August 3, 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 3, 2005

1//Asia Times Online, Hong Kong--REVIVING THE 'RADICAL CENTER' (As US President George W Bush announced the unprecedented recess appointment of ultra-nationalist John Bolton as his next ambassador to the United Nations, a group of diplomatic heavyweights was preparing to launch a bipartisan coalition to promote a return to a more moderate and multilateral foreign policy. While the group, which calls itself the Partnership for a Secure America, was not explicitly set up to act to oppose the more radical initiatives of the Bush administration, the chief organizers - both Republicans and Democrats - have sometimes been harshly critical of specific Bush policies, especially the decision to go to war in Iraq and innovative policy initiatives such as the promotion of preemptive war against "rogue states." The group includes top officials who served in the administrations of presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter, such as the two presidents' most durable national security advisers - Samuel Berger and Zbigniew Brzezinski, respectively - as well as former secretary of state Warren Christopher; Clinton's first national security adviser, Anthony Lake; former defense secretary William Perry, and former UN ambassador Richard Holbrooke. But it also includes leading Republican moderates, some of whom have even served under Bush. They include former senator Howard Baker, who served until last year as Bush's ambassador to Japan, and, even more significantly, his most recent UN ambassador, former senator John Danforth, who, since his resignation, has been uncharacteristically outspoken about his concerns that the Republican Party has increasingly come under the sway of the Christian Right.)

2//Inter Press Service News Agency, Italy--THE SELLING OF BRAND KURDISTAN (… The generally efficient, if questionable, electoral process not only turned out large numbers of voters, but it also allowed Kurdish leader, Jalal Talabani, to be selected as the country's president, insuring close participation by the Kurds in all important government deliberations. In a parallel strategic track, however, the Kurdish Regional Government appears to be keeping its options open, recently hiring Russo Marsh & Rogers (RM&R) -- a Sacramento, California-based public relations firm with close ties to the Republican Party -- to promote its interests. …  "Our job" with the Kurds, RM&R's Joe Wierzbicki told IPS, "is to carry out a public relations campaign that will thank the American people for supporting the war in Iraq, and encourage Americans to visit and invest in the Kurdish region." The project has not yet gotten underway and it is unclear how long the contract will actually run. "It's a short-term thing because they don't know how long the public relations campaign might go," Wierzbicki said. … Wierzbicki quickly added that they are definitely "not advocating an independent Kurdistan." The "war on terror" has been good to Russo Marsh & Rogers. Shortly after 9/11, it supported a brief, but nasty, campaign to unseat California Representative Barbara Lee, after she had cast the lone Congressional vote against giving Pres. George W. Bush a blank cheque to pursue his war on international terrorism.)

3//RIA Novosti, Russia--IRAN HAS RIGHT TO DEVELOP NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE – RUSSIAN OFFICIAL (Russia has always acknowledged Iran's right to develop a nuclear fuel cycle (NFC), although it urged countries without an NFC to avoid developing nuclear programs, a source at the Russian Federal Agency for Nuclear Power, Rosatom, said Tuesday. He said the resumption of work on NFC development would not affect scheduled deliveries of nuclear fuel from Russia to Iran. … Commenting on the decision of Iranian authorities to break the IAEA seals on the equipment at the Isfahan nuclear facility in order to resume work on uranium enrichment, the Rosatom official said, "It should be done only by IAEA experts because it's the agency's seals, after all.")

4//The Chosun Ilbo, South Korea--FRUSTRATION ALL ROUND AT SIX-PARTY TALKS (…  The South Korean delegation is reportedly inching closer to letting North Korea use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, although it balks at North Korean demands to restart construction of two light-water reactors that was suspended when the current crisis started. In its keynote address, Seoul called for the verifiable dismantling of all nuclear weapons and nuclear programs, but recently the South Korean delegation would only confirm it used the "comprehensive" -- read more vague -- phrase "North Korea's nuclear dismantlement" in its draft. Although Hill said the differences were "between the North Korean side on one hand and everyone else on the other hand," it appears that on the question of peaceful nuclear energy it is the U.S. and Japan versus the rest. Even largely silent partner Russia came out on Monday with a surprise offer to help with development of peaceful nuclear energy.)

5//Xinhua Online, China--CHINA, RUSSIA TO LAUNCH 1ST JOINT MILITARY EXERCISES (China and Russia will hold their first joint military exercises on Aug. 18-25, China's Ministry of Defense announced here Tuesday. In a press release, the ministry said the exercises, dubbed "Peace Mission 2005," will be carried out in Vladivostok in far eastern region of Russia and East China's Shandong Peninsula and nearby offshore seawaters. The exercises will involve nearly 10,000 troops from the armies, navies, air forces as well as airborne units, marine corps and logistic units of Chinese and Russian armed forces, said the press release. … The ministry said that the mission of the drills mainly aim to deepen Sino-Russian mutual trust, promote mutual friendship and enhance the cooperation and coordination of the two armed forces in the areas of defense and security.)

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1//Asia Times Online, Hong Kong Aug 3, 2005
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Front_Page/GH03Aa01.html

REVIVING THE 'RADICAL CENTER'
By Jim Lobe

WASHINGTON - As US President George W Bush announced the unprecedented recess appointment of ultra-nationalist John Bolton as his next ambassador to the United Nations, a group of diplomatic heavyweights was preparing to launch a bipartisan coalition to promote a return to a more moderate and multilateral foreign policy.

While the group, which calls itself the Partnership for a Secure America, was not explicitly set up to act to oppose the more radical initiatives of the Bush administration, the chief organizers - both Republicans and Democrats - have sometimes been harshly critical of specific Bush policies, especially the decision to go to war in Iraq and innovative policy initiatives such as the promotion of preemptive war against "rogue states."

The group includes top officials who served in the administrations of presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter, such as the two presidents' most durable national security advisers - Samuel Berger and Zbigniew Brzezinski, respectively - as well as former secretary of state Warren Christopher; Clinton's first national security adviser, Anthony Lake; former defense secretary William Perry, and former UN ambassador Richard Holbrooke.

But it also includes leading Republican moderates, some of whom have even served under Bush. They include former senator Howard Baker, who served until last year as Bush's ambassador to Japan, and, even more significantly, his most recent UN ambassador, former senator John Danforth, who, since his resignation, has been uncharacteristically outspoken about his concerns that the Republican Party has increasingly come under the sway of the Christian Right.

Lawrence Eagleburger, a protege of Henry Kissinger and the number two in the State Department under George H W Bush who also served briefly as acting secretary of state in 1992, as well as one of Ronald Reagan's national security advisers, retired General Robert "Bud" MacFarlane, have also signed up.

Other leading Republicans include former trade representative Carla Hills, former senator Nancy Kassebaum Baker, former New Jersey governor and co-chair of the 9-11 Commission Thomas Kean, and the former deputy secretary of state under Reagan, John Whitehead. Former UN ambassador Thomas Pickering, who served under Bush Sr but, like Eagleburger was a career foreign service officer, has also joined.

The new group will formally launch itself Wednesday at a news conference in Washington conducted by two well-known and respected former lawmakers, Lee Hamilton, a top foreign-policy Democrat during his many years in the House of Representatives, who also co-chaired the 9-11 Commission and currently serves as head of the influential Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, and Warren Rudman, a prominent Republican moderate and former senator who has served on several bipartisan commission over the past two decades.

"The Partnership for a Secure America (PSA) is dedicated to recreating the bipartisan center in American national security and foreign policy," according to the group's mission statement.

"Although partisan rancor has traditionally stopped 'at the water's edge,' this tradition of bipartisan cooperation has eroded significantly in recent years in negative and harmful ways," it said, noting that its goals include "heightening public awareness of and support for a bipartisan national security and foreign policy," and "bringing leading Democrats and Republicans together to seek common ground in national security and foreign policy."

While such statements do not appear on their face to be directed against the Bush administration, the group's organizers and the context in which it was put together belie that impression.

On its website, for example, the new group, which will be run day-to-day by former congressional staffers from both parties, cites a series of public opinion polls that show strong support by both Republicans and Democrats for policies that have been anathema to the administration, including strengthening the UN and other multilateral organizations, a nuclear test-ban treaty, the Kyoto Protocol to curb greenhouse emissions, a more even-handed approach in the Arab-Israeli conflict, and even engaging Iran.

Moreover, in addition to their individually voiced concerns about the administration's unilateralism, global ambitions and its alienation of traditional US allies, many charter PSA members have expressed - albeit privately in the case of some of the Republicans - great unease about Bolton's appointment as UN ambassador.

(MORE)

2//Inter Press Service News Agency, Italy Aug 1, 2005
http://ipsnews.net/new_nota.asp?idnews=29735

THE SELLING OF BRAND KURDISTAN
Bill Berkowitz

OAKLAND, California, Aug 1 (IPS) - As chaos continues across much of Iraq, the governing authority is coming to yet another crossroads.

Inside the Green Zone -- the location of the U.S. Embassy and major Iraqi government offices -- officials are struggling to forge an acceptable constitution by the August deadline. Outside the relative safety of that enclave, the insurgency continues apace as demonstrated by daily suicide bombings and civilian casualties.

While the Shiite leaders of the government are negotiating deals and solidifying ties with Iran, and the Sunnis remain mostly disaffected from the political process, the Kurds appear to have mastered a dual strategy of participating in government decisions while at the same time, taking matters regarding their future into their own hands.

The generally efficient, if questionable, electoral process not only turned out large numbers of voters, but it also allowed Kurdish leader, Jalal Talabani, to be selected as the country's president, insuring close participation by the Kurds in all important government deliberations.

In a parallel strategic track, however, the Kurdish Regional Government appears to be keeping its options open, recently hiring Russo Marsh & Rogers (RM&R) -- a Sacramento, California-based public relations firm with close ties to the Republican Party -- to promote its interests.

Many political observers believe that the future of Iraq may see a full-blown civil war or possible partition. Investigative reporter Seymour Hersh recently wrote in The New Yorker magazine that a United Nations official involved in the elections told him: "The election was not an election but a referendum on ethnic and religious identity. For the Kurds, voting was about self-determination."

"Our job" with the Kurds, RM&R's Joe Wierzbicki told IPS, "is to carry out a public relations campaign that will thank the American people for supporting the war in Iraq, and encourage Americans to visit and invest in the Kurdish region."

The project has not yet gotten underway and it is unclear how long the contract will actually run. "It's a short-term thing because they don't know how long the public relations campaign might go," Wierzbicki said.

RM&R took on this work, he said, because "of all the different groups in Iraq that have a vision for the future, the vision of the Kurds is closest to ours. It's important to recognise that the Kurds are not hostile to the West."

In addition, "their vision, belief system and values -- they've had a democratic system in place for a while -- parallel ours."

No doubt, it's "a very messy situation over there and the country is trying to figure out its future. The Kurds would like the rest of country to look at the Kurdish region and see it as a model for the rest of the country."

Wierzbicki quickly added that they are definitely "not advocating an independent Kurdistan."

The "war on terror" has been good to Russo Marsh & Rogers. Shortly after 9/11, it supported a brief, but nasty, campaign to unseat California Representative Barbara Lee, after she had cast the lone Congressional vote against giving Pres. George W. Bush a blank cheque to pursue his war on international terrorism.

(MORE)

3//RIA Novosti (Russian News & Information Agency), Russia 18:33 02/08/2005
http://en.rian.ru/world/20050802/41076728.html

IRAN HAS RIGHT TO DEVELOP NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE – RUSSIAN OFFICIAL

MOSCOW, August 2 (RIA Novosti) - Russia has always acknowledged Iran's right to develop a nuclear fuel cycle (NFC), although it urged countries without an NFC to avoid developing nuclear programs, a source at the Russian Federal Agency for Nuclear Power, Rosatom, said Tuesday.

He said the resumption of work on NFC development would not affect scheduled deliveries of nuclear fuel from Russia to Iran.

Russia is finishing the construction of the first power-generating unit with a 1,000 MW capacity at the Bushehr nuclear power plant (NPP) on the Iranian coast of the Persian Gulf. The plant will become operational in 2006. According to a protocol signed in the beginning of the year, Russia will deliver up to 80 metric tons of nuclear fuel to the Bushehr NPP.

"We will deliver up to 80 tons of low-grade uranium, and only when it is necessary for technological purposes," the source said.

Commenting on the decision of Iranian authorities to break the IAEA seals on the equipment at the Isfahan nuclear facility in order to resume work on uranium enrichment, the Rosatom official said, "It should be done only by IAEA experts because it's the agency's seals, after all."

Iranian authorities notified the IAEA about their readiness to resume the activities at the Isfahan facility on Monday. Later, spokesman for Iran's Supreme National Security Council Ali Aghamohammadi announced that Iran has decided to meet the global community halfway and postpone the resumption of activities at the Isfahan nuclear facility for at least two days. (End Item)

4//The Chosun Ilbo, South Korea Updated Aug.2,2005 19:32 KST
http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/...

FRUSTRATION ALL ROUND AT SIX-PARTY TALKS

An exasperated Chinese chief negotiator Wu Dawei vented his frustration with progress at six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear program on Tuesday, in remarks clearly aimed at recalcitrant main opponents Washington and Pyongyang. “It will be difficult to reach an agreement in this state. Let the participant nations reconfirm whether they have the will to compromise and decide whether to continue with the talks or stop," Wu berated a meeting of chief negotiators.

They responded by sitting down to talks again, saying this round of negotiations must produce results. But unilateral concessions are unlikely as matters of national strategy are involved for both sides. Talks were adjourned and restarted several times since the moment one party calls it quits it incurs all the blame from the other parties.

U.S. chief negotiator Christopher Hill, who had been holding back from criticizing the North, is also sounding frustrated, saying Tuesday he would continue to talk with the North for some time further but adding, “Frankly we were not able to bridge any differences." South Korea's delegation head Song Min-soon looked and sounded drained when he said, "We are exhausting our wisdom."

A fresh Chinese draft statement of principles reportedly allowed North Korea to operate nuclear facilities for peaceful purposes, merely calling on the North to rejoin the Non-Proliferation Treaty and undergo IAEA inspections. The U.S. and Japan naturally object.

The South Korean delegation is reportedly inching closer to letting North Korea use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, although it balks at North Korean demands to restart construction of two light-water reactors that was suspended when the current crisis started. In its keynote address, Seoul called for the verifiable dismantling of all nuclear weapons and nuclear programs, but recently the South Korean delegation would only confirm it used the “comprehensive" -- read more vague -- phrase "North Korea's nuclear dismantlement" in its draft.

Although Hill said the differences were “between the North Korean side on one hand and everyone else on the other hand," it appears that on the question of peaceful nuclear energy it is the U.S. and Japan versus the rest. Even largely silent partner Russia came out on Monday with a surprise offer to help with development of peaceful nuclear energy. Perhaps that is the reason the U.S. stresses North Korea's isolation to reporters, when in previous rounds it was always North Korea that claimed the U.S. was alone.

(MORE)

5//Xinhua Online, China 2005-08-02 14:57:17
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-08/02/content_3299361.htm

CHINA, RUSSIA TO LAUNCH 1ST JOINT MILITARY EXERCISES

BEIJING, Aug. 2 (Xinhuanet) -- China and Russia will hold their first joint military exercises on Aug. 18-25, China's Ministry of Defense announced here Tuesday.

In a press release, the ministry said the exercises, dubbed "Peace Mission 2005," will be carried out in Vladivostok in far eastern region of Russia and East China's Shandong Peninsula and nearby offshore seawaters.

The exercises will involve nearly 10,000 troops from the armies, navies, air forces as well as airborne units, marine corps and logistic units of Chinese and Russian armed forces, said the press release.

Chinese and Russian defense ministries signed a memorandum on conducting joint military exercises in July 2004. The chiefs of the general staffs of Chinese and Russian armed forces will announce the commencement of the exercises in Vladivostok on Aug. 18.

China and Russia have invited the defense ministers from member countries of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and representatives from SCO's observer countries to watch the joint exercises.

The holding of the maneuvers is in line with the guideline of the UN Charter, and complies with the widely recognized international laws and the respect of the national sovereignty and territorial integrity of other countries, said the press release.

"The exercises neither aim at any third party nor concern with the interests of any third country," said the press release.

The ministry said that the mission of the drills mainly aim to deepen Sino-Russian mutual trust, promote mutual friendship and enhance the cooperation and coordination of the two armed forces in the areas of defense and security.

(MORE)