September 9, 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 SEPTEMBER 9, 2005

1//Asia Times Online, Hong Kong--SHI'ITE SUPREMACISTS EMERGE FROM IRAN'S SHADOWS (When mild-mannered former Iranian president Mohammad Khatami lashed out in a post-election sermon at the "powerful organization" behind the "shallow-thinking traditionalists with their Stone-Age backwardness" currently running the country, it became clear that Iran's political establishment is worried by the ideology propelling the government of new hardline President Mahmud Ahmadinejad. Khatami's attack coincides with mounting evidence that a radically anti-Bahai [1] and anti-Sunni semi-clandestine society, called the Hojjatieh, is reemerging in the corridors of power in Tehran. The group flourished during the 1979 revolution that ousted the Shah and installed an Islamic government in his place, and was banned in 1983 by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the father of the revolution. … In an April 2004 article, Persian-language Baztab news website that is written by well-connected insiders and read by Iran's political elite, published a piece alleging that the Hojjatieh had adopted a strategy of trying to sharpen domestic tensions between Sunnis and Shi'ites through launching a propaganda campaign against the minority religious group inside Iran (Sunnis). The report alleged that some Hojjatieh-aligned publishers have been issuing books in Arabic that are critical of Sunnis. The books have been distributed in Qom, but are fictitiously marked "Published in Beirut" to give them further credibility and mask the fact they are Shi'ite propaganda. This is a potentially dangerous move with grave foreign policy implications for Iran. Iran's Sunni minorities live in some of the least-developed provinces and are under-represented in parliament, the army and the civil service. Iran's Kurds, who are Sunni, have been rioting in the north, while the ethnic Arab south is another location that has suffered riots and a bombing campaign in the past six months.)

2//Financial Times, UK--YUSHCHENKO SACKS UKRAINE GOVERNMENT (Ukraine's President Viktor Yushchenko on Thursday sacked his cabinet and appointed a loyal and moderate ally to take over as prime minister from the populist Yulia Tymoshenko, after accusing her of engaging in divisive conflicts with other members of his political team. Yushchenko said Ms Tymoshenko and his national security chief, Petro Poroshenko, who had earlier resigned, had "lost their team spirit and trust" and had forced him to play the role of arbiter between competing institutions within his own administration. … Ms Tymoshenko is expected to announce that she will form a separate political bloc and run against Mr Yushchenko's Our Ukraine party, of which Mr Yekhanurov and Mr Poroshenko are senior members, in the March elections. The elections are crucial, as they coincide with the coming into force of political reforms adopted during the Orange Revolution that transfer many executive powers to the prime minister. After the elections the premier would be chosen by the new parliament and would no longer answer to the president. Mr Yushchenko's allies are expected to attempt to cancel the political reforms in court.)

3//Inter Press Service News Agency, Italy--SEEKING OIL IN TROUBLED WATERS (Amid global shortages and price rises, what China is paying for its imported oil could involve much more than just cash. China's strategy of tapping new oil reserves in some countries, blacklisted by the United States as troublesome, is meeting increasing political resistance from Washington. A week before Chinese President Hu Jintao is scheduled to meet with U.S. President George W. Bush, on the fringes of the United Nations summit in New York, Washington has warned Beijing that the two countries would be on a collision course if China continues to pursue energy deals in countries like Iran or Sudan. Deputy Secretary of State, Robert Zoellick has warned that Beijing's ties with 'troublesome' states such as Burma and Zimbabwe, were "going to have repercussions elsewhere" and the Chinese would have to decide if they wanted to pay the price. … Zoellick said he had told Chinese officials that from a U.S. perspective, "it looked like Chinese companies had been unleashed to try to lock up energy resources.")

4//Deutsche Welle/dw-Worlde.de, Germany--CRITICS SLAM RUSSO-GERMAN DEAL ON PIPELINE (Opposition is growing in eastern Europe to a deal to build a gas pipeline under the Baltic Sea, which Germany and Russia are poised to sign Thursday. Critics say it's an attempt to change the political map of Europe. Russian President Vladimir Putin's one-day visit to Berlin Thursday to meet with German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder and hammer out a deal to build a pipeline linking Russia with western Europe has raised hackles in the continent's East. "The new Russian-German alliance, which is today called an 'energy alliance,' is a plan to change the political map of Europe," former Lithuanian head of state and current EU parliamentarian Vytautas Landsbergis said in a statement. By building the pipeline under the sea, by-passing the Baltic states and Poland, Russia would be able to use "monopolistic gas prices" to "influence the policies of neighboring countries," said Landsbergis, who led Lithuania when the Baltic country became independent from the Soviet Union in 1990.)

5//MercoPress, Uruguay--CARIBBEAN COUNTRIES SIGN TO VENEZUELA'S PETROCARIBE (Caribbean leaders meeting in Jamaica officially launched PetroCaribe, a Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez initiative with the purpose of helping the region face the mounting energy bill. Also present at the ceremony was Cuba's Fidel Castro that together with Jamaican Prime Minister P.J. Patterson had already signed the agreement which will provide PetroCaribe members Venezuelan crude at preferential prices, with deferred payments and the possibility of settling part of the bill with local grown produce. Nine Caribbean countries signed the new oil agreement in Montego Bay including Dominican Republic, Antigua, Suriname, St Kitts and Nevis, Grenada, Guyana, Belize, Dominica and St. Vincent and Grenadines. … PetroCaribe was granted an initial capital infusion of 50 million US dollars by Venezuela. The long term plan is to integrate the Caribbean basin into a regional free trade area with the support of Venezuela's rich oil and financial resources which could total 17 billion US dollars in ten years. President Chavez has repeatedly clashed with United States over its oil policy and attempts to promote a more socialist political agenda in the Caribbean and South America plus his closeness with Cuba's Fidel Castro. Washington has described Mr. Chavez as a "de-stabilizing" force in the region.)

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1//Asia Times Online, Hong Kong Sep 8, 2005
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/GI09Ak01.html

SHI'ITE SUPREMACISTS EMERGE FROM IRAN'S SHADOWS
From a Special Correspondent

TEHRAN - When mild-mannered former Iranian president Mohammad Khatami lashed out in a post-election sermon at the "powerful organization" behind the "shallow-thinking traditionalists with their Stone-Age backwardness" currently running the country, it became clear that Iran's political establishment is worried by the ideology propelling the government of new hardline President Mahmud Ahmadinejad.

Khatami's attack coincides with mounting evidence that a radically anti-Bahai [1] and anti-Sunni semi-clandestine society, called the Hojjatieh, is reemerging in the corridors of power in Tehran. The group flourished during the 1979 revolution that ousted the Shah and installed an Islamic government in his place, and was banned in 1983 by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the father of the revolution.

Khomeini objected to the Hojjatieh's rejection of his doctrine of velayat-e faqih (Guardianship of the Jurist) and its conviction that chaos must be created to hasten the coming of the Mahdi, the 12th Shi'ite imam. Only then, they argue, can a genuine Islamic republic be established.

"Those who regarded the revolution, during Imam Khomeini's time, as a deviation, are now [wielding] the tools of terror and oppression," Khatami was reported as saying at a speech in the conservative northeastern town of Mashhad, the same location chosen by Ahmadinejad to convene the first meeting of his cabinet.

"The shallow-thinking traditionalists with their Stone-Age backwardness now have a powerful organization behind them," he said, in what was interpreted as an indirect reference to the Hojjatieh society.

Khatami's sharp comments followed an outburst by Ahmad Tavassoli, a former chief of staff of Khomeini. Tavassoli claimed that the executive branch of the Iranian government as well as the crack troops of the Revolutionary Guards had been hijacked by the Hojjatieh, which, he implied, now also controls Ahmadinejad.

Amid talk that the recent election was a silent coup carried out by elements of the hardline Revolutionary Guard after eight years of reformist rule, Western embassies have been scrambling to understand what the Hojjatieh stands for and to what extent the influence of its teachings will be felt in the new government's domestic and foreign policies.

Asia Times Online spoke last week with European and North American diplomats in Tehran who are trying to identify which of the new government's ministers have sympathies with the Hojjatieh or a part in the organization.

(SNIP)

In an April 2004 article, Persian-language Baztab news website that is written by well-connected insiders and read by Iran's political elite, published a piece alleging that the Hojjatieh had adopted a strategy of trying to sharpen domestic tensions between Sunnis and Shi'ites through launching a propaganda campaign against the minority religious group inside Iran (Sunnis). The report alleged that some Hojjatieh-aligned publishers have been issuing books in Arabic that are critical of Sunnis. The books have been distributed in Qom, but are fictitiously marked "Published in Beirut" to give them further credibility and mask the fact they are Shi'ite propaganda.

This is a potentially dangerous move with grave foreign policy implications for Iran. Iran's Sunni minorities live in some of the least-developed provinces and are under-represented in parliament, the army and the civil service. Iran's Kurds, who are Sunni, have been rioting in the north, while the ethnic Arab south is another location that has suffered riots and a bombing campaign in the past six months.

But whether the Hojjatieh is being resurrected by its former adherents or is being used as a battering ram by those Iranian politicians opposed to the current government, its reappearance coincides with a Shi'ite resurgence across the region and a new era of conservative factional infighting in Tehran.

"This particular form of mud-slinging that had disappeared a quarter of a century ago - when the secular left accused the religious establishment of having clandestine Hojjatieh affiliations - is gaining currency again in the new battle of Titans: the traditional right-wing versus the revolutionary right-wing clerical establishment - over ideological hegemony in Iran," concluded Mahmoud Sadri, a US-based Iranian academic.

2//Financial Times, UK Last updated: September 8 2005 18:56
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/10802d3a-204d...

YUSHCHENKO SACKS UKRAINE GOVERNMENT
By Tom Warner in Kiev

Ukraine's President Viktor Yushchenko on Thursday sacked his cabinet and appointed a loyal and moderate ally to take over as prime minister from the populist Yulia Tymoshenko, after accusing her of engaging in divisive conflicts with other members of his political team.

Mr Yushchenko said Ms Tymoshenko and his national security chief, Petro Poroshenko, who had earlier resigned, had "lost their team spirit and trust" and had forced him to play the role of arbiter between competing institutions within his own administration.

"The president shouldn't be a nanny," Mr Yushchenko said. "I'm convinced that millions of people didn't stand on the Maidan for this," he added, referring to the central square in Kiev where his supporters gathered during last winter's Orange Revolution.

The long-simmering conflict between Ms Tymoshenko and Mr Poroshenko reached crisis point after the surprise resignation earlier this week of Olexander Zinchenko, the president's chief of staff, who on Monday accused Mr Poroshenko of corruption and interference in the media and justice system.

(SNIP)

The move made clear that Mr Yushchenko would take direct personal control over government policy for the next six months until parliamentary elections due at the end of March. But his dismissal of Ms Tymoshenko is likely to lead to a damaging confrontation with her and her political team that could further bog down reforms.

Ms Tymoshenko is expected to announce that she will form a separate political bloc and run against Mr Yushchenko's Our Ukraine party, of which Mr Yekhanurov and Mr Poroshenko are senior members, in the March elections.

The elections are crucial, as they coincide with the coming into force of political reforms adopted during the Orange Revolution that transfer many executive powers to the prime minister.

After the elections the premier would be chosen by the new parliament and would no longer answer to the president. Mr Yushchenko's allies are expected to attempt to cancel the political reforms in court.

(MORE)

3//Inter Press Service News Agency, Italy Thursday, September 08, 2005
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=30191

SEEKING OIL IN TROUBLED WATERS
Antoaneta Bezlova

BEIJING, Sep 8 (IPS) - Amid global shortages and price rises, what China is paying for its imported oil could involve much more than just cash.

China's strategy of tapping new oil reserves in some countries, blacklisted by the United States as troublesome, is meeting increasing political resistance from Washington.

A week before Chinese President Hu Jintao is scheduled to meet with U.S. President George W. Bush, on the fringes of the United Nations summit in New York, Washington has warned Beijing that the two countries would be on a collision course if China continues to pursue energy deals in countries like Iran or Sudan.

Deputy Secretary of State, Robert Zoellick has warned that Beijing's ties with 'troublesome' states such as Burma and Zimbabwe, were "going to have repercussions elsewhere" and the Chinese would have to decide if they wanted to pay the price.

China must choose whether it wants to work with the U.S. to ameliorate problems posed by these states (while still protecting Beijing's energy interests) or whether "it wanted to be against us and others in the international system as well," Zoellick was quoted telling reporters in Washington.

Beijing sees energy shortages as one of the biggest potential threats to national security and social stability. China became a net importer of oil in 1993 and imports since then have risen sharply. Last year it imported 2.46 million barrels per day (bpd), accounting for about 40 percent of current demand.

By 2025, according to projections by the U.S. Energy Information Administration, China's oil imports will reach 9.4 million bpd of a total consumption of 12.8 million bpd.

Most analysts agree that the surge in Chinese demand has kept global supplies of oil extremely tight, and was in large part responsible for the rapid oil price rises of 2004.

In this supply-constrained environment, Chinese planners have become fixated on their goal of diversifying the country's sources of oil, gas, electricity and coal.

They have sought resources in Iran, a country the United States and Europe accuse of pursuing nuclear weapons as well as other states that have been hit by political instability or are accused of human rights abuses.

Among them are a clutch of African states that together meet 25 percent of Chinese oil imports.

Sudan, whose regime has been accused of genocide in the Darfur region, is currently China's largest overseas production base. China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) holds 40 percent stake in a consortium that is developing large fields, and is building a 215 million US dollar export terminal in Sudan.

China paid for this investment, in part, by providing arms to the Sudanese government. Other controversial supply deals have been struck with Chad, Gabon and Nigeria.

In Iran, where U.S. companies are prohibited from investing more than 20 million dollars annually, Chinese companies have signed long-term contracts valued at 200 billion dollars, making China Iran's biggest oil and gas customer.

Zoellick said he had told Chinese officials that from a U.S. perspective, "it looked like Chinese companies had been unleashed to try to lock up energy resources."

Such investments carry major political risks. Both the Sudanese and Iranian governments are the targets of the U.S. administration and face political, trade or military sanctions by Washington.

Already, China has stated it will veto a proposed resolution at the U.N. Security Council to impose sanctions against Sudan because of its human rights violations in Darfur.

With Iran, the situation looks even more precarious as Washington is revving up its opposition to the regime and soon, China may have to choose between agreeing to sanctions that would potentially destroy the value of many investments it has made or become an outcast in the international community.

Zoellick, who spoke on key issues facing the two powers before the meeting of their leaders next week, said he was not sure whether Beijing's energy quest was propelled by new Chinese oil companies or by a government "strategic plan."

(MORE)

4//Deutsche Welle/dw-Worlde.de, Germany 08.09.2005
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,1564,1704290,00.html

CRITICS SLAM RUSSO-GERMAN DEAL ON PIPELINE

Opposition is growing in eastern Europe to a deal to build a gas pipeline under the Baltic Sea, which Germany and Russia are poised to sign Thursday. Critics say it's an attempt to change the political map of Europe.

Russian President Vladimir Putin's one-day visit to Berlin Thursday to meet with German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder and hammer out a deal to build a pipeline linking Russia with western Europe has raised hackles in the continent's East.

"The new Russian-German alliance, which is today called an 'energy alliance,' is a plan to change the political map of Europe," former Lithuanian head of state and current EU parliamentarian Vytautas Landsbergis said in a statement.

By building the pipeline under the sea, by-passing the Baltic states and Poland, Russia would be able to use "monopolistic gas prices" to "influence the policies of neighboring countries," said Landsbergis, who led Lithuania when the Baltic country became independent from the Soviet Union in 1990.

Baltic states wary

The Baltic states are particularly wary of pacts between Germany and Russia, because they were annexed by the Soviet Union after the signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact between Germany and the USSR in August 1939. They regained their independence only in the early 1990s, and joined the EU and NATO last year.

The pipeline will stretch 1,200 kilometers (750 miles) under the Baltic Sea, to link the Russian city of Vyborg, near St Petersburg, to Greifswald on the northeastern coast of Germany.

Its underwater path means it will skirt the Baltic states, as well as Ukraine and Poland, which currently receive transit fees from Gazprom for allowing its pipelines to cross their territory on the way to the lucrative western European market.

The Baltic states and Poland wanted the pipeline to pass across their territory to ensure that Russia will not apply an energy blockade against them or try to manipulate prices

(SNIP)

Putin's visit to Berlin on Thursday to meet with his friend Schröder is also being watched closely in Germany, given that the country is heading to the polls in a general election in a week.

Vladislav Belov, a specialist on Germany at the Russian Academy of Science, said Putin realized this could well be the last time he would see Schröder in office.

"Putin is supporting his friend Gerhard even if he understands objectively that he will no longer be either chancellor or vice-chancellor. ... All the signs are that the Schröder era is at an end," Belov said.

(SNIP)

While Thursday's visit could see the close of the chapter of warm Schröder-Putin relations, opinion is divided on the future of Russian-German ties should conservative leader Angela Merkel take the mantle of German leadership.

(MORE)

5//MercoPress, Uruguay Thursday, 08 September
http://www.mercopress.com/Detalle.asp?NUM=6400

CARIBBEAN COUNTRIES SIGN TO VENEZUELA'S PETROCARIBE

Caribbean leaders meeting in Jamaica officially launched PetroCaribe, a Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez initiative with the purpose of helping the region face the mounting energy bill.

Also present at the ceremony was Cuba's Fidel Castro that together with Jamaican Prime Minister P.J. Patterson had already signed the agreement which will provide PetroCaribe members Venezuelan crude at preferential prices, with deferred payments and the possibility of settling part of the bill with local grown produce.

Nine Caribbean countries signed the new oil agreement in Montego Bay including Dominican Republic, Antigua, Suriname, St Kitts and Nevis, Grenada, Guyana, Belize, Dominica and St. Vincent and Grenadines.

Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados and the Bahamas did not sign the agreement arguing they wanted more information on the benefits to be accrued from PetroCaribe.

Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretary-General Edwin Carrington also attended the regional energy summit.

"We have the opportunity to break from the path of imposed domination and servitude," said President Venezuelan Chavez, adding that the capitalist model "imposed on us is not sustainable."

Jamaican PM Patterson told summit participants that signatories would not only benefit from access to Venezuelan oil but would also enjoy health services provided by the Cuban government.

"Even when Venezuelan oil will be sold at a price only slightly below market value, the generous financing terms will allow many islands in the Caribbean to breathe freely thanks to Venezuela's gesture."

Under the terms of the PetroCaribe agreement Caribbean country members will purchase 185.000 barrels per day of crude from Venezuela.

Representatives from Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago expressed reservations about the agreement due to concerns about their own oil exports.

(SNIP)

PetroCaribe was officially created June 29 in the Venezuelan city of Puerto La Cruz following on President Chavez initiative and supported by most Caribbean countries.

PetroCaribe was granted an initial capital infusion of 50 million US dollars by Venezuela. The long term plan is to integrate the Caribbean basin into a regional free trade area with the support of Venezuela's rich oil and financial resources which could total 17 billion US dollars in ten years.

President Chavez has repeatedly clashed with United States over its oil policy and attempts to promote a more socialist political agenda in the Caribbean and South America plus his closeness with Cuba's Fidel Castro. Washington has described Mr. Chavez as a "de-stabilizing" force in the region.

Venezuelan opponents of Mr. Chavez allege he's using the country's resources to buy political influence in the area in exchange for oil.