August 1, 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 AUGUST 1, 2005

1//The Sunday Times, UK--PAKISTAN ACCUSES BRITAIN OF FAILING TO TACKLE MILITANTS (Britain is regarded as a safe haven by Islamic extremists because it has failed to crack down on them despite urging other countries to do so, the president of Pakistan has warned. In an interview with The Sunday Times, General Pervez Musharraf suggested that Britain had paid a price for putting the right of free speech before the need to curb militant Islamic organisations that openly advocate violence. … Musharraf, an ally of Tony Blair in the war on terror, took "strong exception" to accusations levelled against Pakistan since it emerged that at least two of the July 7 bombers had visited the country for several weeks up to February this year. … Pakistani security forces have detained hundreds of suspected militants and Islamist clerics since the London bombings. "Our campaign is not meant to capture large numbers of people and then release them after a fortnight," he said. "We are not going to impress with numbers, but we are after the bigwigs, who abet extremism and violence.")

RELATED:

//ENTANGLED IN TERROR'S NET (Under Western pressure, Pakistan has cast the net far and wide to round up suspected jihadis and other suspects in the "war on terror." The system is not perfect, though, and instead of eliminating the problem of extremism, it is actually making it worse.)

2//The Independent, UK--JAPAN STOCKPILES PLUTONIUM AS THREAT OF NUCLEAR ESCALATION SPREADS ACROSS ASIA (As Japan prepares to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the dwindling band of survivors say they fear the country's long-standing taboo against developing nuclear weapons is finally ending. Defence experts say much hinges on the outcome of the current six-party talks in Beijing on defusing the nuclear threat from North Korea, but among older residents in these once devastated cities there is pessimism that as other nations in Asia go nuclear, Japan will follow. … Politicians have more recently become bolder in challenging the nuclear taboo. A senior opposition figure, Ichiro Ozawa, said in 2002: "We have plenty of plutonium in our nuclear power plants, so it's possible for us to produce 3,000 to 4,000 nuclear warheads." The same year the chief cabinet secretary, Yasuo Fukuda, stunned the nation by claiming Japan's "pacifist" constitution did not prohibit nuclear weapons. The survivors are also incensed at US plans to develop smaller, "tactical" nuclear weapons, about one-third the size of the Hiroshima bomb. The city's mayor, Tadatoshi Akiba, said in 2004 that Washington was "ignoring the United Nations and international law" and had "turned its back on other nations.")

3//The Daily Star, Lebanon--POWER SHORTAGE AND BLACK MARKET DRIVE BAGHDAD TO CONSIDER OIL RATIONING (Iraq may have the world's second largest oil reserves, but top government officials here are looking into creating a coupon program to ration fuel for next winter. Rationing aims to put a dent into the black market sale of oil products "and lead to more equitable distribution for all Iraqis," Petroleum Ministry spokesman Assem Jihad said. … The demand for fuel, especially gasoline, has been aggravated by the import of more than one million cars after the fall of Saddam, Jihad said. … Samira al-Moussaui, an MP with the conservative Shiite majority, believes the government needs to start holding someone accountable for energy shortcomings. "The government's first duty is to improve the infrastructure in Baghdad," said Moussaui. "We have not asked for anyone to be accountable for this over the last two years," she said, referring to the period under the U.S.-led administration and the interim government that followed, which ended in May. Another MP, Faridun Abdel Kader, said action is needed now because "anyone who studies the projects at the Ministry of Electricity will realize that ten years from now Iraq's situation will not change.)

4//Asia Times Online, Hong Kong--ARROYO'S LAST CHA-CHA (Rumor and conspiracy theories are flying like jelly Jello at the cafeteria food fight in the movie Animal House. One of the prevailing theories is that charter change is being pushed to offer Arroyo a graceful exit from the presidency. This is the idea being promoted by former president Fidel Ramos, who just happens to be one of the main power-brokers in Arroyo's political party. The day after seven cabinet ministers and three agency heads resigned en masse on July 7, and it looked like Arroyo was on her way out, her patron Ramos came to the rescue. He held a news conference from Malacanang Palace, arguing that a way out of the crisis was to switch to a parliamentary form of government. With a new government in place in a year's time, Arroyo gets her graceful exit. What seemed strange at the time was a former president holding a news conference from inside the presidential palace. More than a few people speculated that there had been some kind of soft coup, that Arroyo had become nothing more than a figurehead, with Ramos as the real power in charge. While Ramos laughed off the suggestions, Arroyo's words at the state of the nation address said otherwise. As she commenced her speech, she welcomed and thanked Ramos even before the Senate president, Franklin Drilon, who occupied the chair right behind her. From a protocol standpoint this was a serious blunder. From a political angle, however, it made perfect sense; Drilon, a former staunch ally, had recently dumped Arroyo and asked her to resign. It's possible that Arroyo would find herself still at the helm in a parliamentary form of government. She is perceived as a person who will do anything to stay in power, even at the expense of the country's welfare.)

5//Inter Press Service News Agency, Italy--PEOPLE WANT OIL MONEY FLOWING THEIR WAY (Most Russians want new oil money spent on social projects, a new survey shows. … Post-communist Russia is still confronted with social and economic problems resulting in rapidly declining living standards. The majority of Russia's 104 million people live below subsistence levels. The stabilisation fund was set up last year to check this decline and to smoothen budget spending. By July 1, the fund was down to 21.6 billion dollars after the government spent about 15 billion dollars from it for early repayment of debt to the Paris Club, the name given to a group of Western creditor nations. Disputes are growing whether the stabilisation fund should be used for such macro-economic management or on social projects. President Vladimir Putin warned cabinet ministers, regional governors and lawmakers at a meeting in the Kremlin (the seat of Russian government) this week against using oil revenues flooding Russia's budget coffers to finance populist projects and so push inflation even higher. … Putin has succeeded, however, in diverting large amounts of oil revenue to the state budget away from the private profits of such companies as Yukos and Sibneft. (Former Yukos boss Mikhail Khodorkovsky was jailed for nine years recently after being convicted for financial fraud, in a disputed ruling.)

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1//The Sunday Times, UK July 31, 2005
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-1715180,00.html

PAKISTAN ACCUSES BRITAIN OF FAILING TO TACKLE MILITANTS
By Hala Jaber, Rawalpindi

Britain is regarded as a safe haven by Islamic extremists because it has failed to crack down on them despite urging other countries to do so, the president of Pakistan has warned.

In an interview with The Sunday Times, General Pervez Musharraf suggested that Britain had paid a price for putting the right of free speech before the need to curb militant Islamic organisations that openly advocate violence.

"They should have been doing what they have been demanding of us to do — to ban extremist groups like they asked us to do here in Pakistan and which I have done," he said.

In particular, he said, Britain should have banned Al-Muhajiroun and Hizb ut-Tahrir, groups that he accuses of preaching anger and hatred and of calling for his own assassination.

"They could have banned these two groups. Good action is when you foresee the future and pre-empt and act beforehand, instead of reacting as in the case of Britain — which waited for the damage to be done and is now reacting to it."

Musharraf, an ally of Tony Blair in the war on terror, took "strong exception" to accusations levelled against Pakistan since it emerged that at least two of the July 7 bombers had visited the country for several weeks up to February this year.

(SNIP)

Condemning the London bombers as "people who needed to be eliminated", Musharraf bristled at suggestions that the outrage may have been masterminded from Pakistan because three of the bombers were British nationals of Pakistani parentage. "They came on their British passports — what do you expect us to do? Prevent British passport holders from entering? "The British government should look at those it has given passports to and we should look at those entering our country."

Intelligence services were still trying to verify whether one of the bombers had attended a madrasah in Pakistan: "If he has gone to a madrasah we will take action against that madrasah."

(SNIP)

Musharraf has renewed calls to resolve the Palestinian and Kashmiri disputes which he regards as being at the root of terrorism affecting the entire world. "If we don't do this we will fail the region and the world," he said.

Pakistani security forces have detained hundreds of suspected militants and Islamist clerics since the London bombings. "Our campaign is not meant to capture large numbers of people and then release them after a fortnight," he said. "We are not going to impress with numbers, but we are after the bigwigs, who abet extremism and violence."

RELATED:

//Asia Times Online, Hong Kong Jul 30, 2005
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/GG30Df01.html

ENTANGLED IN TERROR'S NET

Under Western pressure, Pakistan has cast the net far and wide to round up suspected jihadis and other suspects in the "war on terror." The system is not perfect, though, and instead of eliminating the problem of extremism, it is actually making it worse. (MORE)

2//The Independent, UK 31 July 2005
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/asia/article302724.ece

JAPAN STOCKPILES PLUTONIUM AS THREAT OF NUCLEAR ESCALATION SPREADS ACROSS ASIA

Hiroshima -- Sixty years after the dawn of the Atomic Age, survivors look back amid fears their nation's postwar pacifism is at risk
By David McNeill

As Japan prepares to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the dwindling band of survivors say they fear the country's long-standing taboo against developing nuclear weapons is finally ending.

Defence experts say much hinges on the outcome of the current six-party talks in Beijing on defusing the nuclear threat from North Korea, but among older residents in these once devastated cities there is pessimism that as other nations in Asia go nuclear, Japan will follow.

They will express these fears over the next few days, when the significance of the anniversary is expected to draw much larger numbers than usual to the annual commemoration ceremonies in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

"I have never been more afraid about the future than I am now," said Michiko Yamaoka. "I don't trust the politicians in Tokyo to safeguard our anti-nuclear stance. They should all come here and experience what we did." Ms Yamaoka was 15 when the "Little Boy" bomb detonated as she walked from her house into Hiroshima on 6 August 1945, disfiguring her for life. Three days later, Nagasaki was obliterated by the "Fat Man."

That bomb contained 5kg of plutonium. Six decades on, however, Japan has amassed 45 tons of plutonium, and is getting set to open one of the world's largest nuclear reprocessing plants.

"On the 60th anniversary of the bombings, Japan is increasing the nuclear threat by accumulating unnecessary plutonium and opening this plant, which will be the largest producer of plutonium in the world," said Atsuko Nogawa of Greenpeace Japan. "Japan is about to become a country with a nuclear capability on a much bigger scale."

Although Japan tried to build a rudimentary A-bomb during the Second World War, the bitter legacy of Hiroshima and Nagasaki has meant that any talk of developing nuclear weapons has been political suicide for years. Official policy is that Japan will not "manufacture or possess nuclear weapons or allow their introduction into" the country.

But the reality has not always matched the rhetoric. Nuclear-armed US vessels have been allowed to dock in Japanese ports. In the 1970s the then Prime Minister, Eisaku Sato, secretly commissioned a report on the nuclear option, which caused a furore when it was leaked 20 years later.

Politicians have more recently become bolder in challenging the nuclear taboo. A senior opposition figure, Ichiro Ozawa, said in 2002: "We have plenty of plutonium in our nuclear power plants, so it's possible for us to produce 3,000 to 4,000 nuclear warheads." The same year the chief cabinet secretary, Yasuo Fukuda, stunned the nation by claiming Japan's "pacifist" constitution did not prohibit nuclear weapons.

The survivors are also incensed at US plans to develop smaller, "tactical" nuclear weapons, about one-third the size of the Hiroshima bomb. The city's mayor, Tadatoshi Akiba, said in 2004 that Washington was "ignoring the United Nations and international law" and had "turned its back on other nations".

(MORE)

3//The Daily Star, Lebanon Monday, August 01, 2005
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10...

POWER SHORTAGE AND BLACK MARKET DRIVE BAGHDAD TO CONSIDER OIL RATIONING
Most citizens face power cuts and long gas lines in the oil-rich country

By Agence France Presse (AFP)

BAGHDAD: Iraq may have the world's second largest oil reserves, but top government officials here are looking into creating a coupon program to ration fuel for next winter. Rationing aims to put a dent into the black market sale of oil products "and lead to more equitable distribution for all Iraqis," Petroleum Ministry spokesman Assem Jihad said.

Since the April 2003 fall of Saddam Hussein's regime the supply of oil products, especially gasoline, has been effectively - if not officially - rationed.

Iraqis have been forced to stand in lines of up to two hours at the pump to get fuel.
The alternative: buy gas on the black market at dramatically higher prices.

While the liter of gas at the pump is 20 dinars ($0.01), on the black market it sells for 500 dinars.

Petroleum Ministry officials have formed a committee aimed at creating a system of coupons to ration petroleum products, especially gasoil and kerosene used for heating and running power generators.

"We expect that system to be ready before next October," Jihad said. Jihad added that a coupon system has been used successfully in the Kurdish semi-autonomous region.

The demand for fuel, especially gasoline, has been aggravated by the import of more than one million cars after the fall of Saddam, Jihad said.

Aside from difficulties getting fuel and water, Iraqis also have to put up with long periods without electricity, which in turn aggravates the fuel shortage.

In Baghdad, power blackouts last up to 20 hours a day - all at the height of summer - with temperatures around 38 degrees Celsius even after sunset.

(SNIP)

Samira al-Moussaui, an MP with the conservative Shiite majority, believes the government needs to start holding someone accountable for energy shortcomings.

"The government's first duty is to improve the infrastructure in Baghdad," said Moussaui.

"We have not asked for anyone to be accountable for this over the last two years," she said, referring to the period under the U.S.-led administration and the interim government that followed, which ended in May.

Another MP, Faridun Abdel Kader, said action is needed now because "anyone who studies the projects at the Ministry of Electricity will realize that ten years from now Iraq's situation will not change.

(SNIP)

According to a recent UN study, three-quarters of Iraqi homes suffer from electrical blackouts.
Blackouts hit the capital especially hard, where it affects 92 percent of the Baghdad's 1.1 million households.

In a display of rising frustrations, residents of the poor Baghdad Shiite neighborhood of Sadr City recently physically attacked a government worker who came to demand that they pay overdue electrical bills.

Twenty-nine percent of Baghdad households have purchased generators in order to make do. But the generators need fuel to operate, perpetuating a vicious circle.

4//Asia Times Online, Hong Kong Jul 30, 2005
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/GG30Ae02.html

ARROYO'S LAST CHA-CHA
By Leslie Davis

MANILA - Outsiders could forgive the average Filipino for being cynical, and even that might be too generous a word. In fact most are way past being cynical. A good portion of the more than 80 million Filipinos are so fed up with their keepers, they simply don' t care any more. Instead, they prefer to lampoon their leader, with jokes spread by text messages and, perhaps most hilariously, by making her voice into a wildly popular cell phone ring tone.

"Hello Garci," President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is heard saying to election commissioner Vigillio Garcillano, before proceeding with a scheme to rig the recent presidential elections. And now in places public and private, that simple greeting reminds people that not only do they have an incoming call, but also that their president isn't really their president after all.

Indeed, while Filipinos go positively wild over drama and soap operas, the political scene here is beginning to resemble high farce. Here's a president who is accused of committing the very serious crime of stealing the election, yet in her annual state of the nation address on July 25 she never even brought up the subject. A lengthy and comprehensive impeachment complaint was filed by the opposition earlier in the day, detailing, along with the stolen election, massive corruption. She ignored that as well.

The grinding poverty that burdens two thirds of the populace was not discussed. Nor was the massive deficit or the seemingly never-ending rebellion by the Communist New People's Army. Instead, she chose to institute her grand plan; that it's time to change the constitution of the republic, to alter the form of government to a parliamentary system within a federal framework from the current presidential system. Because, she said, the current system has failed the country.

What's more, Arroyo claimed that she wanted to take the fast track to charter change, by convening the Congress as a constituent assembly. Simply put, this would mean that the congressmen and women themselves would be in charge of rewriting the country's constitution and have the new government in place in a year's time. This is a change of tune for the president, who a few months back said she would support a change in the constitution via a constitutional convention. This is the more serious and sober way to change the constitution as it involves electing learned citizens from various walks of life to debate and deliberate how the country wants to move forward.

These are fast-moving times in the Philippines, however, and Arroyo is quickly learning to turn to only those who will listen. Her pronouncements of imminent change had the session hall rockin' and rollin'. The place was packed with her supporters in Congress, as well as members of the local government units whom she is courting. Of course they all loved what they were hearing. For the congressmen, they get to change the government and give themselves many more years ruling the roost. The local government officials, who were specifically invited by Arroyo, loved it too because in a federal system they will attain much greater powers over their fiefdoms.

But things may not have been exactly what they seemed. One congressman revealed last week that he had been offered several thousand dollars in cash and tens of thousands of dollars in projects by officials in both the executive and legislative branches, provided he would not sign the impeachment complaint against Arroyo. In the Philippines, they call that "riding the gravy train of pork barrel politics" or, as one analyst quipped, (the congressmen and women) came to get their Christmas in July.

Rumor and conspiracy theories are flying like jelly Jello at the cafeteria food fight in the movie Animal House. One of the prevailing theories is that charter change is being pushed to offer Arroyo a graceful exit from the presidency.

This is the idea being promoted by former president Fidel Ramos, who just happens to be one of the main power-brokers in Arroyo's political party. The day after seven cabinet ministers and three agency heads resigned en masse on July 7, and it looked like Arroyo was on her way out, her patron Ramos came to the rescue. He held a news conference from Malacanang Palace, arguing that a way out of the crisis was to switch to a parliamentary form of government. With a new government in place in a year's time, Arroyo gets her graceful exit.

What seemed strange at the time was a former president holding a news conference from inside the presidential palace. More than a few people speculated that there had been some kind of soft coup, that Arroyo had become nothing more than a figurehead, with Ramos as the real power in charge. While Ramos laughed off the suggestions, Arroyo's words at the state of the nation address said otherwise. As she commenced her speech, she welcomed and thanked Ramos even before the Senate president, Franklin Drilon, who occupied the chair right behind her. From a protocol standpoint this was a serious blunder. From a political angle, however, it made perfect sense; Drilon, a former staunch ally, had recently dumped Arroyo and asked her to resign.

It's possible that Arroyo would find herself still at the helm in a parliamentary form of government. She is perceived as a person who will do anything to stay in power, even at the expense of the country's welfare. She may, however, have good reason to not want to give up power under the current system. Besides the vote-rigging allegations, the other serious charge, that of her family's involvement in illegal gambling kickbacks, is still picking up steam. A noted archbishop has been producing witnesses and has promised yet more to come, and the scandal is lapping at the palace door.

(MORE)

5//Inter Press Service News Agency, Italy Jul 29, 2005
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=29705

PEOPLE WANT OIL MONEY FLOWING THEIR WAY
Kester Kenn Klomegah

MOSCOW, Jul 29 (IPS) - Most Russians want new oil money spent on social projects, a new survey shows.

The economy of Russia, the second largest exporter of oil after Saudi Arabia, is riding high on a boom in oil prices. Oil and gas add up to more than half of all Russian exports, and taxes on sales account for more than a third of government revenue.

Soaring oil prices have helped Russia out of a particularly steep downturn in the late 90s. New revenues are helping feed a stabilisation fund set up by the government to finance social and development policies through the ups and downs of the switch to the market economy after the fall of communism in 1990.

But disputes have arisen within Russia where this new money should be spent. In a poll of about 1,600 adults conducted by polling agency VTsIOM, about 88 percent of respondents said the state should spend the money on social needs such as education, housing and healthcare.

About a third of respondents wanted the money spent on healthcare, and 28 percent on pension hikes. Another 27 percent wanted it spent on agricultural subsidies, and 26 percent on raising salaries for civil servants (several respondents gave more than one option).

Post-communist Russia is still confronted with social and economic problems resulting in rapidly declining living standards. The majority of Russia's 104 million people live below subsistence levels.

The stabilisation fund was set up last year to check this decline and to smoothen budget spending. By July 1, the fund was down to 21.6 billion dollars after the government spent about 15 billion dollars from it for early repayment of debt to the Paris Club, the name given to a group of Western creditor nations.

Disputes are growing whether the stabilisation fund should be used for such macro-economic management or on social projects.

President Vladimir Putin warned cabinet ministers, regional governors and lawmakers at a meeting in the Kremlin (the seat of Russian government) this week against using oil revenues flooding Russia's budget coffers to finance populist projects and so push inflation even higher.

Putin said the 2006 budget should be "a budget of social and economic development, not of squandering", and the national economic programme should aim to lift living standards.

State projects have often turned into black holes for budget cash, and Putin criticised the huge number of unfinished construction projects from the 1990s. He said the bulk of budget spending will go into increased wages, and provision of social facilities and infrastructure.

While some of Putin's reassurances are in line with popular demands expressed in the survey, the allocation of substantial money from the stabilisation fund for meeting the budget deficit has raised concern just how much money will be made available to back Putin's promises.

Putin has succeeded, however, in diverting large amounts of oil revenue to the state budget away from the private profits of such companies as Yukos and Sibneft. (Former Yukos boss Mikhail Khodorkovsky was jailed for nine years recently after being convicted for financial fraud, in a disputed ruling).

(MORE)