March 23, 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 MARCH 23, 2005

1//The Daily Star, Lebanon--NORWAY READY TO TAKE EXTENSIVE OILFIELD EXPERIENCE TO IRAQ (Norway, a major oil exporter, is ready to help Iraq's oil industry by sharing experience, training, and technology, a deputy minister said Tuesday. "There is real interest in doing this and getting it going this year," Norwegian Deputy Minister of International Development Leiv Lunde said. … Lunde said Norwegian aid could include training and education for Iraqi oil officials, setting up regulations for oil field operations and accounting. "Openness in accounting for money coming in and going out from the oil industry is very important," he said, adding that developing countries often have problems with accounting, sometimes due to corruption. … Lunde said other countries, the World Bank and the UN are also likely to become involved in efforts to help rebuild the Iraqi oil industry.)

2//The Chosun Ilbo, South Korea--ROH HINTS AT NEW EAST ASIAN ORDER (President Roh Moo-hyun said Tuesday the power structure in East Asia will shift depending on what choices Korea makes. At a graduation ceremony of the Korea Third Military Academy on Tuesday, Roh said Korea's new role was of a stabilizer for peace and prosperity not just on the Korean Peninsula, but in East Asia as a whole. "Korea will calculate and cooperate if need be, and move forward with its proper authority and responsibility," he said. His comments were being read as a pointed reference to the country's alliances with the U.S. and Japan rather than a mere statement of principle. Among core figures in the administration, there is growing dissatisfaction with U.S. and Japanese policies in East Asia, including North Korea. … President Roh’s address today can be seen as a warning that Seoul cannot be counted on if the U.S. and Japan insist on a strategy of pressure on China and North Korea.)

3//The Telegraph, UK-- EU ARMS EMBARGO AGAINST CHINA SLIDES INTO CHAOS (The European Union's fragile consensus on lifting its arms embargo on China was crumbling last night as Tony Blair arrived for a summit in Brussels. Lifting the ban, an initiative spearheaded by France and Germany, appeared certain only weeks ago. However, the proposal to end the arms freeze provoked a furious reaction from America and warnings from the US secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, that allies "should do nothing" to alter the balance of power in Asia. American anger, and apparent British second thoughts, were stoked still further by China's passing of an "anti-secession law" last week, authorising military force against Taiwan if it declared formal independence from Beijing.)

4//The Moscow Times, Russia--THREAT OF A KYRGYZ CIVIL WAR LOOMS (The Kyrgyz opposition might have hoped to start a velvet revolution by protesting parliamentary elections, but President Askar Akayev's decision to use force appears to have brought the country to the verge of civil war. Moscow, wary of sparking instability in Central Asia, is taking a more cautious role in Kyrgyzstan than it did in Georgia's Rose Revolution and Ukraine's Orange Revolution … "The fierce confrontation may threaten the unity of the country," said Alexei Malashenko, an analyst with the Carnegie Moscow Center. "It may tear apart the country and set off a war between the north and south.")

5//Inter Press Service New Agency, Italy--PRIVATE SECTOR STILL EYEING TO OWN EVERY DROP (Selling water rights to private institutions and then having people buy them back again is an issue that keeps rearing its ugly head at every World Water Day, which falls on Mar. 22. Goaded by international financial institutions and corporate interests, regional governments are pressing ahead with plans for more private participation in water services. And yet all across Asia, water privatisation schemes are failing to deliver clean and safe drinking water to communities, despite forcing consumers to pay for a basic human right. ''If you look for a water privatisation arrangement that works ... I cannot think of any,'' Manila-based Mary Ann Manahan, a researcher with Focus on the Global South, told IPS in a telephone interview.)

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1//The Daily Star, Lebanon Wednesday, March 23, 2005
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id...

NORWAY READY TO TAKE EXTENSIVE OILFIELD EXPERIENCE TO IRAQ
By Agence France Presse (AFP)

OSLO: Norway, a major oil exporter, is ready to help Iraq's oil industry by sharing experience, training, and technology, a deputy minister said Tuesday. "There is real interest in doing this and getting it going this year," Norwegian Deputy Minister of International Development Leiv Lunde said.

Norway is the world's third-largest oil exporter with a capacity of 3.2 million barrels plus natural gas from offshore fields.

Iraq is also a potentially major oil supplier, but its industry has been hit hard by war, sabotage, and mismanagement under the regime of ousted President Saddam Hussein.

"Iraq presents its own special challenges," said Lunde.

(SNIP)

The talks were requested by Iraq, which is seeking help in such areas as training and technology, Lunde said. Ministry spokesman Espen Gullikstad said Norway envisions a three-year, $3.8 million program.

Lunde said Norwegian aid could include training and education for Iraqi oil officials, setting up regulations for oil field operations and accounting.

"Openness in accounting for money coming in and going out from the oil industry is very important," he said, adding that developing countries often have problems with accounting, sometimes due to corruption.

Lunde said the Norwegian oil and finance ministries, as well as training institutions and possibly private companies, will also be involved in the project.

"But this would be a state to state agreement, and not a door opener for Norwegian companies," he said.

Lunde said other countries, the World Bank and the UN are also likely to become involved in efforts to help rebuild the Iraqi oil industry.

2//The Chosun Ilbo, South Korea Updated Mar.22,2005 19:40 KST
http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news...

ROH HINTS AT NEW EAST ASIAN ORDER

President Roh Moo-hyun said Tuesday the power structure in East Asia will shift depending on what choices Korea makes.

At a graduation ceremony of the Korea Third Military Academy on Tuesday, Roh said Korea's new role was of a stabilizer for peace and prosperity not just on the Korean Peninsula, but in East Asia as a whole. "Korea will calculate and cooperate if need be, and move forward with its proper authority and responsibility," he said.

His comments were being read as a pointed reference to the country's alliances with the U.S. and Japan rather than a mere statement of principle. Among core figures in the administration, there is growing dissatisfaction with U.S. and Japanese policies in East Asia, including North Korea.

A high-ranking government official said the East Asian order in which Korea plays one leg of the three-way alliance with the U.S. and Japan was a product of the Cold War. He said Korea could not be locked into such a framework forever. In other words, Korea wants to extract itself from a standoff centered on the Korean Peninsula between a “southern alliance” of South Korea, the U.S. and Japan and a “northern alliance” of North Korea, China and Russia.

Another high-ranking government official cautioned the president was not talking about breaking the Korea-U.S. alliance. But as tensions rise between the U.S. and Japan on one hand and China and North Korea on the other, Seoul will not be cornered into an exclusive alliance with Washington, he added.

(SNIP)

When Roh met with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Sunday, he told his visitor that while the U.S. was in a position to view the development of a particular order in East Asia as a strategic tool, for Korea it was a matter of destiny. That amounted to asking Washington for an alliance that was inclusive, not exclusive, the official explained.

The official said Roh was deeply concerned that Japan is hostile to both China and North Korea and raising the level of tension. These concerns formed part of the background to President Roh’s new doctrine of Korea-Japan relations, he added.

President Roh’s address today can be seen as a warning that Seoul cannot be counted on if the U.S. and Japan insist on a strategy of pressure on China and North Korea. It was in an address to another graduation ceremony, of the Air Force Academy on March 8, that the president made clear his opposition to the deployment of the USFK in possible conflicts with China.

3//The Telegraph, UK (Filed: 23/03/2005)
http://www.portal.telegraph.co.uk/news/...

EU ARMS EMBARGO AGAINST CHINA SLIDES INTO CHAOS
By David Rennie in Brussels

The European Union's fragile consensus on lifting its arms embargo on China was crumbling last night as Tony Blair arrived for a summit in Brussels.

Lifting the ban, an initiative spearheaded by France and Germany, appeared certain only weeks ago.

However, the proposal to end the arms freeze provoked a furious reaction from America and warnings from the US secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, that allies "should do nothing" to alter the balance of power in Asia.

American anger, and apparent British second thoughts, were stoked still further by China's passing of an "anti-secession law" last week, authorising military force against Taiwan if it declared formal independence from Beijing.

As Mr Blair flew to Brussels, Downing Street denied that Britain was leading a covert drive to postpone lifting the embargo, which dates back to the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre. The Prime Minister's official spokesman played down reports that Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, had discreetly reached out to EU counterparts in an attempt to delay lifting the ban.

Downing Street said Mr Blair remained convinced that a planned "code of conduct" governing all EU arms exports to China, though non-binding, could address US concerns.

Mr Blair's spokesman insisted that Britain was not pushing the issue and that the key was forging a European consensus.

The arms embargo was not on the formal agenda for the summit, but senior diplomats said they were braced for the thorny subject to be raised by one or more EU leaders or foreign ministers.
British hopes for a fresh "consensus" appeared dim as French diplomats vowed that President Jacques Chirac, who is keen to build up EU-China ties, is committed to lifting the arms embargo.

The export ban is scheduled to be lifted as early as this June.

A spokesman for Javier Solana, the EU high representative on foreign and security policy, said that "officially" that timetable remained in place.

4//The Moscow Times, Russia Wednesday, March 23, 2005. Issue 3130. Page 1.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2005/03/23/001.html

THREAT OF A KYRGYZ CIVIL WAR LOOMS
By Anatoly Medetsky, Staff Writer

The Kyrgyz opposition might have hoped to start a velvet revolution by protesting parliamentary elections, but President Askar Akayev's decision to use force appears to have brought the country to the verge of civil war.

Moscow, wary of sparking instability in Central Asia, is taking a more cautious role in Kyrgyzstan than it did in Georgia's Rose Revolution and Ukraine's Orange Revolution.

The Kyrgyz opposition, which won just six of parliament's 75 seats in recent elections, held peaceful street demonstrations that erupted into violence when protesters started seizing government buildings in southern Kyrgyzstan last week. The government responded by sending riot police to retake the buildings -- a show of force that fueled protesters' anger. Arming themselves with sticks, stones and Molotov cocktails, demonstrators seized more federal buildings and the airport in Osh, the country's second-largest city. Buildings have also been seized in nearby Jalal-Abad.

Northern Kyrgyzstan, including the capital, Bishkek, backs Akayev and remains calm, but protesters on Tuesday boarded buses for Bishkek in an effort to increase pressure on the government. The opposition is demanding a revote and the resignation of Akayev, his ministers and election officials.

"The fierce confrontation may threaten the unity of the country," said Alexei Malashenko, an analyst with the Carnegie Moscow Center. "It may tear apart the country and set off a war between the north and south."

Akayev has no one to blame but himself for the crisis because he ignored the opposition for too long, considering it "flabby," Malashenko said. In a sign of Akayev's confidence, his son and daughter ran and won in the elections, he said.

Akayev also might have underestimated the protesters' determination, believing that the opposition would back down if he sent in riot police, said Andrei Grozin, analyst with the Commonwealth of Independent States Institute.

(MORE)

5//Inter Press Service New Agency, Italy Mar 22, 2005
http://ipsnews.net/interna.asp?idnews=27969

PRIVATE SECTOR STILL EYEING TO OWN EVERY DROP
Anil Netto

PENANG, Malaysia, Mar 22 (IPS) - Selling water rights to private institutions and then having people buy them back again is an issue that keeps rearing its ugly head at every World Water Day, which falls on Mar. 22.

Goaded by international financial institutions and corporate interests, regional governments are pressing ahead with plans for more private participation in water services. And yet all across Asia, water privatisation schemes are failing to deliver clean and safe drinking water to communities, despite forcing consumers to pay for a basic human right.

''If you look for a water privatisation arrangement that works ... I cannot think of any,'' Manila-based Mary Ann Manahan, a researcher with Focus on the Global South, told IPS in a telephone interview.

In contrast, the sterling performance of some major publicly managed water utilities in Asia has demolished the argument that private sector participation is the only way to improve efficiency.

Cities like Osaka, Phnom Penh and Penang, where water is publicly managed, have outperformed Jakarta and Manila, two cities with massive privatisation arrangements in several key sectors.

Osaka, for instance, has a non-revenue water level (NRW) - an indicator of the level of unaccounted water and lost income due to leakages and unpaid bills - of seven percent. This is an outstanding performance.

Phnom Penh records an NRW of 26 percent and Penang a commendable 19 percent. In comparison, Jakarta has NRW of 51 percent and Manila 62 percent.

The British-owned Thames Water Plc and the French operated Suez-Lyonnaise respectively operate the largest water privatisation schemes in Jakarta and Manila.

The Public Services International (PSIRU), based in Britain, which analyses the privatisation and restructuring of public services around the world, revealed in a recent study that Sri Lanka's capital Colombo, where water is publicly managed, has a water leakage level of only 23 percent compared to a leakage level of 35 percent for the city of London covered by Thames Water Plc.

''There has been an extremely high failure rate for private concessions and long-term BOT (Build Operate Transfer contracts) which may get worse if Suez and Thames leave their contracts in Manila and Jakarta,'' said the study.

And yet, privatisation schemes are being pushed with vigour by international financial institutions such as the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, coupled with lobby groups such as the Global Water Partnership and the World Water Council. Manahan points out that the World Bank has increased its lending on water projects from 546 million U.S. dollars in 2002 to three billion U.S. dollars in 2005.

''But there is no clear indication that this has led to cleaner, more affordable water for people on the margins,'' she said.

In addition, the European Union has come up with initiatives in the World Trade Organisation to prise open national water services to the big foreign players. Indeed, since the mid-1990s, developing countries have been coaxed to privatise water services through 'public-private partnership' or private sector participation.

But many of these schemes in Asia have had disastrous results: soaring water tariffs, unmet targets, and crippling financial losses and debt.

Faced with embarrassing results, several Western multinationals that once thirsted for water privatisation projects in Asia have tried to make a quick exit from loss-making or problem- saddled privatisation agreements in Asian countries. Instead, they are now restricting themselves only to sure-fire problem-free projects or 'safer' markets like Japan and South Korea.

(MORE)