May 4, 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 MAY 4, 2005

1//The Scotsman, UK--EX-BBC CHIEF SLATES BLAIR (Tony Blair was yesterday branded a "danger to democracy" by Greg Dyke, the former director general of the BBC, who accused the Prime Minister of sexing up the legal advice on the Iraq war. The former Labour supporter said he was severing his 40-year link to the party to switch to the Liberal Democrats because he could not vote for a government that would be led by Mr Blair. At a Liberal Democrats news conference in London yesterday, Mr Dyke said: "I do genuinely believe that our democracy has been undermined in the years since the Blair government, and I think another Blair government would pose further dangers to our democracy.")

2//Arab News, Saudi Arabia--US EASES SAUDI VISA RESTRICTIONS (US Ambassador James C. Oberwetter says changes in the US visa process would ease travel between the States and Saudi Arabia. The ambassador’s comments come in the wake of the Saudi-US Summit and before a high-profile, 63-member Saudi business mission leaves for the US next week. “Last week’s visit by Crown Prince Abdullah to the United States has given a major boost to the bilateral relations,” said Oberwetter. “I am very satisfied with the outcome of the royal visit,” he said, referring to the joint communique issued after the talks held by Crown Prince Abdullah and the US President George W. Bush. He also gave details of the Saudi commercial delegation scheduled to visit the United States from May 7-19. The delegates will hold business talks in several cities including Washington, New York, Atlanta, Chicago and Houston.)

3//Asia Times Online, Hong Kong--ANTI-JAPAN PROTESTS MAY SIGNAL POWER STRUGGLE Anti-Japan violence, statements and other developments in China suggest the recent political situation in Beijing has been less stable than outward appearances indicate and that a hidden power struggle may have occurred during the past few weeks of unrest.  State-run newspapers in China have recently suggested that the anti-Japan riots across the country are part of a plot to destabilize the Chinese leadership, and have taken pains to emphasize the conciliatory tone of Chinese President Hu Jintao during a recent meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on the sidelines of the Asia-Africa summit in Jakarta. … "Past mass demonstrations have always had a political power struggle element to them," says Ryosei Kokubun, director of the Institute of East Asian Studies at Keio University in Tokyo. He says that a similar crisis could be occurring within the Chinese government: on the one side, with Hu and his ally Premier Wen Jibao, and on the other, less progressive elements within the party who encouraged the anti-Japan riots as a method of causing social unrest. "I don't think the current leadership of Hu and Wen is really that strong or secure," Kokubun says.)

4//The News International, Pakistan--TALIBAN REJECT MUTAWAKKIL’S CALL FOR TALKS WITH KABUL (The Taliban have rejected their former foreign minister Wakil Ahmad Mutawakkil’s advice to hold peace talks with the Afghan government. Mutawakkil gave the advice in his first interview after his release from US custody. It is also the first time that he has publicly spoken since the fall of the Taliban regime. He has been living under the government’s protection in Kabul for the last several months. Until now, he was not allowed to talk to the media. … The interview has been timed with the renewed efforts by the US and Afghan authorities to win over the so-called moderate Taliban and isolate the hardliner loyalists to Mulla Mohammad Omar. Mutawakkil had surrendered to the US military authorities at the Kandahar airbase in 2002. He was held in Kandahar and at the Bagram airbases and set free in 2004.)

RELATED:
The Daily Star, Lebanon--AFGHANISTAN’S CLERICS PLAN TO LAUNCH ‘MULLAH TV’ (Radical Afghan clerics Tuesday unveiled plans to launch the country's first Islamic television channel since the fall of the fundamentalist Taliban regime more than three years ago. A group of hard-line religious scholars, or mullahs, based in the capital Kabul said the station would counter what they say are immoral and un-Islamic programs being broadcast by other channels. … The Taliban itself last month launched a pirate radio station operating from a secret mobile transmitter which broadcasts religious material as well as invective against the U.S.-backed government of President Hamid Karzai. The clerics, who are not linked to the ousted regime, have not yet chosen the TV channel's name but they said it would start transmitting in the near future. … In addition to state-run TV, four television channels run by local warlords and private companies are operating in Afghanistan, and there are also several cable providers. Most private stations run Western music videos and movies and have come under criticism from conservatives who call the programs un-Islamic.)

5//The News International, Pakistan--CHINA OFFERS HELP FOR TRI-NATION GAS PIPELINE (China is prepared to join Pakistan, India and Iran in the construction of cross-border gas pipeline project. This was stated by Liao Yongyuan, Assistant President of China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), in an interview with APP here at the CNPC’s headquarters. "We are convinced that the Iran-India pipeline through Pakistan is of significant importance and will substantially benefit all three countries," he said, adding, China wishes to facilitate construction of this gigantic project.)

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1//The Scotsman, UK Tue 3 May 2005
http://news.scotsman.com/index.cfm?...

Gerri Peev, Political Correspondent

Tony Blair was yesterday branded a "danger to democracy" by Greg Dyke, the former director general of the BBC, who accused the Prime Minister of sexing up the legal advice on the Iraq war.

The former Labour supporter said he was severing his 40-year link to the party to switch to the Liberal Democrats because he could not vote for a government that would be led by Mr Blair.

At a Liberal Democrats news conference in London yesterday, Mr Dyke said: "I do genuinely believe that our democracy has been undermined in the years since the Blair government, and I think another Blair government would pose further dangers to our democracy."

Mr Dyke, whose yellow shirt embodied the party colours of the Liberal Democrats, compared the operation run from Downing Street to the White House under Richard Nixon, accusing Mr Blair of undermining Cabinet government.

Admitting he had been in favour of the war when the government warned that Iraq posed a threat, Mr Dyke said this belief was shattered by the Butler inquiry into the use of intelligence to make the case for war.

This was the pivotal point at which he realised that the controversial BBC story by Andrew Gilligan was true - the dossier was "sexed up" and people inside Downing Street knew it was, Mr Dyke said.

He had been motivated to speak publicly for the Lib Dems following the publication of the Attorney General’s caveat-filled advice last week.

"It’s now, I think, very clear that the Blair government tried to do to the legal opinion [of the Attorney General on the Iraq war] exactly what they did to the intelligence," Mr Dyke said. "They chose the bits they liked and they ignored the rest."

The former BBC chief was one of the "scalps" claimed by the government after the Hutton inquiry into the sexed-up dossier claims. However, yesterday, the millionaire insisted his new-found allegiance to the Lib Dems had nothing to do with revenge for losing his job. Rather, it was the positioning of Labour as a "centre-right" party that had turned him off.

(SNIP)

When Mr Dyke first declared his support for the Lib Dems, he said he would reconsider going back to Labour if Gordon Brown was its leader.

However, since then the Chancellor has ridden to the Prime Minister’s rescue, insisting that he would have taken exactly the same decision if placed in that situation.

Yesterday, Mr Kennedy reminded Mr Dyke and other temporary Lib Dem supporters of Mr Brown’s position, in case they were tempted to switch back to Labour by the prospect of a change
in leadership.

2//Arab News, Saudi Arabia Wednesday, 4, May, 2005 (25, Rabi` al-Awwal, 1426)
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=1&section=0&...

US EASES SAUDI VISA RESTRICTIONS
M. Ghazanfar Ali Khan, Arab News

RIYADH, 4 May 2005 — US Ambassador James C. Oberwetter says changes in the US visa process would ease travel between the States and Saudi Arabia.

The ambassador’s comments come in the wake of the Saudi-US Summit and before a high-profile, 63-member Saudi business mission leaves for the US next week.

“Last week’s visit by Crown Prince Abdullah to the United States has given a major boost to the bilateral relations,” said Oberwetter. “I am very satisfied with the outcome of the royal visit,” he said, referring to the joint communique issued after the talks held by Crown Prince Abdullah and the US President George W. Bush.

He also gave details of the Saudi commercial delegation scheduled to visit the United States from May 7-19. The delegates will hold business talks in several cities including Washington, New York, Atlanta, Chicago and Houston.

Oberwetter said once the new system was in place, it will ensure long-term stays for Saudi businessmen or tourists in the US with multiple-entry visas. “It will also reduce the time lag for processing visa applications and interviews,” he said, without detailing the proposed system.

However, American diplomats in Bahrain told a press conference recently that a new computer database would streamline the visa process around the globe with the number of applicants in a given country determining the time of the wait, which in some cases could take as little as a day.

Saudi applicants currently wait weeks or months for approval after interview. At present, all nonimmigrant visa applicants regardless of their status are required to submit their applications in person at the US Embassy or consulate

(MORE)

3//Asia Times Online, Hong Kong May 3, 2005
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/GE03Ad01.html

ANTI-JAPAN PROTESTS MAY SIGNAL POWER STRUGGLE
By Bennett Richardson

TOKYO - Anti-Japan violence, statements and other developments in China suggest the recent political situation in Beijing has been less stable than outward appearances indicate and that a hidden power struggle may have occurred during the past few weeks of unrest.

State-run newspapers in China have recently suggested that the anti-Japan riots across the country are part of a plot to destabilize the Chinese leadership, and have taken pains to emphasize the conciliatory tone of Chinese President Hu Jintao during a recent meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on the sidelines of the Asia-Africa summit in Jakarta.

The official Xinhua news agency reported that Hu made an unusually accommodating "apology to the past leaders of both countries" for the recent breakdown in relations when he met with Koizumi. Analysts say this sharp contrast with the harsh criticism of Japan by officials in mid-April suggests a schism exists between the upper levels of political leadership in Beijing, who are seeking warmer ties with Japan, and other elements in the Communist Party who wish to keep Tokyo at a distance.

"Past mass demonstrations have always had a political power struggle element to them," says Ryosei Kokubun, director of the Institute of East Asian Studies at Keio University in Tokyo. He says that a similar crisis could be occurring within the Chinese government: on the one side, with Hu and his ally Premier Wen Jibao, and on the other, less progressive elements within the party who encouraged the anti-Japan riots as a method of causing social unrest.

"I don't think the current leadership of Hu and Wen is really that strong or secure," Kokubun says. He points to a reversal in position on Japan policy by Wen from March to April this year. Following the National People's Congress in March, Wen laid out three highly accommodative conditions for future relations with Japan. He said that future relations with Tokyo ought to be based on more political exchange at the top levels, joint strategic research on bilateral relations, and dealing with the differing interpretations of regional history.

This approach, more amiable than in the past, may have angered anti-Japanese elements in the Communist Party who then set about disseminating a "very sophisticated level" of anti-Japanese propaganda on the Internet, well beyond the ability of average Chinese citizens, and mobilizing local party chapters to orchestrate the recent demonstrations, says Kokubun.

"Many people observed that Premier Wen drastically changed his position in April once the protests began," the Japanese expert says. "This could be a reflection of the intra-party situation and an attempt to stop powerful anti-Japan groups within the party from trying to escalate the unrest." Xinhua news reports that Hu is now stressing the need for "both countries" to appropriately manage ties as they relate to Asian development and stability suggest that he and Wen are on the same wavelength with regard to expanding cooperation with Japan.

Such an accommodative stance would also echo surprisingly generous sentiments expressed at a Japan-China meeting on the sidelines of an Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Chile last November, when Hu said he considered both ordinary Japanese citizens as well as Japanese soldiers to have been victims in World War II.

"One thing that can be said with certainty is that there must be a lot of debate going on [about Japan-related policy] inside the Chinese government," says Kokubun.

The Chinese government has stepped up its response to the anti-Japan riots by arresting and bringing in for questioning dozens of people known to have participated in the protests. A number of dissidents attempting to organize another round of protests for May 4 have also been taken in by authorities, suggesting that Hu and Wen are now in the process of reasserting control over wayward elements in the Communist Party.

Other moves add credence to the argument that the two Chinese leaders were actively trying to counter anti-Japan elements in the period leading up to the Jakarta meeting with Koizumi. The week before the meeting, there was a surge in activity on Chinese government websites, pointing out Japan's key role in helping build the Chinese economy since diplomatic relations were established in 1972.

(MORE)

4//The News International, Pakistan Wednesday May 04, 2005-- Rabi-Ul-Awwal 24, 1426 A.H.
http://www.jang.com.pk/thenews/...

TALIBAN REJECT MUTAWAKKIL’S CALL FOR TALKS WITH KABUL
By Rahimullah Yusufzai

PESHAWAR: The Taliban have rejected their former foreign minister Wakil Ahmad Mutawakkil’s advice to hold peace talks with the Afghan government.

Mutawakkil gave the advice in his first interview after his release from US custody. It is also the first time that he has publicly spoken since the fall of the Taliban regime. He has been living under the government’s protection in Kabul for the last several months. Until now, he was not allowed to talk to the media.

Taliban spokesman Latifullah Hakimi told The News that Mutawakkil was entitled to his views but he had no authority to speak for the Taliban or resistance fighters in Afghanistan. Speaking from an undisclosed location, he reminded that Mutawakkil too had made it clear in his interviews that he was neither a Taliban spokesman nor a government emissary. "We also feel that Mutawakkil is not a free man. I don’t say that he is still a prisoner but the fact remains that he cannot express himself openly while living in Kabul. The US military authorities control everything, including the media, in Afghanistan," he argued.

Hakimi said the Taliban have no intention of holding talks with President Hamid Karzai’s government or the US. "Instead of calling for talks between the Taliban and the regime in Kabul, Mutawakkil should have advised the US and its allies to pullout their troops from Afghanistan. There would be peace and stability in our homeland once the foreign troops depart because their presence in Afghanistan is a major irritant and a provocation for the Afghan people," he contended.

(SNIP)

The Taliban spokesman also challenged Mutawakkil’s views on al-Qaeda and Osama bin Laden and termed them unrealistic. "Mutawakkil says it was an Afghan tradition to provide shelter and hospitality to guests and there was nothing wrong if they sheltered bin Laden or his men. By the same yardstick, Mutawakkil ought to know that the Afghans also give protection to their guests. The Taliban protected their foreign Muslim guests such as Osama and they do not regret doing so even if they had to sacrifice their power for upholding this principle," he explained.

It may be added that reports about Mutawakkil’s interview with the Pashto-Persian television channel, Tolo, started circulating in Kabul several days ago. The Afghan government had given the go-ahead for the interview and it was being speculated that it would be on the air in a few days.

The interview has been timed with the renewed efforts by the US and Afghan authorities to win over the so-called moderate Taliban and isolate the hardliner loyalists to Mulla Mohammad Omar. Mutawakkil had surrendered to the US military authorities at the Kandahar airbase in 2002. He was held in Kandahar and at the Bagram airbases and set free in 2004.

RELATED:
The Daily Star, Lebanon Wednesday, May 04, 2005
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id...

AFGHANISTAN’S CLERICS PLAN TO LAUNCH ‘MULLAH TV’
By Agence France Presse (AFP)

KABUL: Radical Afghan clerics Tuesday unveiled plans to launch the country's first Islamic television channel since the fall of the fundamentalist Taliban regime more than three years ago.

A group of hard-line religious scholars, or mullahs, based in the capital Kabul said the station would counter what they say are immoral and un-Islamic programs being broadcast by other channels.

(SNIP)

The Taliban itself last month launched a pirate radio station operating from a secret mobile transmitter which broadcasts religious material as well as invective against the U.S.-backed government of President Hamid Karzai.

The clerics, who are not linked to the ousted regime, have not yet chosen the TV channel's name but they said it would start transmitting in the near future.

The spokesman added that Karzai had promised to help them but did not give an exact date or details of how the station would be funded or operated.

(MORE)

5//The News International, Pakistan Wednesday May 04, 2005-- Rabi-Ul-Awwal 24, 1426 A.H.
http://www.jang.com.pk/thenews/may2005-daily...

CHINA OFFERS HELP FOR TRI-NATION GAS PIPELINE

CHENGDU, China: China is prepared to join Pakistan, India and Iran in the construction of cross-border gas pipeline project.

This was stated by Liao Yongyuan, Assistant President of China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), in an interview with APP here at the CNPC’s headquarters. "We are convinced that the Iran-India pipeline through Pakistan is of significant importance and will substantially benefit all three countries," he said, adding, China wishes to facilitate construction of this gigantic project.

Liao said China has already developed good partnership with Pakistan, India and Iran in the petroleum sector and wished to cooperate them, making the project a reality. He hoped this offer will be received well by the respective countries, since China being a friendly neighbouring country could be in a better position to help in implementing the project on reasonable conditions.

This could also be a step forward consolidating the mutually beneficial cooperative partnership at the regional level, he added. Liao Yongyuan, who holds top position in Sichuan Petroleum Administration, a subsidiary of China National Petroleum Corporation, said they have developed rich capability and experience in construction of pipelines home and abroad in the recent years.

(MORE)