned oil firm Rosneft.

The ruling, issued late Thursday and immediately disputed in an appeal filed by Yukos the next day, came after days of deliberation in an unprecedented case that sought to pit the U.S. legal system against the Russian government over its plans to break up Yukos over back taxes.

The proceedings had put the brakes on a Kremlin push to merge Gazprom with Rosneft -- which acquired Yukos' main production unit, Yuganskneftegaz, after a December auction -- over fears Rosneft could face legal action for being in breach of U.S. law.

But in what Judge Letitia Clark called the "largest bankruptcy case ever filed in the United States," she ruled that Yukos' "sheer size" and "impact on the entirety of the Russian economy weighs heavily in favor of allowing resolution in a forum in which participation of the Russian government is assured," according to a copy of her ruling.

The Russian government had not sent any representatives to participate in the Houston hearings and had reacted angrily to the case, claiming the Yukos affair was a matter for Russian courts to decide.

Before the Dec. 19 sale of Yuganskneftegaz as partial payment for $27.5 billion in back taxes, Yukos produced 20 percent of the nation's oil output. Thursday's ruling could signal the end for Yukos, opening the way for the rest of its assets to be sold off or taken over by the state in what has been an unprecedented legal campaign against the company and its shareholders. Yukos had argued the U.S. bankruptcy court was its last chance for protection against the Russian state, which, it said, had rejected all its overtures to restructure its debts and was set on "expropriating" its assets.

But Clark also found that Yukos' ability to carry out a restructuring plan under U.S. bankruptcy protection without the cooperation of the Russian government would be "extremely limited" -- a factor that, according to the ruling, was another reason for the dismissal.

Yukos immediately challenged the judgment. Its lawyers filed a motion late Friday that called for a new trial and for Clark to keep a stay protecting Yukos' assets in force until all its opportunities to contest the ruling had been exhausted.

(SNIP)

But even as Yukos pushes to keep its case in the U.S. bankruptcy system, analysts said Clark's initial ruling appeared to give little hope for the oil major. "It's really difficult to see after all the deliberations that any appeal will be successful," said Steven Dashevsky, head of research at Aton.

Dashevsky said that even though Gazprom will likely wait until the hearings were completely over before completing its merger with Rosneft, it will now probably speed up those plans.

Gazprom spokesman Sergei Kupriyanov said Friday that the ruling will ease the way for Gazprom to go ahead with the merger.

(MORE)