July 13, 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 13, 2005

1//Asia Times Online, Hong Kong--FOUL PLAY IN THE GREAT GAME (It is extraordinary that the US's prestige and influence as a superpower has plummeted dramatically in Central Asia in such a short span of time since October 2001- so much so that Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, which used to be overtly keen to be friendly, have today become thoroughly disillusioned with Washington's regional policy. … In the period of the Clinton presidency, US prestige and influence in Central Asia peaked. The Bush administration, ironically, reaped a good harvest of this legacy. The openhearted welcome that Central Asian leaderships extended to the US military presence in their region in 2001 testifies to that. But the ease with which Washington squandered such enormous goodwill is appalling.)

2//The Daily Star, Lebanon--IRAQ TO DEBATE OVERHAUL OF SADDAM TRIAL (Desperate to try Saddam Hussein more than 18 months after his capture, Iraq's Parliament will debate a bill this month to reorganize the U.S.-created court tasked with trying the ousted leader. Deputy speaker Hussein Shahristani told deputies yesterday that the first reading of the draft legislation will take place July 20. "The proposed legislation will be really comprehensive," Mariam al-Rayyes, a deputy sitting on Parliament's judicial committee, said. "We want to speed up the date of Saddam's trial, we hope it can be held before the referendum on the new constitution in October." … Many Kurdish and Shiite MPs who dominate the National Assembly have charged that the Iraqi Special Tribunal is controlled by the Americans, saying this has slowed up the process of bringing Saddam to trial. The MPs from communities long-oppressed under Saddam's rule also want all judges sitting on the tribunal vetted for links to the former ruling Baath Party. According to Rayyes, the bill is aimed at silencing those questioning the authority of the court which was first set up by former U.S. administrator Paul Bremer before the handover of sovereignty to Iraqis in June 2004.)

3//Gulf Times, Qatar--ARAMCO JOINS FORCES WITH CHINA'S SINOPEC (Saudi Arabia's state-owned Aramco said yesterday it has joined with China Petroleum and Chemical Corp (Sinopec) on a massive oil and chemicals venture in China's Fujian province. Abdullah Jum'ah, president and chief executive of Aramco, said it highlighted the importance of China as a oil consumer, and said his company was ready to work with Beijing to keep its economy racing along. … The Fujian project also involves Exxon Mobil and encompasses a refinery expansion, a petrochemical plant and a joint marketing venture to operate 600 service stations, according to Exxon. It shows major players are intent on building assets in the world's fastest-growing oil market at a time when a Chinese move to buy US producer Unocal has some US politicians worried about energy independence. …  "At Saudi Aramco, we are committed to the China market ... and to contribute to your economic growth," said Abdullah. "We stand ready to deliver the oil China requires just as we have been delivering oil to the global market.")

4//Financial Times, UK--COLOMBIA PRESIDENT SEEKS HELP AGAINST FARC (Alvaro Uribe, Colombia's president, is scheduled to meet the leaders of Spain and the UK this week in order to strengthen European support for his controversial plans to end Latin America's oldest armed conflict. … Colombian security forces have been energised by Mr Uribe's demands for the vigorous pursuit of insurgents from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc), a group classed as "terrorist" by Europe. Under Mr Uribe, Colombia's government has regained control over areas of the country once dominated by the Farc, which gains much of its financing from the illegal drugs trade and kidnapping for ransom. … The US has pumped about $3bn (£1.7bn, €2.5bn) in counter-narcotic and military aid into Colombia during the past five years, and Washington is by far Colombia's most important international supporter. But the US Congress, citing concerns over human rights violations, last week threatened to freeze $100m of aid to Colombia proposed by the Bush administration. Europe has been less materially supportive of Mr Uribe, with some European politicians often highlighting alleged ties between the army and the paramilitaries, and subsequent human rights violations. But advisers said Mr Uribe was also hoping to win vocal support from Mr Zapatero and Mr Blair for legislation designed to foster the demobilisation of Colombia's 15,000 outlawed paramilitary fighters. Under a "peace and justice" law passed last month paramilitary warlords accused of killings will benefit from a maximum eight-year prison sentence. Groups such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International say the law will allow paramilitary chiefs to avoid paying the due penalty for some of the worst atrocities in Colombia's protracted conflict.)

5//The Times, UK--CONTROVERSIAL EU VITAMINS BAN TO GO AHEAD (A controversial new EU regulation that has threatened to outlaw thousands of mineral supplements and bankrupt health food stores across Britain was upheld this morning. The European Court of Justice approved the Food Supplements Directive even though the court's own Advocate-General advised that the Directive was invalid under EU law. The ruling - greeted with surprise - is a defeat for a concerted campaign by more than a million British health food customers and shops. They have argued that the law, which will come into effect on August 1, will impose an unprecedented level of regulation on mineral supplements and could threaten the existence of small suppliers.)

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1//Asia Times Online, Hong Kong Jul 13, 2005
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Central_Asia/GG13Ag01.html

FOUL PLAY IN THE GREAT GAME
By M K Bhadrakumar
M K Bhadrakumar is a former Indian career diplomat who has served in Islamabad, Kabul, Tashkent and Moscow.

In a landmark speech at Johns Hopkins University in 1997, the then-US deputy secretary of state, Strobe Talbott, said: "For the last several years, it has been fashionable to proclaim or at least to predict, a replay of the 'Great Game' in the Caucasus and Central Asia. The implication of course is that the driving dynamic of the region, fueled and lubricated by oil, will be the competition of great powers to the disadvantage of the people who live there.

"Our goal is to avoid and to actively discourage that atavistic outcome. In pondering and practicing the geopolitics of oil, let's make sure that we are thinking in terms appropriate to the 21st century and not the 19th century. Let's leave Rudyard Kipling and George McDonald Fraser where they belong - on the shelves of historical fiction. The Great Game, which starred Kipling's Kim and Fraser's Flashman, was very much of the zero-sum variety. What we want to help bring about is just the opposite, we want to see all responsible players in the Caucasus and Central Asia be winners."

The chancelleries in the region, and indeed all chroniclers of Central Asian politics, studied Talbott's speech with interest. Talbott's erudition as a scholar-diplomat in Russian language and literature, history and politics was worthy of the highest respect. Of course, the Bill Clinton presidency was at its high noon and it was the first time that US policy towards the "newly-independent states" of the Central Asian region had been spelt out authoritatively.

Yet, eight years on, precisely what Talbott was keen on avoiding seems to be unfolding in Central Asia. The geopolitics in Central Asia have lately begun to engender rivalries. The summit meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) held in Astana on July 5-6 draws attention to it. The summit's call on the US-led "anti-terrorist coalition" to define a deadline on its military presence on the territory of SCO member countries is a strong signal. Washington tried to deflect SCO's call by claiming that it was guided by bilateral agreements with Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan.

Thereupon, the Uzbek Foreign Ministry promptly clarified in a statement that no future scenarios of the US military contingent operating out of its territory had been envisaged under its bilateral agreement with Washington other than "the desire of Uzbekistan as a proactive member of the anti-terrorist coalition in Afghanistan" - virtually echoing the SCO's call. Kyrgyzstan's Foreign Minister Roza Otunbayeva also joined issue with Washington: "All of us are part of the anti-terrorist coalition, including our country. However, there is a time limit for everybody who comes to stay somewhere. We are members of the SCO. We raised this issue together with other member states."

(SNIP)

It is extraordinary that the US's prestige and influence as a superpower has plummeted dramatically in Central Asia in such a short span of time since October 2001- so much so that Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, which used to be overtly keen to be friendly, have today become thoroughly disillusioned with Washington's regional policy. How could this have happened?

The fundamentals of the US policy in Central Asia as spelt out by Talbott eight years ago identified four dimensions: promotion of democracy; creation of free market economies; sponsorship of peace and cooperation within and among the countries of the region; and the integration of the countries of Central Asia and the Caucasus with the larger international community.

But what has changed is that the Bush administration has surreptitiously redefined the thrust of priorities towards the region in terms of its global policies. The result is that the US no longer has a policy intrinsic to the pressing demands of the transition economies in the Central Asian region - the substantive theme in Talbott's speech. Today everything has become relative in the US calculus - everything in Central Asia needs to be factored into the priorities of policy toward Russia or China. By "promotion of democracy," for example, Talbott envisioned a slow and gradual process of the US assisting Central Asian countries in evolving the "requisite institutions and attitudes" conducive for the growth of a democratic culture. He admitted candidly that this would be a long haul as "the very newness of democracy was itself a major obstacle to the process of democratization" in Central Asia.

There was, evidently, no scope for "color revolutions" in Talbott's scheme of things when he involved civil society in the Central Asian region and the Caucasus as the handmaiden of the democratization agenda. Again, with regard to the security dimension of US policy, Talbott emphasized American assistance in "the resolution of conflicts within and between countries and peoples in the region." Regional stability and reconciliation had a centrality in Talbott's policy framework, whereas they took a back seat in the Bush administration's priorities. Interestingly, Talbott pinpointed "internal instability and division" as having historically provided "a pretext for foreign intervention and adventurism" in the region.

(SNIP)

In the period of the Clinton presidency, US prestige and influence in Central Asia peaked. The Bush administration, ironically, reaped a good harvest of this legacy. The openhearted welcome that Central Asian leaderships extended to the US military presence in their region in 2001 testifies to that. But the ease with which Washington squandered such enormous goodwill is appalling.

The "Rose" revolution in Georgia in December 2003 was the turning point. It usually takes 10 years' hindsight to cast an aspersion on current history, but a question is bound to come up: what, ultimately, has the US gained by deposing Eduard Shevardnadze? Do the gains outweigh the losses?

(SNIP)

The indications are that a review of American policy toward Central Asia is underway in Washington. It cannot be a difficult exercise. It is easy to pinpoint when things go horribly wrong. A good starting point would be Talbott's prescient speech exactly eight years ago.

2//The Daily Star, Lebanon Tuesday, July 12, 2005
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id...

IRAQ TO DEBATE OVERHAUL OF SADDAM TRIAL
Lawmakers seek to speed up the pace of long-delayed proceedings

By Agence France Presse (AFP)
Compiled by Daily Star staff

BAGHDAD: Desperate to try Saddam Hussein more than 18 months after his capture, Iraq's Parliament will debate a bill this month to reorganize the U.S.-created court tasked with trying the ousted leader. Deputy speaker Hussein Shahristani told deputies yesterday that the first reading of the draft legislation will take place July 20.

"The proposed legislation will be really comprehensive," Mariam al-Rayyes, a deputy sitting on Parliament's judicial committee, said. "We want to speed up the date of Saddam's trial, we hope it can be held before the referendum on the new constitution in October."

Rayyes said that the new legislation deals with potential loopholes in the tribunal's bylaws or elements that may contradict Iraqi law, but gave no further details.

Many Kurdish and Shiite MPs who dominate the National Assembly have charged that the Iraqi Special Tribunal is controlled by the Americans, saying this has slowed up the process of bringing Saddam to trial.

The MPs from communities long-oppressed under Saddam's rule also want all judges sitting on the tribunal vetted for links to the former ruling Baath Party.

According to Rayyes, the bill is aimed at silencing those questioning the authority of the court which was first set up by former U.S. administrator Paul Bremer before the handover of sovereignty to Iraqis in June 2004.

"The tribunal needs to derive its legitimacy from the ultimate legislative authority, which is parliament," she said.

The tribunal's statute signed by Bremer in October 2003 gives the current Iraqi government "powers to establish other rules and procedures."

Rayyes said the credentials of the tribunal's judges, prosecutors and administrative staff need to be re-examined for any affiliation to the banned Baath Party.

A former judge knowledgeable about the court and its workings said on condition of anonymity that the tribunal's 30 investigating judges were largely inexperienced and that some were former Baathists including Raed Jouhi, the lead judge questioning the deposed president.

Several attempts to reach Jouhi for comment were unsuccessful. The tribunal's statute precludes Baathists from being involved in the trials.

Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari has blamed the judges for the delay in starting the trial.
The tribunal hit back recently saying it was solely responsible for setting a date for Saddam's trial and released several videotapes showing the former dictator and more than a dozen of his deputies being questioned as proof that progress was being made in building up cases against them.

"It has been pure theater so far. At the moment, it's all in the hands of America," complained senior Kurdish MP Mahmoud Othman.

"We look at them as criminals who committed crimes against the Iraqi people, while America looks at them as a source of intelligence."

(MORE)

3//Gulf Times, Qatar Published: Tuesday, 12 July, 2005, 12:28 PM Doha Time
http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no...

ARAMCO JOINS FORCES WITH CHINA'S SINOPEC

BEIJING (AFP): Saudi Arabia's state-owned Aramco said yesterday it has joined with China Petroleum and Chemical Corp (Sinopec) on a massive oil and chemicals venture in China's Fujian province.

Abdullah Jum'ah, president and chief executive of Aramco, said it highlighted the importance of China as a oil consumer, and said his company was ready to work with Beijing to keep its economy racing along.

(SNIP)

"The partnership with Sinopec doesn't end there. We are working together to explore the feasibility of developing a new grassroots refinery in Qingdao in Shandong province.

"Our discussions have been very positive and we believe this refinery project would hold tremendous benefits for Sinopec and Saudi Aramco and of course for the Chinese consumer."

The Fujian project also involves Exxon Mobil and encompasses a refinery expansion, a petrochemical plant and a joint marketing venture to operate 600 service stations, according to Exxon.

It shows major players are intent on building assets in the world's fastest-growing oil market at a time when a Chinese move to buy US producer Unocal has some US politicians worried about energy independence.

Under the deal, Exxon and Aramco will each hold 25% interest in the Fujian Refining and Ethylene Joint Venture Project, while Fujian Petrochemical will own the rest.

The project will add about 160,000bpd of crude-processing capability to an 80,000bpd refinery in Quanzhou, in Fujian, Aramco said.

"At Saudi Aramco, we are committed to the China market ... and to contribute to your economic growth," said Abdullah. "We stand ready to deliver the oil China requires just as we have been delivering oil to the global market."

4//Financial Times, UK Published: July 11 2005 20:16 | Last updated: July 11 2005 23:54
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/0ad79be4-f23...

COLOMBIA PRESIDENT SEEKS HELP AGAINST FARC

By Andy Webb-Vidal in Caracas

Alvaro Uribe, Colombia's president, is scheduled to meet the leaders of Spain and the UK this week in order to strengthen European support for his controversial plans to end Latin America's oldest armed conflict.

Mr Uribe, who began his four-year term in August 2002, is due to meet José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, Spain's prime minister, in Madrid today and Tony Blair in London this week.

Colombian security forces have been energised by Mr Uribe's demands for the vigorous pursuit of insurgents from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc), a group classed as "terrorist" by Europe.

Under Mr Uribe, Colombia's government has regained control over areas of the country once dominated by the Farc, which gains much of its financing from the illegal drugs trade and kidnapping for ransom.

The scourge of terrorism is certain to be painfully understood in both Madrid and London. The Farc has been attempting to overthrow the state for more than 40 years, and some 30,000 people have been killed in the conflict.

(SNIP)

The US has pumped about $3bn (£1.7bn, €2.5bn) in counter-narcotic and military aid into Colombia during the past five years, and Washington is by far Colombia's most important international supporter. But the US Congress, citing concerns over human rights violations, last week threatened to freeze $100m of aid to Colombia proposed by the Bush administration.

Europe has been less materially supportive of Mr Uribe, with some European politicians often highlighting alleged ties between the army and the paramilitaries, and subsequent human rights violations.

But advisers said Mr Uribe was also hoping to win vocal support from Mr Zapatero and Mr Blair for legislation designed to foster the demobilisation of Colombia's 15,000 outlawed paramilitary fighters. Under a "peace and justice" law passed last month paramilitary warlords accused of killings will benefit from a maximum eight-year prison sentence.

Groups such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International say the law will allow paramilitary chiefs to avoid paying the due penalty for some of the worst atrocities in Colombia's protracted conflict.

But the Colombian government maintains that the law does not grant impunity and that shorter sentences will apply only to those who collaborate in clearing up unsolved crimes.

Mr Uribe is expected to sign a judicial co-operation agreement with Spain and promote investment by Spanish and British companies in Colombia.

5//The Times, UK July 12, 2005
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,13509-1690686,00.html

CONTROVERSIAL EU VITAMINS BAN TO GO AHEAD
By Sam Knight, Times Online

A controversial new EU regulation that has threatened to outlaw thousands of mineral supplements and bankrupt health food stores across Britain was upheld this morning.

The European Court of Justice approved the Food Supplements Directive even though the court's own Advocate-General advised that the Directive was invalid under EU law.

The ruling - greeted with surprise - is a defeat for a concerted campaign by more than a million British health food customers and shops. They have argued that the law, which will come into effect on August 1, will impose an unprecedented level of regulation on mineral supplements and could threaten the existence of small suppliers.

The Alliance For Natural Health (ANH), a group backed by the British Health Food Manufacturers' Association, have contended that it is unfair for health food manufacturers to bear the cost of applying for approval for products they have been selling for many years.

But the judges of the European Court of Justice said today that the new law was necessary to simplify the trade in natural remedies, and to give clear health advice to consumers by instituting an approved list of supplements, known as a "positive list."

The court observed that "before the directive was adopted, food supplements were regulated by differing national rules liable to impede the free movement of those goods and the functioning of the internal market."

But in an apparent concession to the British health food industry, which sells around £300 million of natural remedies every year, the judges did promise to simplify the application process for ingredients. They ruled that the burden of proof should shift from those seeking approval to those seeking to ban a product.

The judges concluded: "An application to have a substance included on a list may be refused only on the basis of a full risk assessment, established on the basis of the most reliable scientific data available and the most recent results of international research. A refusal must also be open to challenge before the courts."

The initial reaction of the British health food industry was mixed, as campaigners said they were still digesting the ruling and analysing the revisions made to the application process.

"We had expected a better verdict," said a spokesman for the Alliance For Natural Health this morning. "On the surface it looks like bad news, because they are upholding the Food Supplements Directive and that is disappointing ... However, there may be a positive side to this."

Sue Croft, the director of Consumers for Health Choice, said that their campaign for special allowances for the British health food industry would go on.

(SNIP)

Over the last three years, health food suppliers have either reformulated their goods, replacing natural substances with synthetic chemicals that already have EU approval, or waited as their legal challenge made its way through the courts.

As part of their campaign, a petition of more than one million signatures and a letter of protest has been sent to Tony Blair signed by more than 300 doctors and scientists.

Today's deadline means that health food retailers and manufacturers have sent in hundreds of dossiers for their ingredients over the last week, leaving the current list of which products are banned and which are approved in flux.

"There is no current accurate list," said Ms Croft.