October 7, 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 OCTOBER 7, 2005

1//The Guardian, UK--UK ACCUSES IRAN OVER KILLINGS OF SOLDIERS (Britain and Iran clashed openly last night after a senior British official directly accused Tehran of supplying Iraqi insurgents with sophisticated roadside bombs that have killed eight British soldiers and two security guards since May. The bombs, triggered when an infra-red beam is touched, have created havoc among British forces in southern Iraq. They release a projectile capable of penetrating armoured vehicles, against which the British army has virtually no defence. … The British official said the bombs were designed and manufactured by the Tehran-backed guerrilla group Hizbullah, based in Lebanon, and were channelled to Iraq via Iran. "Iran's motives certainly don't seem that benign. If Iran wants to tie down the coalition in Iraq, then that is consistent with supplying insurgent groups." He said Iran was providing help not only to their co-religionist Shia insurgents but to Sunni insurgents too. "There is some evidence that Iranians are in contact with Sunni groups." … There are differing views within the British intelligence community as to the level of Tehran's involvement. … The difference in opinion may reflect concern on the part of the military that a sharpening confrontation with Iran could increase the chances of further attacks on British troops.)

2//Asia Times Online, Hong Kong--REINVENTING IRAN’S FOREIGN POLICY (… Indeed, in addition to the nuclear problem portending a showdown at the UN Security Council in the near future, there are alarming signs of trouble nearly everywhere: Iran's relations with the United Kingdom have hit a low, with London's accusation of Iranian complicity in the spate of attacks on British soldiers in southern Iraq; the European Union going along with Washington's march for UN action on Iran; India casting votes against Iran at the UN atomic agency; Turkey and Pakistan, two critical neighbors of Iran, openly embracing Israel, a country daily threatening Iran with military strikes at its nuclear facilities; and, as if things were not bad enough, Saudi Arabia leveling serious charges of Iranian meddling inside Iraq. In terms of Iran's regional policy, the new tumult in Iran-Saudi relations is unsettling, and untimely, and the announced postponement of Foreign Minister Manouchehr Motaki's visit to Saudi Arabia only reinforces the suspicion that the recent anti-Iran pronouncements by key Saudi officials have not been aberrations but, rather, ominous signs of a growing rift in what has been a pillar of stability in the turbulent Persian Gulf region.)

3//The Daily Star, Lebanon--RUSSIA AND IAEA DISCUSS IRAN’S NUCLEAR PROGRAM (Russia's foreign minister dismissed speculation that Moscow might join talks between Iran and European negotiators on Tehran's disputed nuclear program. "As for relations between the European trio and Russia, we are not expecting any change in these relations. There is no need for that," Sergey Lavrov told reporters. "From the very beginning of the trio's work in its talks with Iran, Russia has closely interacted in this process and this cooperation is continuing now." … Baradei said Wednesday that he was optimistic the talks between Iran and the EU negotiators would resume within a month, but voiced his belief that a third party was needed to provide a "face-saving" way out of the impasse. That comment, and the fact he made it in Moscow, had increased speculation that Russia might be used as an intermediary.)

4//The Turkish Daily News, Turkey--US SEEKS TURKISH HELP AGAINST IRAN (The United States is trying to win Turkey over to its corner on the issue of Iran's nuclear ambitions, diplomats from both sides said. U.S. President George W. Bush's national security adviser Stephen Hadley visited Ankara in late September and briefly discussed the matter with top Turkish officials, but more detailed talks took place during last Friday's meetings between U.S. Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Robert Joseph and his counterparts at the Turkish Foreign Ministry.)

5 //The Daily Times, Pakistan--AL QAEDA STARTS ITS OWN NEWS BULLETIN (Al Qaeda linked militants have been posting a weekly news bulletin to tell the world about their exploits and the atrocities committed by their foes. In the second edition of “a nation’s weekly harvest” the anchor of the “Voice of the Caliphate” channel — a hooded gunman with an automatic weapon at his side — took his audience from Palestine to Afghanistan and then to Iraq.)

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1//The Guardian, UK Thursday October 6, 2005
http://www.guardian.co.uk/iran/story/0,12858,1585931,00.html

UK ACCUSES IRAN OVER KILLINGS OF SOLDIERS
Ewen MacAskill and Simon Tisdall and Richard Norton-Taylor

Britain and Iran clashed openly last night after a senior British official directly accused Tehran of supplying Iraqi insurgents with sophisticated roadside bombs that have killed eight British soldiers and two security guards since May.

The bombs, triggered when an infra-red beam is touched, have created havoc among British forces in southern Iraq. They release a projectile capable of penetrating armoured vehicles, against which the British army has virtually no defence.

The British official said that Iranian interference in Iraq could be related to British pressure on Iran over its suspected nuclear weapons ambitions. "It would be entirely natural that they would want to send a message 'Don't mess with us'," he said. An Iranian government spokesman rejected the British accusations and said it was opposed to the insurgency in Iraq.

The confrontation marks a hardening of relations between London and Tehran. Since 1997 the Foreign Office has been energetically engaged in trying to improve ties. But relations took a turn for the worse in June with the election as president of the Iranian hardliner, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and the rejection in September of a nuclear deal offered by Britain and supported by France and Germany. Iran threatened reprisals after the United Nations nuclear watchdog voted to refer Tehran to the UN security council for possible punitive sanctions. At last month's UN summit, Mr Ahmadinejad dismayed George Bush and Tony Blair with what they saw as a confrontational speech that dashed hopes of a nuclear deal.

In July three soldiers from the Staffordshire Regiment were killed by one of the devices while patrolling near the Iranian border. Five other British soldiers were killed by similar bombs this year, as well as two British security guards who were part of the diplomatic protection team.

The British official said the bombs were designed and manufactured by the Tehran-backed guerrilla group Hizbullah, based in Lebanon, and were channelled to Iraq via Iran. "Iran's motives certainly don't seem that benign. If Iran wants to tie down the coalition in Iraq, then that is consistent with supplying insurgent groups."

He said Iran was providing help not only to their co-religionist Shia insurgents but to Sunni insurgents too. "There is some evidence that Iranians are in contact with Sunni groups."

(SNIP)

There are differing views within the British intelligence community as to the level of Tehran's involvement. British military sources insisted last night there was no hard evidence that the explosives technology came from Iran. Defence sources suggested that blaming the IRGC for supplying the explosives technology was going too far. Other military officials said there was "so much expertise in Iraq" the bombs could have been made by former members of Saddam Hussein's security forces.

The difference in opinion may reflect concern on the part of the military that a sharpening confrontation with Iran could increase the chances of further attacks on British troops.

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2//Asia Times Online, Hong Kong Oct 7, 2005
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/GJ07Ak02.html

REINVENTING IRAN’S FOREIGN POLICY
By Kaveh L Afrasiabi

Iran's President Mahmud Ahmadinejad has opposed the description of his country's nuclear issue as a crisis. Yet there are strong indications that this is indeed an apt word to describe an increasingly volatile situation engulfing all sides of Iran's foreign policy, including that toward Iraq and other Arab states of the Persian Gulf. The situation warrants a serious review of the course of action adopted by the new administration in Tehran.

Indeed, in addition to the nuclear problem portending a showdown at the UN Security Council in the near future, there are alarming signs of trouble nearly everywhere: Iran's relations with the United Kingdom have hit a low, with London's accusation of Iranian complicity in the spate of attacks on British soldiers in southern Iraq; the European Union going along with Washington's march for UN action on Iran; India casting votes against Iran at the UN atomic agency; Turkey and Pakistan, two critical neighbors of Iran, openly embracing Israel, a country daily threatening Iran with military strikes at its nuclear facilities; and, as if things were not bad enough, Saudi Arabia leveling serious charges of Iranian meddling inside Iraq.

In terms of Iran's regional policy, the new tumult in Iran-Saudi relations is unsettling, and untimely, and the announced postponement of Foreign Minister Manouchehr Motaki's visit to Saudi Arabia only reinforces the suspicion that the recent anti-Iran pronouncements by key Saudi officials have not been aberrations but, rather, ominous signs of a growing rift in what has been a pillar of stability in the turbulent Persian Gulf region.

(SNIP)

Unfortunately, it might take more than mutual diplomacy by Tehran and Riyadh to set things straight, for a nub of the problem is the entwinement of their diplomacy with the ebb and flow of the politico-military situation inside Iraq and, clearly, there is no way to fully disentangle Iranian-Saudi relations from the complicated web of relations within Iraq. These include the semi-civil war between the Shi'ites and the Sunnis and the functional ties between Iran's nuclear policy and its policy toward still-occupied Iraq.

Concerning the latter, various empirical signs indicate Tehran's recourse to its influence inside Iraq as an indirect bargaining chip with Europe, above all London, with respect to the nuclear issue, seeking to take advantage of the soft support of British Prime Minister Tony Blair's Iraq policy at home.

Coined as nuclear poker by certain analysts, Iran's multi-pronged policy is, however, far from rational, as seen through the prism of Iranian interests and, what is more, shows the direct value of the "other linkage" dreaded by the West, namely, Iran's linkage of its role in Iraq, positive or negative, with the behavior of London and its other European partners vis-a-vis the nuclear question.

After all, if the European Union has explicitly linked its nuclear and trade policies toward Iran, why shouldn't Iran reciprocate by linking security with the nuclear issue? This, at least, seems to be the rationale in Iran today.

But, as stated above, one of the negative side effects of this new Iranian linkage policy has been on Iran-Saudi relations, and Iran's Saudi policy is suddenly experiencing jitters that could well get worse, depending in part on what happens inside Iraq and also what happens come the next IAEA meeting on Iran and the current US-EU drive to send Iran's file to the UN Security Council.

Concerning the former, Iran of course does not call most of the shots in Iraq, and the growing rift between Iraqi President Jalal Talabani and Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari (favored by Tehran) is yet another serious indication that the Iranian script, or hoped-for scenario, for the post-Saddam Hussein Iraq cannot be taken for granted and, perhaps, a fresh re-thinking of the policy is called for. (See The dilemmas of Iran's policy toward Iraq, Asia Times Online, May 20, 2004.)

Hence, on a broad level, Iran's overall foreign policy can be reasonably described as in a situation of uncertainty and tumult, caught in the bureaucratic wheel of political transition, wherein the new cadre of political advisors with little or no foreign experience find themselves parachuted into the shark pool of international and regional politics, with signs of danger lurking at every corner.

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3//The Daily Star, Lebanon Friday, October 07, 2005
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition...

RUSSIA AND IAEA DISCUSS IRAN’S NUCLEAR PROGRAM
Compiled by Daily Star staff

Russia's foreign minister dismissed speculation that Moscow might join talks between Iran and European negotiators on Tehran's disputed nuclear program. "As for relations between the European trio and Russia, we are not expecting any change in these relations. There is no need for that," Sergey Lavrov told reporters. "From the very beginning of the trio's work in its talks with Iran, Russia has closely interacted in this process and this cooperation is continuing now."

"We are ready to make our contribution to this process, working in parallel, to achieve a result that is in everyone's interest," Lavrov said.

Lavrov's comments followed a meeting earlier in the day with International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohammad al-Baradei. Their talks apparently addressed ways of resuming the talks between Britain, Germany and France, negotiating on behalf of the European Union, and Iran, which collapsed in August after Iran resumed uranium reprocessing work.

Lavrov had strongly praised Baradei, Russian news agencies reported.

"You have recommended yourself as a thoughtful worker who is guided by the IAEA charter documents, in that way guaranteeing maximum efforts so that the agency's activities would not be politicized," Lavrov was quoted as saying by the RIA-Novosti news agency.

In Tehran, meanwhile, the top Iranian nuclear negotiator reiterated that his country's nuclear facilities were not up for negotiation and insisted it would not talk with countries demanding they be dismantled.

"I heard that the Europeans are ready to resume negotiations," Ali Larijani said. "From our viewpoint, there is no obstacle for such talks within the framework of the IAEA."

But he added: "What is important is that Iran possesses the nuclear fuel cycle and that this is not diverted to atomic weapons, and within this framework we can give the necessary guarantees."

Baradei said Wednesday that he was optimistic the talks between Iran and the EU negotiators would resume within a month, but voiced his belief that a third party was needed to provide a "face-saving" way out of the impasse. That comment, and the fact he made it in Moscow, had increased speculation that Russia might be used as an intermediary.

(MORE)

4//The Turkish Daily News, Turkey Thursday, October 6, 2005
http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=25202

US SEEKS TURKISH HELP AGAINST IRAN
Turkey’s stance towards Iran closer to EU's

Washington/Ankara - Exclusive by TDN Defense Desk-- The United States is trying to win Turkey over to its corner on the issue of Iran's nuclear ambitions, diplomats from both sides said.

U.S. President George W. Bush's national security adviser Stephen Hadley visited Ankara in late September and briefly discussed the matter with top Turkish officials, but more detailed talks took place during last Friday's meetings between U.S. Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Robert Joseph and his counterparts at the Turkish Foreign Ministry.

(SNIP)

In a recent interview with the Turkish Daily News, Defense Minister Vecdi Gönül said weapons of mass destruction in the hands of neighbors would be a threat to Turkey, in a clear reference to Iran. Despite agreeing with the United States on certain points, Turkey reportedly officially backs the European Union's efforts to dissuade Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons.

5//The Daily Times, Pakistan Friday, October 07, 2005
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_7-10-2005_pg7_9

AL QAEDA STARTS ITS OWN NEWS BULLETIN

DUBAI: Al Qaeda linked militants have been posting a weekly news bulletin to tell the world about their exploits and the atrocities committed by their foes.

In the second edition of “a nation’s weekly harvest” the anchor of the “Voice of the Caliphate” channel — a hooded gunman with an automatic weapon at his side — took his audience from Palestine to Afghanistan and then to Iraq.

Four million people were threatened by starvation and disease in Niger because they were neither Christians nor do they have oil, he said in the 20-minute footage.

The Al-Saud and Al-Sabah, the ruling families of oil-rich Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, were too busy making donations to save the victims of Hurricane Katrina in the United States, he claimed. The bulletin is a production of the Global Islamic Media Front …

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