August 17, 2005

World Media Watch

by Gloria R. Lalumia

BuzzFlash Note: WMW provides BuzzFlash readers foreign views and perspectives that are not usually available from the media here in the U.S. The presentation of these articles from these international publications is not an endorsement of their viewpoints.

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WORLD MEDIA WATCH FOR AUGUST 17, 2005

1//The Moscow Times, Russia--SIGNS OF A 3RD TERM CAMPAIGN (Exactly a week after President Vladimir Putin hinted that he would like to serve a third term if the Constitution permitted it, a lawmaker in the Far East submitted a proposal to amend the Constitution.
Three days later, a lawmaker on the other side of the country, in St. Petersburg, offered a constitutional amendment of his own. A senior Federation Council senator said the proposals reflected public sentiment and could prompt changes to the Constitution. A behind-the-scenes campaign appears to be revving up to make sure that Putin remains in office beyond 2008. As the clock slowly ticks down on Putin's final term, the chorus of support for a constitutional amendment could swell and help Putin's retinue to persuade the president that he should stay on, political analysts said. … Putin has repeatedly spoken against amending the Constitution, but his most recent remarks could be interpreted as slightly more ambiguous, said Andrei Piontkovsky, an independent political analyst. … Federation Council Deputy Speaker Svetlana Orlova agreed that popular support could allow Putin to stay on. "A third presidential term depends on the will of the people," Orlova said last week, Interfax reported.)

2//Asia Times Online, Hong Kong--MOSCOW HARDENS TOWARDS TOKYO (As Russia has failed to secure any significant economic commitments from Tokyo, notably on a Japan-bound Pacific oil pipeline, the Kremlin has lost all interest in resolving its long-standing territorial dispute with Tokyo any time soon. Indeed, Russia has removed Japan from its Asian diplomacy priority list. … Unlike ties with Japan, Russia's investment cooperation with China has been booming. Just within the past three months, Russia and China have signed investment agreements totaling more than $2 billion. On the other hand, by the end of 2004 Japanese total direct investment in Russia amounted to less than $200 million. As Moscow becomes more disenchanted with what it perceives as Tokyo's obduracy, China could replace Japan as the main beneficiary of a trans-Siberian oil pipeline.)

3//The Daily Star, Lebanon--OIL MAJORS ATTRACTED BY THE SCENT OF NONCONVENTIONAL RESERVES (The economic viability of heavy oil, sometimes called nonconventional oil, had long been considered doubtful, but is now a reality owing to improved technologies that put Canada and Venezuela in the spotlight. Two years ago, Canada edged in between Saudi Arabia and Iraq as holder of the second largest reserves of oil according to the influential Oil and Gas Journal. … At almost four trillion barrels, of which 600 billion barrels are considered potentially exploitable, nonconventional oil represents a supplemental resource almost equal to the current reserves of conventional oil in the Middle East, according to the French Oil Institute. "Extraction in some zones has already begun and is economically viable with a barrel at $25," the institute said. … Oil majors such as ChevronTexaco, ConocoPhillips and Total are also working on heavy oil reserves in the Orenoque region of Venezuela, where reserves are estimated at between 100-270 billion barrels. The situation appears to be a bit more delicate than in Canada, however. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is cranking up pressure on foreign oil companies to sign contracts that provide more royalties and tax revenue for his country.)

4//Gulf News Online, United Arab Emirates--MADRASSAS TO LAUNCH ANTI-GOVERNMENT DRIVE [Pakistan] (Madrassas have decided to launch a campaign to mobilise public opinion in their support for countering the government's propaganda campaign. … A detailed plan for the protests action will be made public later. It is also understood the madrassa heads are considering legal action against the government for expelling students from seminaries, but not other mainstream educational institutions. "They cannot take such action when there is no evidence that these people are involved in militant activities. The government is guilty of ruining their careers," said one madrassa head. … Madrassas have traditionally been able to bring tens of thousands of people, most of them students of their own institutions, onto the streets and as such it is thought any all-out protest campaign by them could create considerable difficulties for the government.)

5//Inter Press Service News Agency, Italy--WORLD YOUTH FEST – ACTIVISM AND CELEBRATION (A lengthy statement against "U.S. imperialism" was adopted at the close of the 16th World Youth and Students Festival, which drew thousands of young people from more than 100 countries to Venezuela over the past week. Music, dancing, hugs and promises to carry on the struggle and to meet up again marked the closing ceremony, where 10,000 youngsters gathered under the flags of the countries they represent. The packed Caracas amphitheatre echoed Monday night to cheers for presidents Hugo Chávez of Venezuela and Fidel Castro of Cuba. … The climate at the festival was a combination of intense political activism and youthfully exuberant celebration. … "We are returning to our countries to add our strength to the struggles of young people and students against imperialism and war, and for peace and the construction of a new society," said Miguel Madeira of Portugal, the president of the WFDY. The WFDY, which was founded at the 1945 World Youth Conference in London, decided to organise the next global gathering of young people in 2007 in Caracas as well, to commemorate half a century of world youth festivals.)

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1//The Moscow Times, Russia Tuesday, August 16, 2005. Issue 3231. Page 1
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2005/08/16/003.html

SIGNS OF A 3RD TERM CAMPAIGN
By Anatoly Medetsky, Staff Writer

Exactly a week after President Vladimir Putin hinted that he would like to serve a third term if the Constitution permitted it, a lawmaker in the Far East submitted a proposal to amend the Constitution.

Three days later, a lawmaker on the other side of the country, in St. Petersburg, offered a constitutional amendment of his own.

A senior Federation Council senator said the proposals reflected public sentiment and could prompt changes to the Constitution.

A behind-the-scenes campaign appears to be revving up to make sure that Putin remains in office beyond 2008. As the clock slowly ticks down on Putin's final term, the chorus of support for a constitutional amendment could swell and help Putin's retinue to persuade the president that he should stay on, political analysts said.

Asked by a reporter in Finland on Aug. 2 whether he would like to continue as president after 2008, Putin replied, "Maybe I would have liked to, but the Constitution does not allow it."

"I'm of the opinion," Putin added, "that the most important issue in Russia now is stability, and the only way to achieve this is by respecting the Constitution."

He spoke at a news conference after meeting with Finnish President Tarja Halonen.

In what analysts called a direct reaction to Putin's remarks, Primorye legislator Adam Imadayev on Aug. 9 proposed that regional lawmakers introduce a bill that would scrap Part 3 of Article 81 of the Constitution -- the provision that limits a president to two consecutive terms.

St. Petersburg legislator Igor Rimmer then proposed on Friday that city lawmakers consider an amendment that would allow a president to serve three consecutive terms. Rimmer argued that the amendment would not be a step back for democracy and would allow Putin to carry on with his reforms.

The proposed amendments would have to be approved on a regional level before they could move to the State Duma for consideration. At least one other regional lawmaker has lobbied for a constitutional amendment to extend Putin's term in recent months, but that proposal was quickly dismissed.

Putin has repeatedly spoken against amending the Constitution, but his most recent remarks could be interpreted as slightly more ambiguous, said Andrei Piontkovsky, an independent political analyst.

"It's another step in Putin's comments on the subject. This was the first time that the option was first mentioned in a positive context," he said.

"There has been strong pressure on Putin from his entourage to run for a third term, but he has strong hesitations," he said. "He understands the costs on an international level."

If Putin were to run under an amended Constitution, he would risk being likened to Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko and Uzbek President Islam Karimov, longtime leaders who have traded angry words with the West over democracy in their countries and the legitimacy of their regimes, Piontkovsky said.

Piontkovsky said the recent proposals appeared to have been orchestrated by the siloviki, a group of military and security officials who rode to power on Putin's coattails and want him to stay on.

But Dmitry Orlov, the director of the Agency for Political and Economic Communications, a think tank, said the regional legislators probably reacted to Putin's statements in Finland on their own. "They wished to reiterate their loyalty," he said.

Regardless of the motivation, the proposals mirror public opinion and, if they persist, they could cause the Constitution to be changed, Yury Sharandin, chairman of the Federation Council's Constitutional Law Committee, said last week. Sharandin cautioned, however, that allowing a president serve multiple terms would create "unnecessary political tension," Interfax reported.

Federation Council Deputy Speaker Svetlana Orlova agreed that popular support could allow Putin to stay on. "A third presidential term depends on the will of the people," Orlova said last week, Interfax reported.

(MORE)

2//Asia Times Online, Hong Kong Aug 17, 2005
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Central_Asia/GH17Ag01.html

MOSCOW HARDENS TOWARDS TOKYO
By Sergei Blagov

MOSCOW - As Russia has failed to secure any significant economic commitments from Tokyo, notably on a Japan-bound Pacific oil pipeline, the Kremlin has lost all interest in resolving its long-standing territorial dispute with Tokyo any time soon. Indeed, Russia has removed Japan from its Asian diplomacy priority list.

A top official has bluntly told Tokyo to forget about the disputed Kuril islands. President Vladimir Putin's special envoy in the Far East, Konstantin Pulikovsky, said this month that "Russia does not have any problem of Kuril islands", meaning it is happy with the status quo.

The "so-called territorial dispute" is a sort of publicity platform for Japanese politicians, Pulikovsky claimed. "It is absolutely their internal affair, we have nothing to do with it," he said. In the meantime, the Kuril Islands will become "a beautiful corner of prosperous Russia," Pulikovsky said.

Pulikovsky also said that Russia and Japan had good relations, particularly in the economic and tourist spheres, without a peace treaty. Japan has made the return of the Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan and Habomai islands, which it calls the Northern Territories, a condition of concluding a peace treaty with Russia. These islands passed to the Soviet Union after World War II.

And then on August 10 Pulikovsky approved a blueprint for developing the Kuril Islands. The document reportedly involves a number of measures, including creation of a special economic zone to promote economic development in the Russian Far East. Businesses in the zone will receive preferential tax and other treatment. In other words, Moscow aims to demonstrate that it will take care of the Kurils on its own.

(SNIP)

Energy issues

Just few months ago, Russia indicated that a major energy deal with Tokyo was possible. Last December, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov approved a 4,130-kilometer crude oil pipeline from Taishet in eastern Siberia to Nakhodka in the Sea of Japan. The Kremlin chief of staff, Dmitry Medvedev, announced in April that plans for the Pacific oil pipeline were expected to be finalized by May 1. But a clear Russian pipeline blueprint is yet to be made public. China had hoped that the pipeline would be routed from Angarsk to the Chinese city of Daqing.

Officials say that the country's pipeline monopoly, Transneft, will not use Japanese or Russian public funding to build the Pacific pipeline, citing the company's future bond issues as a principal source of financing. This is seen as a trial balloon to test Tokyo's readiness to finance the pipeline project to the tune of more than $10 billion. The pipeline is expected to carry 80 million tonnes of oil a year when completed in about four years' time.

As Tokyo failed to respond, the Kremlin requested some clarity. But hints of a possible off-shoot to China have proved unwelcome in Tokyo, and Japan made it clear it would not contribute financially to any Russian pipeline with a branch to China.

In response, Russia revealed plans to build a branch of the pipeline to China first, instead of giving priority to linking the pipeline to its Pacific coast, as sought by Japan.

Unlike ties with Japan, Russia's investment cooperation with China has been booming. Just within the past three months, Russia and China have signed investment agreements totaling more than $2 billion. On the other hand, by the end of 2004 Japanese total direct investment in Russia amounted to less than $200 million.

As Moscow becomes more disenchanted with what it perceives as Tokyo's obduracy, China could replace Japan as the main beneficiary of a trans-Siberian oil pipeline.

3//The Daily Star, Lebanon Wednesday, August 17, 2005
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition...

OIL MAJORS ATTRACTED BY THE SCENT OF NONCONVENTIONAL RESERVES
By Agence France Presse (AFP)

PARIS: The economic viability of heavy oil, sometimes called nonconventional oil, had long been considered doubtful, but is now a reality owing to improved technologies that put Canada and Venezuela in the spotlight. Two years ago, Canada edged in between Saudi Arabia and Iraq as holder of the second largest reserves of oil according to the influential Oil and Gas Journal.

Proven reserves were estimated at around 180 billion barrels, but 95 percent of that are tar sands found in the western province of Alberta.

Until recently, bituminous substances such as shale oil and tar sands were not included in classifications such as that established by the journal, owing to major difficulties in exploiting the reserves.

Accounting methods remain a controversial issue within the oil sector, but the reserves are nonetheless there and they are gigantic.

At almost four trillion barrels, of which 600 billion barrels are considered potentially exploitable, nonconventional oil represents a supplemental resource almost equal to the current reserves of conventional oil in the Middle East, according to the French Oil Institute.

"Extraction in some zones has already begun and is economically viable with a barrel at $25," the institute said.

(SNIP)

Serious obstacles remain such as the amount of water needed or quantities of carbon dioxide released in the extraction process, but techniques have advanced a long way.

Once treated, nonconventional oil can be used to produce synthetic oil, which can then be refined and used in place of conventional oil.

As a result, the sector is now humming, and two major operations were announced this month.

The U.S. pipeline operator Kinder Morgan has acquired the Canadian group Terasen for about $5.6 billion.

Morgan said on August 1 that Alberta oils and reserves owned by Terasen were "expected to become an increasingly important supply source to North America and Asia."

The French group Total announced that it would pay $1.11 billion for the Canadian Deer Creek Energy, which owns massive reserves near Athabasca, in the same western province.

Oil majors such as ChevronTexaco, ConocoPhillips and Total are also working on heavy oil reserves in the Orenoque region of Venezuela, where reserves are estimated at between 100-270 billion barrels.

The situation appears to be a bit more delicate than in Canada, however.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is cranking up pressure on foreign oil companies to sign contracts that provide more royalties and tax revenue for his country.

4//Gulf News Online, United Arab Emirates Published: 16/8/2005, 07:05 (UAE)
http://www.gulf-news.com/Articles/WorldNF.asp?ArticleID=177575

MADRASSAS TO LAUNCH ANTI-GOVERNMENT DRIVE
By Abdullah Iqbal, Correspondent

Lahore: Madrassas have decided to launch a campaign to mobilise public opinion in their support for countering the government's propaganda campaign.

The decision was taken by Ittehad Tanzimat Madaris Deeniya (ITMD), an association of five education boards of Madaris affiliated to different schools of thought in the country, in its meeting chaired by the coordination secretary and president, Punjab Quran Board, Qari Hanif Jallundhari.

Qari Hanif and other representatives, including Maulana Fazle Rahim, Dr Sarfraz Naeemi, Allama Riaz Hussain and others, said it was also decided to expand ITMD organisations to grass-root level all over the country and establish its bodies in district and tehsil levels within the next few months.

A detailed plan for the protests action will be made public later. It is also understood the madrassa heads are considering legal action against the government for expelling students from seminaries, but not other mainstream educational institutions.

"They cannot take such action when there is no evidence that these people are involved in militant activities. The government is guilty of ruining their careers," said one madrassa head.

(SNIP)

The heads warned that if the government continued inflexible attitude regarding madrassas then they would be forced to chalk out future line of action by taking along other religious forces in the country.

They said the meeting termed the government pressure on madrassas and forced expulsion of foreign students unprecedented, extremist, and amounted to usurping their rights.

(SNIP)

Responding to a question, they said so far only six to seven foreign students have left the country voluntarily, adding that the issue had further isolated the country in the Muslim world and benefited India which had given visas to all the students leaving Pakistan.

They asked the human rights groups to protest against the forced expulsion of students, adding that none of the foreigners were illegal or involved in any unlawful activity.

Madrassas have traditionally been able to bring tens of thousands of people, most of them students of their own institutions, onto the streets and as such it is thought any all-out protest campaign by them could create considerable difficulties for the government.

5//Inter Press Service News Agency, Italy Tuesday, August 16, 2005 21:04 GMT
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=29917

WORLD YOUTH FEST – ACTIVISM AND CELEBRATION
Humberto Márquez

CARACAS, Aug 16 (IPS) - A lengthy statement against "U.S. imperialism" was adopted at the close of the 16th World Youth and Students Festival, which drew thousands of young people from more than 100 countries to Venezuela over the past week.

Music, dancing, hugs and promises to carry on the struggle and to meet up again marked the closing ceremony, where 10,000 youngsters gathered under the flags of the countries they represent.

The packed Caracas amphitheatre echoed Monday night to cheers for presidents Hugo Chávez of Venezuela and Fidel Castro of Cuba.

(SNIP)

The climate at the festival was a combination of intense political activism and youthfully exuberant celebration.

The first world youth festival was held in Prague in 1947, and most subsequent editions also took place in former east European socialist bloc countries, including the Soviet Union, or in other socialist nations such as Cuba and North Korea.

However, the eighth festival was held in Finland in 1962 and the 15th was hosted by Algeria in 2001.

During the long days of the festival, the young participants took part in workshops and seminars on the problems facing the countries of the developing South, U.S. policy and the war on Iraq, the destruction of the environment, the rights of minorities and Washington's aggressive stance towards Cuba and Venezuela.

Over the weekend, U.S. policy and the George W. Bush administration were condemned in a mock trial led by Venezuelan Vice President José Vicente Rangel.

(SNIP)

The festival's final declaration also compiled the criticism heard against Washington's policies, and stated that "resistance is growing stronger around the world, despite the empire's efforts to identify (the movement) with terrorism."

The document pointed out that one billion people worldwide scrape by on less than one dollar a day, five million a year die of illnesses associated with the lack of clean drinking water or sanitation, and 130 million young people are illiterate.

The declaration demanded respect for women's rights, sexual and reproductive health, employment for the young, a healthy environment, and access to education, health, culture and technology.

It also expressed solidarity with the people of Iraq, Nepal, Burma (Myanmar) and the Palestinian territories, supported Morocco's right to sovereignty over the Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla, and demanded the withdrawal of the U.S. troops stationed in South Korea.

"We are returning to our countries to add our strength to the struggles of young people and students against imperialism and war, and for peace and the construction of a new society," said Miguel Madeira of Portugal, the president of the WFDY.

The WFDY, which was founded at the 1945 World Youth Conference in London, decided to organise the next global gathering of young people in 2007 in Caracas as well, to commemorate half a century of world youth festivals.

The choice of Venezuela as host country for this year's festival was prompted by the fact that "the social changes made to benefit the majority of the population are clearly evident, and the empire's aggression towards it is evident as well," Madeira commented to IPS last week.