June 17, 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 JUNE 17, 2005

1//Asia Times Online, Hong Kong--DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE (… Meanwhile, in Iraq, American officers fighting the war tell another story to reporters. Senior officials now claim not so privately "that there is no long-term military solution to an insurgency that has killed thousands of Iraqis and more than 1,300 US troops during the past two years." Brigadier General Donald Alston, the chief US military spokesman in Iraq, commented to reporter Tom Lasseter of Knight Ridder, "I think the more accurate way to approach this right now is to concede that ... this insurgency is not going to be settled, the terrorists and the terrorism in Iraq is not going to be settled, through military options or military operations." Lieutenant Colonel Frederick P Wellman, who works with the task force overseeing the training of Iraqi security troops, told Lasseter, "the insurgency doesn't seem to be running out of new recruits, a dynamic fueled by tribal members seeking revenge for relatives killed in fighting. 'We can't kill them all,' Wellman said. 'When I kill one I create three.'" General George W Casey, top US commander in Iraq, called the military's efforts "the Pillsbury Doughboy idea" - pressing the insurgency in one area only causes it to rise elsewhere.)

2//The Jordan Times, Jordan--AL JAZEERA ENGLISH CHANNEL WON’T WATER DOWN STYLE
(Arabic news channel Al Jazeera says its new English-language service will not water down its reporting style, despite US criticism of its coverage of the insurgency in Iraq. … "We have no agenda against the Americans," General Manager Waddah Khanfar told Reuters in an interview late Wednesday. He also said: "[Viewers] will discover that we are abiding by a certain kind of professionalism or code of ethics that if it is displayed on any screen it will be seen as something fair." Chairman Sheikh Hamed Ben Thamer Thani said: "Al Jazeera's motto has always been 'the opinion and the counteropinion' and the English channel will be no different." … The network plans to spend up to $30 million on its English-language service, which would have its own editorial team and would be based in three regional centres. Former CNN journalist Riz Khan will present a programme from Washington. Khanfar said the free-to-air English language channel Al Jazeera International, due to begin broadcasting next February or March, would not need to tone down coverage because other international networks already show as much violence, if not more.)

3//Khaleej Times, United Arab Emirates--IRAN, THE NEXT CHINA IN ECONOMIC GROWTH (Iran is the next China in terms of the potential of the Iranian economy according to Graham Dreverman, Vice President of Asset Management for Majid Al Futtaim Investment.
Reverberating predictions for the economic future of Iran came through loud and clear during the keynote address given by Dreverman during the opening of the Middle East Retail Conference 2005 yesterday at the Shangri-La hotel. … In bringing to light the current prospects in Iran, Dreverman noted that Teheran has a GDP great than that of Shanghai and Beijing put together, two of the world’s most industrious cities.)

4//The Chosun Ilbo, South Korea--N. KOREA, CHINA TO BUILD NEW BRIDGE ACROSS THE YALU (North Korea and China have agreed to build a new bridge across the Yalu River below the railway bridge connecting the two countries, an official from the Chinese border city of Dandong revealed Thursday. … The new bridge and railroads are part of a central government plan to revitalize the county's northeast that began in 2003. The development plan, which earmarks about US$8 billion for 100 large construction projects, also includes plans to build oil and gas pipelines between China and Russia and expand roads. Prof. Oh Seung-yeol of Hanguk University of Foreign Studies said China's infrastructure expansion plans seem aimed at not only making transport within China smoother, but also expanding trade between China and the Korean Peninsula and developing its largest border town Dandong into the transport hub of Northeast Asia.)

5//The Toronto Star, Canada--The Ontario government will try to talk the United States out of burning coal to generate power but is prepared to go to court over the issue, Premier Dalton McGuinty said today as the province released a study showing more than half of the province’s smog comes from south of the border. McGuinty said he plans to warn American political leaders who attend the province’s Shared Air Summit on Monday that Ontario will consider going to court if necessary to try and prevent the U.S from opening new coal-fired power plants. … Deputy NDP leader Marilyn Churley called the government’s strategy “laughable” and urged McGuinty to take a more aggressive approach. “They’re just going to do it by sitting down and (having) conversations,” she said. “That’s laughable. That is just a P.R. exercise. They should take the U.S. to court.” Doing so could involve joining one of two lawsuits that are already in progress challenging the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s position on coal, a government source said.)

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1//Asia Times Online, Hong Kong Jun 17, 2005
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/GF17Ak02.html

DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE

By Tom Engelhardt

If we haven't all gone down the rabbit hole in Baghdad and come out in the Saigon of another era, you can't prove it by recent news from catastrophic Iraq. Eerie doesn't do it justice. In Washington, our leaders plead for patience; they insist, as they've been doing for a year or more, as President George W Bush has done recently, that this - the latest bad news, whatever it may be, from the urban battlefields and bomb-implanted highways of Iraq - is "progress". They swear that the most recent upsurge in violence and death (49 dead American soldiers in the first 14 days of this month and scores on scores of dead Iraqis) represents, in Dick Cheney's recent phrase, "the last throes" of the insurgency that will, the vice president predicted, end within the president's second term in office.

Think "light at the end of the tunnel". Think the era of Lyndon B Johnson. Think of that flood of positive numbers - the "metrics" of victory - that came pouring out of Vietnam and now, in the form of numbers of troops armed and trained for the new Iraqi army, police and security forces, is flooding out of Iraq.

Top generals back in Washington all lend a helpful hand. (Joint Chiefs Chairman General Richard Myers: "Well, first of all, the number of incidents is actually down 25% since the highs of last November, during the election period. So, overall, numbers of incidents are down. Lethality, as you mentioned, is up ... I think what's causing it is a realization that Iraq is marching inevitably toward democracy.") Hang in there, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice similarly assured just the other night, it's like the period after World War II when we occupied Germany and Japan; it takes patience and time to implant democracy in a defeated country. The growing strength of the insurgency, Washington officialdom has been officially saying this past month in all sorts of ways, is but proof of the progress we're making. It's just the "last gasp" of a dying movement.

Meanwhile, in Iraq, American officers fighting the war tell another story to reporters. Senior officials now claim not so privately "that there is no long-term military solution to an insurgency that has killed thousands of Iraqis and more than 1,300 US troops during the past two years". Brigadier General Donald Alston, the chief US military spokesman in Iraq, commented to reporter Tom Lasseter of Knight Ridder, "I think the more accurate way to approach this right now is to concede that ... this insurgency is not going to be settled, the terrorists and the terrorism in Iraq is not going to be settled, through military options or military operations".

Lieutenant Colonel Frederick P Wellman, who works with the task force overseeing the training of Iraqi security troops, told Lasseter, "the insurgency doesn't seem to be running out of new recruits, a dynamic fueled by tribal members seeking revenge for relatives killed in fighting. 'We can't kill them all', Wellman said. 'When I kill one I create three'." General George W Casey, top US commander in Iraq, called the military's efforts "the Pillsbury Doughboy idea" - pressing the insurgency in one area only causes it to rise elsewhere.

Down even closer to the ground, American soldiers are blunter yet: "I know the party line. You know, the Department of Defense, the US Army, five-star generals, four-star generals, President Bush, [Secretary of Defense] Donald Rumsfeld: The Iraqis will be ready in whatever time period," said 1st Lieutenant Kenrick Cato, 34, of Long Island, New York. "But from the ground, I can say with certainty they won't be ready before I leave. And I know I'll be back in Iraq, probably in three or four years. And I don't think they'll be ready then."

"I just wish [the Iraqi troops would] start to pull their own weight without us having to come out and baby-sit them all the time," said Sergeant Joshua Lower, a scout in the Third Brigade of the First Armored Division who has worked with the Iraqis. "Some Iraqi special forces really know what they are doing, but there are some units that scatter like cockroaches with the lights on when there's an attack."

(MORE)

2//The Jordan Times, Jordan Friday-Saturday, June 17-18, 2005
http://www.jordantimes.com/fri/news/news7.htm

AL JAZEERA ENGLISH CHANNEL WON’T WATER DOWN STYLE
By Tom Pfeiffer and Odai Sirri
Reuters

DOHA — Arabic news channel Al Jazeera says its new English-language service will not water down its reporting style, despite US criticism of its coverage of the insurgency in Iraq.

Washington has accused the satellite channel of giving free publicity to insurgents now trying to destabilise the US-backed Iraqi government.

"We have no agenda against the Americans," General Manager Waddah Khanfar told Reuters in an interview late Wednesday.

He also said: "[Viewers] will discover that we are abiding by a certain kind of professionalism or code of ethics that if it is displayed on any screen it will be seen as something fair."

Chairman Sheikh Hamed Ben Thamer Thani said: "Al Jazeera's motto has always been 'the opinion and the counteropinion' and the English channel will be no different."

Al Jazeera's graphic coverage of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and its airing of exclusive footage from Al Qaeda leader Osama Ben Laden after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States gained it millions of viewers in the Arab world.

Its offices in Kabul and in Baghdad have been hit by US fire that Washington said was accidental and it has been banned from reporting in Saudi Arabia.

The Iraqi government has closed the station's office in Baghdad, accusing it of supporting insurgents.

US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld last week accused Al Jazeera of encouraging militant groups by airing executions.

However, Khanfar said not one killing had been shown on Al Jazeera since its launch in 1996.
"The dead bodies, we deal with it much more sensitively, much more than many international networks, including the US."

"We don't see ourselves part of any propaganda against any country in the world. However... if it is a matter of freedom of expression, Al Jazeera has raised all the opinions."

Al Jazeera generally provides airtime to US and Iraqi government officials in its coverage of the crisis that began with the 2003 invasion.

40 million viewers

Al Jazeera was voted the world's fifth most influential brand in a poll by online magazine Brandchannel in January. It has an estimated audience of more than 40 million.

The network plans to spend up to $30 million on its English-language service, which would have its own editorial team and would be based in three regional centres. Former CNN journalist Riz Khan will present a programme from Washington.

Khanfar said the free-to-air English language channel Al Jazeera International, due to begin broadcasting next February or March, would not need to tone down coverage because other international networks already show as much violence, if not more.

(MORE)

3//Khaleej Times, United Arab Emirates 15 June 2005
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/Displayarticle.asp?section...

IRAN, THE NEXT CHINA IN ECONOMIC GROWTH
By a Staff Reporter
DUBAI — Iran is the next China in terms of the potential of the Iranian economy according to Graham Dreverman, Vice President of Asset Management for Majid Al Futtaim Investment.

Reverberating predictions for the economic future of Iran came through loud and clear during the keynote address given by Dreverman during the opening of the Middle East Retail Conference 2005 yesterday at the Shangri-La hotel.

According Dreverman, Tehran alone has a population of 16 million people and there are no modern shopping facilities, thus it is a major untapped source of retail potential. Also being Opec's second largest oil producer and having 10 per cent of the world's proven oil reserves and having the world's second largest natural gas reserves, Iran has an excellent source of capital and liquidity, especially with the current escalation in oil prices.

Iran's economy relies heavily on oil export revenues as it is around 80-90pc of total export earnings and 40-50pc of the government's budget. Strong oil prices the past few years have helped Iran's economic situation drastically.

(SNIP)

In bringing to light the current prospects in Iran, Dreverman noted that Teheran has a GDP great than that of Shanghai and Beijing put together, two of the world’s most industrious cities.

4//The Chosun Ilbo, South Korea Updated Jun.16,2005 18:59 KST
http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200506/200506160007.html

N. KOREA, CHINA TO BUILD NEW BRIDGE ACROSS THE YALU

North Korea and China have agreed to build a new bridge across the Yalu River below the railway bridge connecting the two countries, an official from the Chinese border city of Dandong revealed Thursday.

"Because the current Sino-Korean Friendship Bridge is limited in its ability to cope with rising traffic, we need to build another bridge across the Yalu River,” the vice head of the Dandong Development and Reform Committee said during the first ever North-South Transport Forum in the city on Thursday. “North Korea has also agreed," The official said. "The plan is being carried out not by Dandong but by the central government."

(SNIP)

China also revealed that it is carrying out a three-year project to lay some 1,400 km of railway tracks in the country's three northeastern provinces of Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang, which would boost the traffic and freight-carrying capacity of the Chinese northeast and could promote trade between China and North Korea as well.

The new bridge and railroads are part of a central government plan to revitalize the county's northeast that began in 2003. The development plan, which earmarks about US$8 billion for 100 large construction projects, also includes plans to build oil and gas pipelines between China and Russia and expand roads.

Prof. Oh Seung-yeol of Hanguk University of Foreign Studies said China's infrastructure expansion plans seem aimed at not only making transport within China smoother, but also expanding trade between China and the Korean Peninsula and developing its largest border town Dandong into the transport hub of Northeast Asia. “South Korea should set up something like a Shinuiju-Dandong special district committee and make active use of these Chinese policies," he added.

5//The Toronto Star, Canada Jun. 16, 2005. 05:49 PM
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?page...

ONTARIO MAY SUE OVER SMOG: McGUINTY
Premier warns court action possible to cut U.S. smog coming into Ontario

From Canadian Press

The Ontario government will try to talk the United States out of burning coal to generate power but is prepared to go to court over the issue, Premier Dalton McGuinty said today as the province released a study showing more than half of the province’s smog comes from south of the border.

McGuinty said he plans to warn American political leaders who attend the province’s Shared Air Summit on Monday that Ontario will consider going to court if necessary to try and prevent the U.S from opening new coal-fired power plants.

“That’s something that we’re going to talk about at the shared air conference,” he said of the prospect of legal action.

“What I’m hoping to do with our first Shared Air Summit is to invite American leadership to begin to recognize that we have a shared responsibility when it comes to our shared air.”

The province released a study today showing that more than half of the air pollution hanging over Ontario comes from the U.S and costs Canada’s most populous province $5.2 billion a year in health and environmental damage.

The study, based on 30 years of data and commissioned by the Ontario government, shows air pollution from both sides of the border costs the province $9.6 billion a year; 55 per cent of those costs can be blamed on American smog, it estimates.

“The great majority of the economic losses. . .are attributable to premature mortality,” the report says. “Of a predicted 4,881 premature deaths, 56 per cent or 2,751 are associated with U.S. emissions.”

Environment Minister Leona Dombrowsky, who disclosed the report’s findings at a news conference, said the province isn’t trying to assign blame for the problem.

“This report is not meant to point a finger,” Dombrowsky said.

“We want to work with our neighbours to the south to address this very serious problem that puts at risk the health of people in our communities.”

Deputy NDP leader Marilyn Churley called the government’s strategy “laughable” and urged McGuinty to take a more aggressive approach.

“They’re just going to do it by sitting down and (having) conversations,” she said. “That’s laughable. That is just a P.R. exercise. They should take the U.S. to court.”

Doing so could involve joining one of two lawsuits that are already in progress challenging the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s position on coal, a government source said.

(MORE)