October 31, 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.

* * *

WORLD MEDIA WATCH FOR OCTOBER 31, 2005

1//The Sunday Times, UK--WAR BLAMED AS 6,000 QUIT TERRITORIAL ARMY (THE Territorial Army (TA) is suffering a manning crisis with more than 6,000 soldiers quitting in the past year because of the war in Iraq. A £3m television advertising campaign has flopped, bringing in fewer than 600 recruits, and, at 35,000, the strength of the TA has dropped to its lowest point since it was founded in 1907. This is more than 6,000 below its required strength of 41,610. … The shortages come as General George Casey, the US commander in Iraq, expressed concern at the lack of troops to patrol the border between the British sector and Iran. His comments follow the refusal of John Reid, the defence secretary, to allow military commanders to increase the number of British troops in southern Iraq by 25%. … British policy in southern Iraq is to use the new Iraqi army to patrol the border while UK troops are held in reserve. The Iraqis, however, have proved unable to prevent incursions by Iranian Revolutionary Guards, the sources said.)

2//The Jordan Times, Jordan--SUNNI SYMPATHIES WITH INSURGENTS BEGIN TO FRAY (Sunni Arab sympathies with Iraqi insurgents are being strained, even around Saddam Hussein's hometown, as ordinary civilians are caught in the conflict between rebels and Iraqi and US forces. Tribal and religious leaders who formerly kept criticism to themselves to preserve a united front against the foreign troops have begun to speak out against violence by both sides, sparking debate on the morality of urban warfare. "These are acts of terrorism. Most of the victims are innocent civilians. Attacks in cities are criminal, illegitimate acts because the balance of power is one-sided, and American firepower essentially kills women and children," not insurgents, said a moderate Islamist chief from the region north of Baghdad. … Extremist groups such as the one led by Al Qaeda's frontman in Iraq, Abu Mussab Zarqawi, justify attacks on civilians by saying they serve as "shields for the occupier." That attitude was slammed by Tami Juburi, a regional official from the powerful Jubur tribe, who did not spare US troops either. "Insurgents or American forces couldn't care less about the security of civilians.)

3//The Japan Times, Japan--FORCE REALIGNMENT PLAN CRITICIZED (Top Japanese and U.S. officials boasted that Saturday's interim report on U.S. military realignment in Japan will realize the two principles they set out to achieve -- maintaining a deterrent force in the Asia-Pacific region and reducing the burden of host communities. But reactions here a day later indicate otherwise -- several local governments named in the report as sites for new military assignments have voiced their opposition, while many defense experts see the agreement as a political compromise that may seriously undermine the bilateral security alliance in the future. … Hiromichi Umebayashi, president of the nonprofit organization Peace Depot, said the report shows that the SDF, which has been a subordinate to the U.S. forces for 50 years, would share a more prominent role in the U.S. global military strategy from now on. This enhanced role will have Tokyo bear greater responsibility for security in and around Japan and provide increased support to U.S. forces. Although Washington argues that the reinforced bilateral alliance is aimed at maintaining security in the Asia-Pacific region, including China, what the U.S. actually wants is to efficiently reorganize the troops of the two countries to uproot terrorists in the Middle East, including Iraq, Umebayashi alleged. … "The people of Japan have not been able to participate in the discussion," Umebayashi said. "The government should provide the public with accurate information and have the Diet debate the issue.")

4//The Independent, UK--BLAIR FACES ANOTHER REVOLT, THIS TIME OVER BENEFITS CRACKDOWN (Tony Blair's reform agenda was hit by yet another cabinet backlash yesterday as his Work and Pensions Secretary, David Blunkett, denounced plans to crack down on sickness benefits. Days after tensions surfaced among ministers over education reforms and banning smoking in public places, moves by the Prime Minister to overhaul the incapacity benefit system have provoked government in-fighting. As Mr Blair seeks to secure his legacy, resistance is also growing in Whitehall to his "respect agenda," including proposals for a fresh drive against antisocial behaviour. Mr Blunkett is understood to have sent a strongly worded letter late last week to Downing Street warning that he cannot accept demands to toughen up proposed legislation. The Prime Minister's advisers are believed to be pressing for the means-testing of payments to ensure that better-off disabled claimants do not qualify. They are also calling for a limit on the amount of time for which benefits can be claimed, and for some payments to be made in the form of vouchers for job-training schemes.)

5//Deutsche Welle/dw-World.de, Germany--GERMAN PARTIES SET TO CLASH OVER NUCLEAR POWER (The future of nuclear energy is set to be a key battlefield in talks between Germany's potential coalition partners with both bracing for a showdown over the emotive issue. One of the most crucial pieces of legislation passed by outgoing Chancellor Gerhard Schröder's coalition of Social Democrats (SPD) and Greens, in the eyes of many, was a planned phase-out of Germany's atomic energy plants by 2020. The idea, largely pressed by the environmentally-friendly Greens, was to focus on renewable energy and away from a crippling dependence on oil. It also found support at a time when safety concerns over nuclear power reactors were highlighted with accidents like the one in Chernobyl in 1986. But that law now faces an uncertain future with Germany's new government set to comprise the conservatives and the Social Democrats in a power-sharing alliance by the end of November. … Signs over the weekend weren't encouraging with both sides sticking to their positions.)

* * *

1//The Sunday Times, UK October 30, 2005
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-1849461,00.html

WAR BLAMED AS 6,000 QUIT TERRITORIAL ARMY
Michael Smith

THE Territorial Army (TA) is suffering a manning crisis with more than 6,000 soldiers quitting in the past year because of the war in Iraq.

A £3m television advertising campaign has flopped, bringing in fewer than 600 recruits, and, at 35,000, the strength of the TA has dropped to its lowest point since it was founded in 1907. This is more than 6,000 below its required strength of 41,610.

Ministers admit the real figures are even worse — only 24,000 troops are fully trained and in practice only 12,000 TA soldiers are now available to back up the regular army on operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Balkans.

The Ministry of Defence has repeatedly denied that the TA was in trouble as a result of Iraq, but the figures released to parliament last week show the situation is far worse than previously claimed.

Don Touhig, a junior defence minister, told MPs in a series of answers to written questions that the numbers of soldiers leaving the TA had more than quadrupled in the immediate aftermath of the Iraq war in 2003.

(SNIP)

The Iraq war also necessitated the first compulsory call-up of reservists from all three services since the Korean war in the 1950s with 12,580 mobilised and five reservists among the 97 killed so far.

The shortages come as General George Casey, the US commander in Iraq, expressed concern at the lack of troops to patrol the border between the British sector and Iran.

His comments follow the refusal of John Reid, the defence secretary, to allow military commanders to increase the number of British troops in southern Iraq by 25%.

Major-General Rob Fulton, the British commander in the south, asked for the 2,000 extra troops to mount a border surveillance operation, senior defence sources said.

But it was refused for what senior commanders believe were political reasons with Reid willing to sanction only the addition of fewer than 200 extra troops.

The government’s refusal to increase troop numbers amid an increase in insurgent attacks is in stark contrast to the American position.

Casey has been given another 23,000 troops in recent weeks, raising American troop numbers to 161,000, the highest level in Iraq at any one time since the war began.

British policy in southern Iraq is to use the new Iraqi army to patrol the border while UK troops are held in reserve. The Iraqis, however, have proved unable to prevent incursions by Iranian Revolutionary Guards, the sources said.

(MORE)

2//The Jordan Times, Jordan Monday, October 31, 2005
http://www.jordantimes.com/mon/news/news7.htm

SUNNI SYMPATHIES WITH INSURGENTS BEGIN TO FRAY
By Dhia Hamid, Agence France-Presse

TIKRIT — Sunni Arab sympathies with Iraqi insurgents are being strained, even around Saddam Hussein's hometown, as ordinary civilians are caught in the conflict between rebels and Iraqi and US forces.

Tribal and religious leaders who formerly kept criticism to themselves to preserve a united front against the foreign troops have begun to speak out against violence by both sides, sparking debate on the morality of urban warfare. "These are acts of terrorism. Most of the victims are innocent civilians. Attacks in cities are criminal, illegitimate acts because the balance of power is one-sided, and American firepower essentially kills women and children," not insurgents, said a moderate Islamist chief from the region north of Baghdad. "The duty of every Muslim is to outlaw urban combat," insisted Sheikh Abu Manar Ilmi of the Alam village, saying he would issue a fatwa, or religious decree, on the issue. "The suicide bomber who blows himself up in a car is not a martyr" but just someone who commits suicide, which is forbidden under Islamic law, Ilmi said. But at the Salam Mosque in Samarra, south of Tikrit, an imam disagreed.

"Jihad [holy war] against invaders is the duty of every Muslim," Sheikh Abu Mohammad Ahmad Bazi said.

"Tens of thousands of Iraqis have been killed by the Americans, and almost 20,000 Sunni Arabs are being held in American and Iraqi prisons," he said.

The sheikh, nonetheless, also condemned "the murder of civilians in the name of Jihad," saying that "war must respect certain rules, including avoiding harm to civilians and attacking only the enemy." "Plunging into extremism does not serve the goal of expelling the invader" from Iraq, he said.

Without explicitly blaming any side, Sheikh Shaalan Karim, chief of the Bu Issa tribes, said: "This war has brought us nothing by destruction."

Karim added, however, that he believed US authorities and the Iraqi government dominated by Shiites and Kurds "are settling scores with the Sunnis."

Extremist groups such as the one led by Al Qaeda's frontman in Iraq, Abu Mussab Zarqawi, justify attacks on civilians by saying they serve as "shields for the occupier." That attitude was slammed by Tami Juburi, a regional official from the powerful Jubur tribe, who did not spare US troops either.

"Insurgents or American forces couldn't care less about the security of civilians.

(MORE)

3//The Japan Times, Japan October 31, 2005
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle...

FORCE REALIGNMENT PLAN CRITICIZED
Bigger Japan role, lack of grand vision worry analysts

By Kanako Takahara, Staff writer
Top Japanese and U.S. officials boasted that Saturday's interim report on U.S. military realignment in Japan will realize the two principles they set out to achieve -- maintaining a deterrent force in the Asia-Pacific region and reducing the burden of host communities.

But reactions here a day later indicate otherwise -- several local governments named in the report as sites for new military assignments have voiced their opposition, while many defense experts see the agreement as a political compromise that may seriously undermine the bilateral security alliance in the future.

(SNIP)

In the report, approved by the foreign affairs and defense chiefs of the two countries, Japan and the United States agreed to enhance cooperation in sharing information, improve interoperability, increase opportunities for joint training and facilitate joint use of facilities.

It says the U.S. will upgrade the army headquarters at Kanagawa Prefecture's Camp Zama into a new command organization while the Ground Self-Defense Force will also place its rapid-response headquarters there.

Meanwhile 7,000 marines in Okinawa will be moved to Guam and carrier-based aircraft will be relocated from populous Atsugi base in Kanagawa Prefecture to the U.S. Marine Corps' Iwakuni Air Station in Yamaguchi Prefecture.

But Robert Eldridge, an associate professor at Osaka University who is an expert on the Japan-U.S. alliance, said the report comes up short, noting that the two sides missed an opportunity to strengthen the alliance and present a grand design for Okinawa Prefecture's future.

He pointed out that the decision to relocate 7,000 marines by moving their command -- the headquarters of the 3rd Marine Expeditionary Forces -- from Okinawa while leaving combat troops untouched shows that Japan and the U.S. are putting politics over strategic concerns.
The marines need air forces, ground forces, command and control and basing arrangements to function properly, Eldridge said.

"Dividing up the marines is very unwise," he said. "It's going to cause dramatic disruption in their command and control, and in their capability to respond quickly to emergencies in and around Japan."

(SNIP)

Saturday's interim report also portrays an increasing integration of the operations of the two militaries, which will require the Self-Defense Forces to play an upgraded and expanded role.
Japan's Air Defense Command, currently located in Fuchu, western Tokyo, will be placed at the headquarters of the U.S. Air Force at Yokota Air Base, while the GSDF will place its Readiness Force command at the U.S. Army's Camp Zama.

Hiromichi Umebayashi, president of the nonprofit organization Peace Depot, said the report shows that the SDF, which has been a subordinate to the U.S. forces for 50 years, would share a more prominent role in the U.S. global military strategy from now on.

This enhanced role will have Tokyo bear greater responsibility for security in and around Japan and provide increased support to U.S. forces.

Although Washington argues that the reinforced bilateral alliance is aimed at maintaining security in the Asia-Pacific region, including China, what the U.S. actually wants is to efficiently reorganize the troops of the two countries to uproot terrorists in the Middle East, including Iraq, Umebayashi alleged.

"Integrating the SDF with the U.S. forces on an operational level means that Japan will be deeply involved in the U.S. global strategy and become jointly responsible for (the latter's) actions around the world," Umebayashi said.

He also criticized the lack of thorough Diet debate on the items set forth in the interim report, despite the fact that the agreement will result in a dramatic change to Japan's security policy.

"The people of Japan have not been able to participate in the discussion," Umebayashi said. "The government should provide the public with accurate information and have the Diet debate the issue."

4//The Independent, UK Published: 31 October 25
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/article323510.ece

BLAIR FACES ANOTHER REVOLT, THIS TIME OVER BENEFITS CRACKDOWN
By Nigel Morris, Home Affairs Correspondent

Tony Blair's reform agenda was hit by yet another cabinet backlash yesterday as his Work and Pensions Secretary, David Blunkett, denounced plans to crack down on sickness benefits.

Days after tensions surfaced among ministers over education reforms and banning smoking in public places, moves by the Prime Minister to overhaul the incapacity benefit system have provoked government in-fighting.

As Mr Blair seeks to secure his legacy, resistance is also growing in Whitehall to his "respect agenda", including proposals for a fresh drive against antisocial behaviour. Mr Blunkett is understood to have sent a strongly worded letter late last week to Downing Street warning that he cannot accept demands to toughen up proposed legislation.

The Prime Minister's advisers are believed to be pressing for the means-testing of payments to ensure that better-off disabled claimants do not qualify.

They are also calling for a limit on the amount of time for which benefits can be claimed, and for some payments to be made in the form of vouchers for job-training schemes.

Other ideas being floated include naming those doctors who approve the most applications, and giving employers the right of appeal when an employee is signed off sick.

Mr Blunkett is said to have protested that any such measures would go too far and threaten to humiliate the disabled, as well as complaining over excessive interference in his department.
He is likely to be supported by several cabinet colleagues, and any such moves would also be guaranteed to spark a Commons rebellion among Labour backbenchers.

John Reid, the Defence Secretary, conceded yesterday that there were divisions in the Cabinet over crucial issues. "These are all highly sensitive, highly controversial subjects," he told the BBC yesterday. "But they are what people are concerned about. And this Government has made absolutely plain we are going to be radical, we are going to push forward reforms. Because they are controversial, will not stop us doing them. We will do them and we will capture the future, because we will push forward reforms in all these areas."

(MORE)

5//Deutsche Welle/dw-World.de, Germany 31.10.2005
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,1760476,00.html

GERMAN PARTIES SET TO CLASH OVER NUCLEAR POWER

The future of nuclear energy is set to be a key battlefield in talks between Germany's potential coalition partners with both bracing for a showdown over the emotive issue.

One of the most crucial pieces of legislation passed by outgoing Chancellor Gerhard Schröder's coalition of Social Democrats (SPD) and Greens, in the eyes of many, was a planned phase-out of Germany's atomic energy plants by 2020.

The idea, largely pressed by the environmentally-friendly Greens, was to focus on renewable energy and away from a crippling dependence on oil. It also found support at a time when safety concerns over nuclear power reactors were highlighted with accidents like the one in Chernobyl in 1986.

But that law now faces an uncertain future with Germany's new government set to comprise the conservatives and the Social Democrats in a power-sharing alliance by the end of November.

Economic arguments

The conservatives led by chancellor-designate Angela Merkel have made no secret of the fact that they intend to put the brakes on the nuclear-phase out.

(SNIP)

SPD, conservatives dig in their heels

Signs over the weekend weren't encouraging with both sides sticking to their positions.

"The lifetime of nuclear power stations cannot be extended," SPD chairman Franz Müntefering told Bild am Sonntag newspaper, adding that a so-called nuclear compromise hammered out between Schröder's government and energy companies in 2000 and which became law in 2002, must be upheld. The law foresees phasing out the last of Germany's 17 nuclear power plants by 2020.

However, the conservatives are keen to provide Germany, a large importer of oil and gas, with greater energy security and allow the energy industry to earn more by extending the life of their plants.

In a guest commentary in Bild am Sonntag, conservative premier of Baden-Württemberg, Günther Oettinger urged the future government not to switch off any nuclear power plants in the next four years and to generally extend their lives.

"We need time and money to further develop stable renewable energy sources," Oettinger wrote. "The extension of the lifetimes of nuclear stations with maximum security standards can give us both."

But, Michael Müller, vice-chairman of the SPD parliamentary group demanded that the conservatives finally recognize that they "have no chance" to chip away at nuclear phase-out with the SPD.

Müller argued that if the nuclear plants were indeed allowed to run longer, they would have to undergo updated security modifications -- something that would cost money, he said.

Nuclear energy makes comeback

The two future coalition partners have thus far made steady progress on a host of issues, from budgetary policy to renewable energy. But it seems unlikely that the same will be seen on nuclear energy, which is set to dominate talks next week.

One thing that's bolstered the conservatives' case is the fact that nuclear energy has been gradually making a comeback in Europe with the first new nuclear plant on the continent in years being built in Finland.

Its supporters also point out that nuclear reactors emit virtually no greenhouse gases.