November 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 NOVEMBER 7, 2005

1//The Daily Star, Lebanon--DIPLOMATIC MANEUVERS AT UN ON SYRIA AND LEBANON CLARIFY KEY TACTICS AND CONSTRAINTS (… Other international and American sources, who prefer not to be identified, stressed three particularly significant aspects of last Monday's unanimous 15-0 vote on Resolution 1636 that demanded that Syria comply with the UN investigation while only vaguely mentioning "further action" should Syria not cooperate. First, European, especially French, diplomatic advice, combined with the more assertive foreign policy management of U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, is impacting on Washington's approach to changing the behavior of countries in the Middle East. The French have clearly taken the lead on 1636, while the U.S. will lead the follow-up to implementing 1559. Second, there is a visible tempering of the previous American attitude, driven by the neoconservative triumphalists, that "Washington should use diplomatic and military force to clear the decks in the Middle East and let the cards fall where they may," in the words of one diplomatic source who is directly involved in these issues. … Third, the international community is determined to pursue the Hariri murder investigation in a methodical, step-by-step manner, without tying this to wider accusations that the U.S., in particular, has made against Syria, Iran and others in the region. For now, diplomacy focuses on getting the UN investigation into those quarters in Syria that have been identified as leads worth pursuing, based on the available evidence. … "All the parties seem to have learned from the mistakes of Iraq," one international source said, "and in this case they are sequencing and prioritizing moves one step at a time.")

2//The Moscow Times, Russia--PUTIN PRAISES UNITY AS NATIONALISTS RALLY (President Vladimir Putin celebrated the new national holiday, People's Unity Day, by speaking about the unity of all Russian people on Red Square, yet disunity was visible just a few hundred meters away as scores of young people denounced ethnic non-Russians at an officially approved march. … "It's like the 1930s in Germany," said businessman Mikhail, 46, after police stopped him from confronting the marchers. "They're fascists," said a bystander, who identified himself as an undercover policeman, as he watched the rally on Kitai-Gorod's Slavyanskaya Ploshchad with an ethnic Georgian colleague. "They're the imbeciles who attack natives of the Caucasus every other week here." The march came just a month before the Moscow City Duma elections and at a time when racial tensions are growing in Moscow and across the country. Last month, a Peruvian student was killed in Voronezh in what was believed to be a racial attack (related story, p. 3). Sova Center, which monitors extremist activity, said it had detected an increase in racial attacks. Nationalism has become more politically mainstream as major political parties compete for votes in the City Duma elections, said Alexei Makarkin, an analyst at the Center for Political Technologies. And although most of those taking part in the march were marginal groups, the event also showed that large political parties were positioning themselves even further to the right.)

3//The Scotsman/Scotland on Sunday, UK--GERMANY’S ‘GRAND COALITION’ DESCENDS INTO DISARRAY (German chancellor designate Angela Merkel is struggling to keep hold of power as a political morass starts to degenerate into farce. The double blows of her potential governing partner in the rival SPD party quitting, followed by conservative Edmund Stoiber's decision to escape the spiralling chaos surrounding the fledgling government in Berlin for the safety of his regional fiefdom in Munich, are being viewed as potentially the last nails in the embryonic grand coalition's coffin. … The glacial pace of actually forming a government, however, shows no signs of speeding up and there are real fears that only a return to the ballot box may provide a way out of the stalemate.)

4//The Herald Sun, Australia--‘SHOOT TO KILL’ TROOPS ON OUR STREETS (Troops with shoot-to-kill powers could be deployed on Melbourne's streets within hours of a terrorist attack or threat under laws likely to be introduced before the Commonwealth Games. Defence Minister Robert Hill yesterday revealed the move amid fears newly identified terrorist cells were planning attacks in Melbourne and Sydney. In an exclusive interview with the Sunday Herald Sun, Senator Hill said next year's Games were one reason the Government would move quickly with sweeping changes to make it easier to call out the military. He said that in response to an attack or threat, capital cities would be flooded with special forces soldiers flown in by Black Hawk helicopters from Holsworthy Military Base. They would have stronger powers, including the right to detain people, to search and seize and the power to shoot to kill. Senator Hill said the new laws could be ready by the start of the Games in Melbourne on March 15.)

5//The Khaleej Times, United Arab Emirates--WAR OF THE CAMPAIGN LOGOS RAGES AHEAD OF EGYPT VOTE (Dove or tank? Tennis racket or mobile phone? In Egypt, where close to half of the population is believed to be illiterate, a good choice of campaign symbol can be decisive on polling day. The ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) of President Hosni Mubarak makes no mistake and systematically reserves itself the Islamic crescent and the camel, which have proved their vote grabbing potential over the years. But the pecking order ends with the all-powerful NDP, leaving other candidates scrambling for the best remaining symbols. In Cairo’s impoverished Bulaq Dakrur constituency, the camel and the crescent will face a stiff challenge from the umbrella and the open book, logos for the Muslim Brothers and the hardline Gamaa Islamiya respectively. “It’s easier to remember the symbols than the names of the candidates,” says Rasha Mohammed Ali. No fewer than 529 candidates will battle it out on November 9 in the 25 constituencies of the Egyptian capital, one of eight governorates to be decided in the first wave of polling.)

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1//The Daily Star, Lebanon Monday, November 07, 2005
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition...

DIPLOMATIC MANEUVERS AT UN ON SYRIA AND LEBANON CLARIFY KEY TACTICS AND CONSTRAINTS
Will multilateral moves reverberate throughout the Middle East?

By Rami G. Khouri, Daily Star staff

UNITED NATIONS, New York: Diplomatic moves related to Syria and Lebanon at the UN Security Council here last week have clarified key tactics and perceptions of the important American and European actors, while also revealing some of their dilemmas and constraints. An important new theme that emerges from talks with officials and diplomats is the possible implications of the Lebanon-Syria diplomacy for other countries in the Middle East.

Last week's events that focused on Syria and Lebanon are equally important for four other parties: the United States and its engagement with the world, the credibility and impact of the UN on the Middle East and other regions, the revival of close diplomatic cooperation between the U.S. and its European partners (especially France), and governments and their security agencies throughout the Middle East that are now likely to be held to a higher standard of accountability.

These themes emerge from discussions with knowledgeable diplomats, analysts, and international and American officials here and in Washington who have been deeply involved in Security Council Resolution 1636 (demanding full Syrian cooperation with the investigation of the murder of former Premier Rafik Hariri) and the UN secretary general's follow-up report on Syrian compliance with Resolution 1559 (calling for Syria to withdraw from Lebanon, and for the disarming of armed groups in Lebanon, i.e., Hizbullah and Palestinian factions in the camps).

A striking aspect of frank conversations with officials, analysts and diplomats from the U.S., UN and Europe is their unanimity on the implications behind the current diplomatic effort to pressure Syria and hold accountable anyone proven to have been involved in the Hariri murder. The main thrust of these efforts now is to force Syrian cooperation with the UN-mandated murder investigation headed by Detlev Mehlis, and to let the facts of the investigation and the subsequent court trials lead where the facts take them.

The historical significance of this was succinctly explained to me by Shashi Tharoor, the UN's seasoned undersecretary general for communications and public information.

"This is an unprecedented act by the UN," he said, "to appoint an investigator responsible only to the international community, essentially looking into the conduct of governmental agencies or individuals attached to them, related to having committed a capital crime in another state. This is epochal as an event, and also is an important element in the development of the United Nations as an institution that pursues justice around the world."

(SNIP)

Other international and American sources, who prefer not to be identified, stressed three particularly significant aspects of last Monday's unanimous 15-0 vote on Resolution 1636 that demanded that Syria comply with the UN investigation while only vaguely mentioning "further action" should Syria not cooperate.

First, European, especially French, diplomatic advice, combined with the more assertive foreign policy management of U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, is impacting on Washington's approach to changing the behavior of countries in the Middle East. The French have clearly taken the lead on 1636, while the U.S. will lead the follow-up to implementing 1559.

Second, there is a visible tempering of the previous American attitude, driven by the neoconservative triumphalists, that "Washington should use diplomatic and military force to clear the decks in the Middle East and let the cards fall where they may," in the words of one diplomatic source who is directly involved in these issues.

"Condoleezza Rice, ironically, is carrying out the more pragmatic Colin Powell policies that she had blocked or resisted in the first Bush administration," said one Washington analyst who closely follows U.S. diplomacy in the Middle East and elsewhere.

Third, the international community is determined to pursue the Hariri murder investigation in a methodical, step-by-step manner, without tying this to wider accusations that the U.S., in particular, has made against Syria, Iran and others in the region. For now, diplomacy focuses on getting the UN investigation into those quarters in Syria that have been identified as leads worth pursuing, based on the available evidence.

"All the parties seem to have learned from the mistakes of Iraq," one international source said, "and in this case they are sequencing and prioritizing moves one step at a time."

(MORE)

2//The Moscow Times, Russia Monday, November 7, 2005. Issue 3289. Page 1.
http://www.moscowtimes.ru/stories/2005/11/07/001.html

PUTIN PRAISES UNITY AS NATIONALISTS RALLY
By Kevin O' Flynn
Staff Writer

President Vladimir Putin celebrated the new national holiday, People's Unity Day, by speaking about the unity of all Russian people on Red Square, yet disunity was visible just a few hundred meters away as scores of young people denounced ethnic non-Russians at an officially approved march.

"Liberation came specifically as a result of the unification of peoples. And as long as we feel this unity inside of us, Russia will be invincible," Putin said Friday in comments shown on Channel One television after laying the flowers at the monument to Prince Dmitry Pozharsky and Kuzma Minin on Red Square. The Kremlin says the new holiday is in commemoration of Pozharsky and Minin driving Polish invaders out of Moscow in 1612.

"Foreign invaders" of a different sort were bothering 3,000 neo-nationalists in Kitai-Gorod on the other side of the Kremlin, where they rallied after marching through the center of Moscow in the biggest nationalist march in at least a decade.

The marchers carried banners reading "Moscow Against Occupiers" and "The Russians Are Coming," and they chanted "Russia for Russians," "'Moscow for Muscovites," "Sieg Heil," and the old Stalinist slogan "Death to the Enemies."

The march, organized by a half-dozen ultranationalist groups including the Movement Against Illegal Immigration and Pamyat, started outside the Chistiye Prudy metro station and followed a route through the city center that passed people the organizers considered enemies: immigrants, Jews and other ethnic non-Russians. Shouting "Get out of here," the marchers slowly swept down Ulitsa Solyanka, passing migrant construction workers standing on scaffolding and a street leading to Moscow's oldest synagogue.

"I came because we are patriotic fighters for the survival of the nation," said Eduard, 18. "Sixty percent of crime is from illegal immigrants. They spread drugs, and they turn cities into a dirty garbage dump."

Asked if his grandfather knew he was making Nazi salutes, Eduard said that lots of World War II veterans supported him and that the salute was an old Aryan tradition.

Most of the marchers were under 20 and male, although a number of teenage girls marched as well. Few had shaven heads, but many dressed in skinhead fashion: large hobnailed boots and bomber jackets. A sense of bravado was not exactly on display, with more than 100 marchers hiding their faces with a mixture of scarves, surgical masks and balaclavas.

"I've got a cold -- a cold from the police," said a young man with a green balaclava, explaining that the police were taking pictures of the marchers.

It was the first time that the ultranationalist groups -- which are usually more inclined toward internecine arguing like the various liberation fronts in Monty Python's "Life of Brian" -- had joined forces, although they still argued to the last minute about who would lead the march. Even though one of the many cries was "Russian, Nation, Order," the march was distinctly chaotic and disorganized. It began an hour late, and organizers continually had to shout at the marchers to get in the right line.

(SNIP)

"It's like the 1930s in Germany," said businessman Mikhail, 46, after police stopped him from confronting the marchers.

"They're fascists," said a bystander, who identified himself as an undercover policeman, as he watched the rally on Kitai-Gorod's Slavyanskaya Ploshchad with an ethnic Georgian colleague. "They're the imbeciles who attack natives of the Caucasus every other week here."

The march came just a month before the Moscow City Duma elections and at a time when racial tensions are growing in Moscow and across the country. Last month, a Peruvian student was killed in Voronezh in what was believed to be a racial attack (related story, p. 3). Sova Center, which monitors extremist activity, said it had detected an increase in racial attacks.

Nationalism has become more politically mainstream as major political parties compete for votes in the City Duma elections, said Alexei Makarkin, an analyst at the Center for Political Technologies.

And although most of those taking part in the march were marginal groups, the event also showed that large political parties were positioning themselves even further to the right.

(MORE)

3//The Scotsman/Scotland on Sunday, UK Sun 6 Nov 2005
http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/international...

GERMANY’S ‘GRAND COALITION’ DESCENDS INTO DISARRAY
Allan Hall in Berlin

German chancellor designate Angela Merkel is struggling to keep hold of power as a political morass starts to degenerate into farce.
The double blows of her potential governing partner in the rival SPD party quitting, followed by conservative Edmund Stoiber's decision to escape the spiralling chaos surrounding the fledgling government in Berlin for the safety of his regional fiefdom in Munich, are being viewed as potentially the last nails in the embryonic grand coalition's coffin.

"Are our politicians all mad?" asked the country's biggest newspaper, Bild, in a headline this week. Many voters think they know the answer.

It is nearly two months since Germany went to the polls in an election seen as clear-cut: vote for Gerhard Schröder and the welfare state, the status quo and an economic model that singularly failed to address Germany's problems, or for Angela Merkel and a promise of labour union reform, less tax, less bureaucracy and more power for managers and industrialists.

But the clarity issue was lost in the campaign for votes, and shoo-in choice Merkel was left with a majority - after a poll in Dresden following the death of a candidate - of just four.

It meant that all her grand plans to govern with the liberal Free Democrat party had to be swiftly junked as she scrambled to form a government with their sworn enemy, Schröder's SPD.

The decision of Stoiber to bail out at the last moment was scorned by the German media. Bild called him an "eternal ditherer" and said that he had "chickened out" of his responsibility and fled to the safety of his home state, leaving Berlin and Germany in chaos while "waving the white flag."

Meanwhile, business daily Handelsblatt accused Stoiber of "lacking any sense of duty, loyalty and reliability."

Stoiber, head of the Christian Social Union conservatives in Bavaria, a sister party to Merkel's CDU, made it clear he has been extremely unhappy with the shape of the economics ministry he was supposed to head in a grand coalition.

Stoiber and Merkel have had a strained relationship for some time. Stoiber is believed to still be unhappy about being passed over in favour of Merkel after his unsuccessful 2002 election campaign.

Some conservative leaders now fear that Stoiber - once back in Munich - might torpedo any grand coalition talks.

Meanwhile, the resignation of Franz Müntefering as chairman of the Social Democratic Party also called into question the future of the proposed grand coalition. But news that Matthias Platzeck has been nominated to take over as party leader has been greeted with a collective sigh of relief.

The glacial pace of actually forming a government, however, shows no signs of speeding up and there are real fears that only a return to the ballot box may provide a way out of the stalemate.

(MORE)

4//The Herald Sun, Australia 06 Nov 05
http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/...

‘SHOOT TO KILL’ TROOPS ON OUR STREETS
Exclusive by Lincoln Wright

Exclusive: Plan to fight Games terror

Troops with shoot-to-kill powers could be deployed on Melbourne's streets within hours of a terrorist attack or threat under laws likely to be introduced before the Commonwealth Games.

Defence Minister Robert Hill yesterday revealed the move amid fears newly identified terrorist cells were planning attacks in Melbourne and Sydney.

In an exclusive interview with the Sunday Herald Sun, Senator Hill said next year's Games were one reason the Government would move quickly with sweeping changes to make it easier to call out the military.

He said that in response to an attack or threat, capital cities would be flooded with special forces soldiers flown in by Black Hawk helicopters from Holsworthy Military Base.

They would have stronger powers, including the right to detain people, to search and seize and the power to shoot to kill.

Senator Hill said the new laws could be ready by the start of the Games in Melbourne on March 15.

"There would be greater flexibility in the call out provisions to meet a wider range of scenarios," he said.

"It would ease the processes for calling out the military."

Senator Hill said call-out powers under the Defence Act were insufficient to deal with terrorism.
He said that at present calling out the armed forces was "constitutionally fraught" and the laws were too "complex" and "awkward" in a rapidly developing environment.

Senator Hill said other changes would be that troops could be deployed on a nationwide basis to deal with a 9/11-style situation of multiple attacks.

The Reserves would be mixed with regular units – currently not allowed.

Maritime or aerial attacks also would justify a call-out.

He said the new laws could streamline the approval process for a call-out, but the details would still have to be worked out.

Under existing laws, Commonwealth interests must be at risk – or state police forces must be unable to cope. The Attorney-General, Prime Minister and Defence Minister must agree. The Governor-General then must approve and authorise the Chief of the Defence Force to act.

The military was last called out to aid civil power in 1978 after the bomb blast at Sydney's Hilton Hotel during a Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting.

Senator Hill said the Government would introduce the new laws as soon as practically possible.
"Assuming it gets Cabinet support, we would be looking to introduce a Bill by the end of this session, which is not all that far away," he said.

"It would then have committee consideration over the Christmas break, with a view to it being debated in Parliament at the beginning of the next session (February).

"It would have to be dealt with almost immediately to be in place by the Commonwealth Games."

(MORE)

5//The Khaleej Times, United Arab Emirates 6 November 2005
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle.asp?xfile=data...

WAR OF THE CAMPAIGN LOGOS RAGES AHEAD OF EGYPT VOTE
(AFP)

CAIRO - Dove or tank? Tennis racket or mobile phone? In Egypt, where close to half of the population is believed to be illiterate, a good choice of campaign symbol can be decisive on polling day.

The ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) of President Hosni Mubarak makes no mistake and systematically reserves itself the Islamic crescent and the camel, which have proved their vote grabbing potential over the years.

But the pecking order ends with the all-powerful NDP, leaving other candidates scrambling for the best remaining symbols.

In Cairo’s impoverished Bulaq Dakrur constituency, the camel and the crescent will face a stiff challenge from the umbrella and the open book, logos for the Muslim Brothers and the hardline Gamaa Islamiya respectively.

“It’s easier to remember the symbols than the names of the candidates,” says Rasha Mohammed Ali.

No fewer than 529 candidates will battle it out on November 9 in the 25 constituencies of the Egyptian capital, one of eight governorates to be decided in the first wave of polling.
A total of 5,310 candidates nationwide are competing for parliament’s 444 available seats during elections staggered over a whole month.

As he stares at the patchwork of posters plastered on the walls on Cairo’s Dokki neighbourhood, Mohammed Badri Abdallah offers his own explanation for the use of campaign symbols.

“These little logos were introduced for women, who often can’t read,” he told AFP. According to most estimates, illiteracy rates hover above 40 percent for Egyptian men and reach the 50 percent mark for women.

Distinctive symbol

The forest of campaign banners and posters mingling with decorations for the holy Muslim month of Ramadan and clusters of electricity cables and phone lines above Cairo’s sandy alleyways can be overwhelming even to the literate.

Thus a distinctive symbol, whether representative or not of the party’s platform or the candidate’s profile, can be a serious asset.

On Election Day, some voters will tick off the symbol they can identify or simply their favourite logo rather than a name they cannot read.

The determining factor in selecting a symbol often remains mysterious.

A female lawyer running in the central district of Dokki chose a cup, while others opted for the walking stick, the Ramadan lantern, the pencil or the “rababa.” a traditional Egyptian string instrument.

Nature-related symbols are considered safe choices, with doves, palm trees, grapes and suns among the most sought-after campaign logos.

(MORE)