July 8, 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 JULY 8, 2005

1//The Philippine Daily Inquirer, Philippines--ARROYO TELLS CABINET: QUIT (In an apparent move to preempt desertion by her key Cabinet members, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo last night demanded the resignation of her Cabinet to allow her to initiate constitutional amendments and declared she would not give in to demands that she step aside. "I am not resigning my office," Ms Arroyo said in a rare address to the nation broadcast on government radio. She said to do so would "condemn any successor" to the possibility of another people power revolt and condemn the nation in the eyes of the world as "hopelessly unstable." The President spoke amid reports that two key Cabinet ministers were set to resign within the next 48 hours and had sought to persuade religious leaders to intervene to persuade that she stand down.)

2//The Chosun Ilbo, South Korea--MYSTERY AROUND SEOUL'S OFFER TO N. KOREA DEEPENS (Suggestions that a mystery South Korean proposal to the North could be merged with a U.S. offer made at six-party talks in June last year are "premature," a high-ranking U.S. State Department official said Wednesday. The official, who asked to remain anonymous, told the Chosun Ilbo the South Korean government had briefed the U.S. only in general terms about the proposal Unification Minister Chung Dong-young recently made to North Korean leader Kim Yong-il. There had been no request to merge the two offers, he said. … Government officials tout the proposal as a Korean "Marshall Plan" that includes regime security guarantees, support from each nation in the six-party talks including security guarantees, and energy and food aid. Other officials deny security guarantees are involved.)

3//EurasiaNet.org--THE GEOPOLITICAL BALANCE IN CENTRAL ASIA TILTS TOWARD RUSSIA (Turbulent events in Central Asia this year – including Kyrgyzstan's revolution and the bloody suppression of protest in Uzbekistan – are helping to fuel a shift in the region's geopolitical balance. Russia appears to be the primary beneficiary of the realignment, while the United States now finds itself increasingly out of favor in the region. … Immediately after the September 11 terrorist tragedy, Central Asian leaders embraced strategic cooperation with the United States as a means to contain the growth of Islamic militancy in the region. Almost four years later, however, Islamic radicalism continues to pose a security threat, prompting enthusiasm among regional leaders for a strong US strategic presence in Central Asia to wane. In addition, many Central Asian officials believe that the Bush administration's aggressive democratization policies have helped foment political upheaval in the former Soviet Union, leading to regime change in Georgia, Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan. Incumbents throughout Central Asia are now intent on preventing the revolutionary turmoil that engulfed Kyrgyzstan from spreading.)

4//The Independent, UK--SHELL MOVES DEEPER INTO RUSSIA WITH GAZPROM SWAP (Shell signalled its determination to expand further into the Russian oil industry yesterday by signing a multi-billion dollar deal to swap assets with the state-owned gas producer Gazprom. The agreement, signed in London by the Shell chief executive Jeroen van der Veer and the Gazprom chairman Alexei Miller takes the Anglo-Dutch company into the heartland of Russia's oil and gas province by giving it a 50 per cent stake in the giant Zapolyarnoye-Neocomian field in western Siberia. In return, Shell has agreed to give Gazprom a 25 per cent stake in its Sakhalin-2 venture off Russia's eastern coast, which is costing about $10bn to develop. Shell will be compensated for the difference in value of the two assets with a package of cash and other assets. The deal, which will give Shell access to more oil and gas than it is surrendering, will help the company rebuild its battered portfolio after last year's scandal when it was forced to cut its reserves by a quarter. … Mr van der Veer denied that Shell has been pressured in any way to part with some of its interest in Sakhalin so that the Kremlin could keep valuable natural resources in Russian hands. He said the plan has also been to bring in a Russian partner.)

5//The Guardian Weekly, UK--RESURGENT REVOLUTION (… The accounts of several people who have talked to the president in recent months all agree. Despite the power cuts that exasperate the population sweltering in the heat, Castro is feeling pretty optimistic. He is convinced that his strategic alliance with President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela, whom he views as a spiritual son, is giving new impetus to the Cuban revolution, still struggling to recover from the shock caused by the collapse of the Soviet Union. … The other good news for Castro is that two Canadian companies, Pebercan and Sherritt International, have struck commercially exploitable oil close to the coast of Cuba. The oilfield, just 2km northwest of the island, contains an estimated 100m barrels. The discovery has naturally prompted interest by several foreign oil firms, giving a boost to offshore exploration. China and Canada are also consolidating their position in Cuba. During a visit at the end of last year China's president, Hu Jintao, announced that his country would be investing more than $500m in modernising nickel production, exports of which now outstrip sugar. Beijing is also supplying a range of electrical goods, including the pressure cookers that Castro has been handing out for the past three months to save energy. With more favourable conditions abroad, the regime has decided to launch a drive to rationalise the economy, backtracking on the more liberal rules introduced during the "special period.")

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1//The Philippine Daily Inquirer, Philippines First posted 01:04am (Mla time) July 08, 2005
http://news.inq7.net/nation/index.php?index=1&story_id=42709

ARROYO TELLS CABINET: QUIT
President preempts plan for mass resignation

By Gil C. Cabacungan Jr., Christian V. Esguerra
Inquirer News Service

In an apparent move to preempt desertion by her key Cabinet members, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo last night demanded the resignation of her Cabinet to allow her to initiate constitutional amendments and declared she would not give in to demands that she step aside.

"I am not resigning my office," Ms Arroyo said in a rare address to the nation broadcast on government radio. She said to do so would "condemn any successor" to the possibility of another people power revolt and condemn the nation in the eyes of the world as "hopelessly unstable."

The President spoke amid reports that two key Cabinet ministers were set to resign within the next 48 hours and had sought to persuade religious leaders to intervene to persuade that she stand down.

Bro. Manuel de Leon, vice chair of the Association of Major Religious Superiors of the Philippines (AMRSP), earlier told the Inquirer that the two secretaries who were well respected in business and the religious circles were "convinced that the President has lost moral ground." Ten other secretaries were also poised to follow suit.

De Leon said that the two Cabinet officials had met with the AMRSP yesterday morning.

De Leon declined to name the two Cabinet men but the Inquirer learned from an independent source that they were Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima and Trade Secretary Juan Santos.

'The plotters'

A Malacañang source close to the President did not only identify Purisima but also named Social Welfare Secretary Corazon "Dinky" Soliman, Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Teresita Deles as among those quitting. The source described them as "plotters" in the Cabinet who were attempting to install Vice President Noli de Castro as president.

The source said Purisima allegedly met with De Castro in Hong Kong two days ago and had lunch with evangelist Bro. Eddie Villanueva at the Tower Club yesterday.

"Then he [Purisima] invited the Cabinet members who are planning to resign to join him at the Hyatt Hotel and sleep there tonight so they can have a press conference (today)," the source told the Inquirer.

The source said the President has called a meeting of the Cabinet at 11 a.m. to accept the courtesy resignations, then reorganize her new team.

"So what resignation are they going to announce tomorrow when they have all been considered resigned," the source said.

(MORE)

2//The Chosun Ilbo, South Korea Updated July.7,2005 19:53 KST
http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200507/200507070021.html

MYSTERY AROUND SEOUL'S OFFER TO N. KOREA DEEPENS

Suggestions that a mystery South Korean proposal to the North could be merged with a U.S. offer made at six-party talks in June last year are "premature," a high-ranking U.S. State Department official said Wednesday.

The official, who asked to remain anonymous, told the Chosun Ilbo the South Korean government had briefed the U.S. only in general terms about the proposal Unification Minister Chung Dong-young recently made to North Korean leader Kim Yong-il. There had been no request to merge the two offers, he said.

(SNIP)

Meanwhile, President Roh Moo-hyun told the press on Thursday he was working within a comprehensively mandated range, and the proposal, once revealed and negotiated, would earn bipartisan support. Roh said the offer was being kept under wraps because it involved “strongly strategic elements.”

The unification minister put the proposal behind closed doors to Kim Jong-il during their June 17 meeting in Pyongyang. Korean Ambassador to the U.S. Hong Seok-hyun said the plan contained either multilateral security guarantees and economic aid, or systematic economic support, or plans to persuade the international community to aid the North. He said it could be seen as an outline of what support the North can expect if it gives up its nuclear arms program.

Government officials tout the proposal as a Korean "Marshall Plan" that includes regime security guarantees, support from each nation in the six-party talks including security guarantees, and energy and food aid. Other officials deny security guarantees are involved.

Roh said the proposal would only carry strategic significance if coordinated with the U.S.

3//EurasiaNet.org 7/06/05
http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/insight/articles/eav070605a.shtml

THE GEOPOLITICAL BALANCE IN CENTRAL ASIA TILTS TOWARD RUSSIA
Sergei Blagov

Turbulent events in Central Asia this year – including Kyrgyzstan’s revolution and the bloody suppression of protest in Uzbekistan – are helping to fuel a shift in the region’s geopolitical balance. Russia appears to be the primary beneficiary of the realignment, while the United States now finds itself increasingly out of favor in the region.

Moscow has worked through regional multilateral organizations to enhance its strategic position in Central Asia. On July 5, one such group, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, issued a request for the United States to set a deadline for the withdrawal of American military personnel from the region. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive]. US officials, citing bilateral agreements with Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, rejected the SCO’s request. [For additional information see the Eurasia Insight archive]. Nevertheless, the request seemed to confirm that Washington is on the diplomatic defensive, as both Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan are SCO participants. The other SCO members are China, Kazakhstan and Tajikistan.

Immediately after the September 11 terrorist tragedy, Central Asian leaders embraced strategic cooperation with the United States as a means to contain the growth of Islamic militancy in the region. Almost four years later, however, Islamic radicalism continues to pose a security threat, prompting enthusiasm among regional leaders for a strong US strategic presence in Central Asia to wane. [For additional information see the Eurasia Insight archive]. In addition, many Central Asian officials believe that the Bush administration’s aggressive democratization policies have helped foment political upheaval in the former Soviet Union, leading to regime change in Georgia, Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive]. Incumbents throughout Central Asia are now intent on preventing the revolutionary turmoil that engulfed Kyrgyzstan from spreading.

The SCO request offers the clearest sign to date that US prestige in Central Asia is eroding. It is additionally provides proof that Russia and China are teaming up to undermine the United States’ strategic position.

In addition to the SCO, Russia is working through two other regional organizations -- the Eurasian Economic Commonwealth (EEC) and the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) – to reassert Moscow’s influence in Central Asia. The EEC, linking Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Belarus, focuses on multi-lateral economic integration, while the CSTO, including the same members plus Armenia, aims to tackle regional security concerns.

The groups are dominated by Russia. Both are headed by retired Russian generals -- with Grogory Rapota leading the EEC and Nikolai Bordyuzha serving as secretary-general of the CSTO. The two organizations have so far functioned mostly on paper only. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive]. However, some observers believe growing security concerns are encouraging greater regional cooperation. At an EEC summit on June 22, for example, political leaders expressed new-found optimism about the establishment of a regional free-trade zone and customs alliance.

(SNIP)

In conjunction with the EEC summit, Moscow played host to a June 22-23 gathering of CSTO states. Participants signed agreements providing for the deployment of a unified air defense system and the establishment of rapid reaction forces in Central Asia. These forces could be used in peacekeeping operations, Putin told journalists.

The CSTO summit resolved to create an inter-state commission on military-economic cooperation, aiming to promote closer ties among member states’ defense industries. Russia, the leading power in the region, agreed to train military personnel for member states and sell military equipment to them at a discount. Russian officials also expressed a desire to expand the CSTO’s membership. "We plan to invite other countries to participate in CSTO activities as observers, and also foresee the admission of new members in the future," the RIA-Novosti news agency quoted an unidentified Kremlin source as saying.

Putin used the CSTO summit to criticize the US-led anti-terrorist coalition in Afghanistan, characterizing it as "very ineffective." The Russian president pointed out that Taliban insurgents remain active in Afghanistan and the country has again developed into a drug-trafficking hub.

CSTO members also declined to support demands by the United States and other Western countries for an independent investigation into the Uzbek government’s handling of the Andijan events in May. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive]. "Uzbekistan is not a CSTO member, and we do not interfere in the internal affairs of other countries," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.

4//The Independent, UK 08 July 2005
http://news.independent.co.uk/business/news/article297616.ece

SHELL MOVES DEEPER INTO RUSSIA WITH GAZPROM SWAP
By Michael Harrison, Business Editor

Shell signalled its determination to expand further into the Russian oil industry yesterday by signing a multi-billion dollar deal to swap assets with the state-owned gas producer Gazprom.

The agreement, signed in London by the Shell chief executive Jeroen van der Veer and the Gazprom chairman Alexei Miller takes the Anglo-Dutch company into the heartland of Russia's oil and gas province by giving it a 50 per cent stake in the giant Zapolyarnoye-Neocomian field in western Siberia.

In return, Shell has agreed to give Gazprom a 25 per cent stake in its Sakhalin-2 venture off Russia's eastern coast, which is costing about $10bn to develop. Shell will be compensated for the difference in value of the two assets with a package of cash and other assets.

The deal, which will give Shell access to more oil and gas than it is surrendering, will help the company rebuild its battered portfolio after last year's scandal when it was forced to cut its reserves by a quarter.

Mr van der Veer also said the deal "tees up" Shell for other potential deals with Gazprom and, in particular, held out the prospect of it taking a stake in Shtokmanovskoye gas field in the Barents Sea some 570 kilometres off the coast of Murmansk. However, a string of other western oil majors are courting Gazprom for a stake in the field.

Sakhalin-2, the largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in the world, is estimated to contain about 4 billion barrels of oil compared with the 3 billion barrels which lie in the Zapolyarnoye field.

(SNIP)

Mr van der Veer denied that Shell has been pressured in any way to part with some of its interest in Sakhalin so that the Kremlin could keep valuable natural resources in Russian hands. He said the plan has also been to bring in a Russian partner.

"It is a logical thing to have a Russian partner, we have said that for some time but there was no point selling down for cash," Mr van der Veer added. "Sakhalin is such a crown jewel that that we needed to swap it for something which was attractive for our own strategy."

(MORE)

5//The Guardian Weekly, UK July 7, 2005
http://www.guardian.co.uk/guardianweekly/story/0,12674,1521873,00.html

RESURGENT REVOLUTION
Jean-Michel Cariot, Le Monde

"Vamos bien." Two words, meaning "We're doing fine," say it all on the huge posters featuring Fidel Castro in battle dress that adorn the main roads into Havana. His slightly forced smile suggests the message might actually be an order. Or perhaps even wishful thinking.

The accounts of several people who have talked to the president in recent months all agree. Despite the power cuts that exasperate the population sweltering in the heat, Castro is feeling pretty optimistic. He is convinced that his strategic alliance with President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela, whom he views as a spiritual son, is giving new impetus to the Cuban revolution, still struggling to recover from the shock caused by the collapse of the Soviet Union.

The authorities have yet to announce the official end of the "special period", a phase of sudden readjustment prompted by the demise of the Soviet bloc. But in the circles of power a mood of cautious optimism prevails. "The government is feeling stronger thanks to Venezuelan oil," says Oswaldo Payá, one of the main dissident leaders. Quite how much oil Venezuela has delivered to Cuba is not known. According to Cuban and diplomatic sources, it is supplying almost 90,000 barrels a day, enough for Cuba to re-export some, as it used to do with Soviet oil. "Thanks to its alliance with Chávez, Cuba enjoys high prices for its crude oil, as if it was a member of Opec," jokes one diplomat.

Relations between the two countries are expanding in many areas and Castro is constantly in touch with Adan Chávez, Hugo's brother and the Venezuelan ambassador to Cuba. Venezuela has become Cuba's main trading partner, with trade exceeding $1bn this year. A top-level military mission has just visited Havana. Word has it that, fearing an attempt on Chávez's life, Castro has instructed the Cuban intelligence service to work for him. In exchange for oil, Cuba has dispatched more than 20,000 doctors, dentists and sports instructors to Venezuela. Furthermore Castro has promised to double the number of doctors and open 600 surgeries in Venezuela by the end of the year. As a result some of the clinics at home are running short of staff.

Havana is presenting closer ties as the first step towards the Bolivarian Alternative, in open opposition to the Free Trade Area of the Americas, which Chávez and Castro condemn as a neoliberal, neocolonialist project. "Castro is encouraged by recent events in Bolivia, which have brought Evo Morales, leader of the leftwing Movement towards Socialism, closer to power, and the possibility of the Sandinistas regaining power in Nicaragua. He is convinced the flames of revolution are once more sweeping through Latin America, bringing new victories to the left," says a journalist with excellent contacts at the Palace of the Revolution.

The other good news for Castro is that two Canadian companies, Pebercan and Sherritt International, have struck commercially exploitable oil close to the coast of Cuba. The oilfield, just 2km northwest of the island, contains an estimated 100m barrels. The discovery has naturally prompted interest by several foreign oil firms, giving a boost to offshore exploration.

China and Canada are also consolidating their position in Cuba. During a visit at the end of last year China's president, Hu Jintao, announced that his country would be investing more than $500m in modernising nickel production, exports of which now outstrip sugar. Beijing is also supplying a range of electrical goods, including the pressure cookers that Castro has been handing out for the past three months to save energy.

With more favourable conditions abroad, the regime has decided to launch a drive to rationalise the economy, backtracking on the more liberal rules introduced during the "special period". Castro always saw these measures as a temporary expedient, necessary to weather the crisis of the 1990s but a cause of greater social inequality.

(MORE)