December 14, 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 DECEMBER 14, 2005

1//BBC News, UK--NATO IN A SPIN OVER AFGHAN EXPANSION (The size and mission of the British military force due to be sent to southern Afghanistan next year as part of Nato plans to expand its peacekeeping operations are being scaled back, the BBC has learned. The move comes amid continuing uncertainty over the commitment of other European alliance members to the plan for Nato to take over responsibility from the US for the more dangerous south and east, the heartland of the four-year-old Taleban-led insurgency. Last week, the Dutch government again postponed a decision on sending 1,100 troops to the volatile southern province of Uruzgan, amid domestic concerns about casualties. For similar reasons, the UK government is now considering sending only about 1,000 combat troops to the equally challenging province of Helmand, well-placed sources have told the BBC. That is about half the number originally discussed. The government may also shelve plans to deploy Apache attack helicopters to support them. Part of the problem, the BBC was told, is that the government "has still not decided what it wants the military to do in Helmand". However, according to these sources, proposals for British units to hunt drug traffickers in Helmand - Afghanistan's number one opium producing region - have now been abandoned.

2//Institute for War & Peace Reporting, UK--MINISTERS PLAY THE BLAME GAME (It seemed like a good idea at the time. A little more than a year after being elected president, Hamed Karzai decided it was time for the ministers in his government to go before the public and account for their activities during their term in office. “This is not just a ceremonial event or propaganda,” promised Jawed Ludin, the presidential chief of staff. “This is a moment of truth, so that the government understands that it is serving the nation and must answer to the nation. The people must realise that they have the right to call the government to account.” Over the course of a week in late November, each of the government’s 34 ministers was given 20 minutes on national television to summarise successes and failures. These accounts were also aired on radio and published in the press. These appearances were then followed up by news conferences, where reporters could question the ministers. That, at least, was the theory. … Saifuddin Saihoon, a lecturer in economics at Kabul University, said if Accountability Week was an attempt to showcase the cabinet’s competence, it failed. “The journalists knew more than some of the ministers,” he said. … “This was just a sort of show,” said Ahmad Farid, 43, a resident of Kabul. “What has the government done? Kabul doesn’t have electricity, unemployment is very high, and so are prices.”)

3//Xinhua Online, China--CHINA MOVES TO NO. 4 IN GDP RANKINGS (China is likely to declare itself the world's fourth largest economy next week, having leapfrogged Italy, France and Britain, helped by a likely huge revision of its gross domestic product figures. Economists say the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), which is due to release part of the results of its first national economic census on Dec. 20, is likely to put a much bigger figure on the size of China's services sector. The South China Morning Post, citing unnamed economists, reported on Tuesday that the agency would probably revise GDP by as much as $300 billion, or about 20 percent of 2004 output. A revision of that magnitude could catapult China from the world's seventh-largest economy into fourth spot, now occupied by Britain. … Dong Tao, chief economist for non-Japan Asia at Credit Suisse First Boston (Hong Kong) Ltd., said China's GDP would still be understated even if it was revised up by $300 billion. "There's a massive under-reporting of GDP in the service sector," Tao said.)

4//Channel News Asia, Singapore--RUSSIA, ASEAN FORGE NEW PARTNERSHIP IN HISTORIC FIRST SUMMIT (Russia and 10 Southeast Asian countries vowed Tuesday to work together in fighting terrorism and stimulating wealth as part of a new partnership signed at the first Russia-ASEAN summit. But despite being welcomed as a regular summit partner by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Russia faced an uphill battle in its stated desire to play a more influential role in wider Asia-Pacific affairs. … Putin was due on Wednesday to address an inaugural summit of a new grouping -- the East Asia Summit, which includes ASEAN and six other regional powers -- as a guest and not a full-fledged participant. Ahead of Putin's arrival in Malaysia, it was reported that Russia's desire to play a full role in the East Asia Summit had been opposed by some members of ASEAN, many of whom are traditionally close to the United States. Abdullah however seemed to scotch that notion, indicating instead that it may be China that was not anxious to see its giant neighbour Russia fully take part in the East Asia Summit (EAS). He said it was the non-ASEAN participants in Wednesday's summit -- that is, China, Japan, South Korea, India, Australia and New Zealand -- that "also appear to be against the inclusion of Russia".)

5//The Moscow Times, Russia--POP, ECO-POLITICS AND A LETTER TO GEORGE (Tens of thousands of young people in the Moscow region were let out of class for Monday's Constitution Day holiday, but not for a day off. Hundreds of buses bore them to two snowy outdoor demonstrations under the banner of a little-known youth movement of "political ecologists" called Mestniye, or Locals. At the larger of the events, billed as a "concert-demonstration," about 40,000 young people filled a parking lot outside the Crocus City mall in northwestern Moscow and listened to pop music performances. Another 5,000 gathered outside the U.S. Embassy in central Moscow to protest what Mestniye representatives said was a U.S. policy of interference with Russian national interests. … It was unclear who had provided funding for the events, or what Mestniye's relationship was to the constantly growing number of government-linked youth movements, such as the pro-Kremlin Nashi, or Us, Mayor Yury Luzhkov's Grazhdanskaya Smena, or Civil Change, and the United Russia party's Young Guard. Mestniye spokeswoman Darya Mikhailova said that the group's previous events had been financed by local businesspeople who wanted to remain anonymous. Mikhailova declined to comment on the cost or sponsors of the Constitution Day events.)

* * *

1//BBC News, UK Monday, 12 December 2005, 17:53 GMT
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4521318.stm

NATO IN A SPIN OVER AFGHAN EXPANSION
Andrew North in Kabul

The size and mission of the British military force due to be sent to southern Afghanistan next year as part of Nato plans to expand its peacekeeping operations are being scaled back, the BBC has learned.

The move comes amid continuing uncertainty over the commitment of other European alliance members to the plan for Nato to take over responsibility from the US for the more dangerous south and east, the heartland of the four-year-old Taleban-led insurgency.

Last week, the Dutch government again postponed a decision on sending 1,100 troops to the volatile southern province of Uruzgan, amid domestic concerns about casualties.

For similar reasons, the UK government is now considering sending only about 1,000 combat troops to the equally challenging province of Helmand, well-placed sources have told the BBC.

That is about half the number originally discussed.

The government may also shelve plans to deploy Apache attack helicopters to support them.

'Number one priority'

Part of the problem, the BBC was told, is that the government "has still not decided what it wants the military to do in Helmand".

However, according to these sources, proposals for British units to hunt drug traffickers in Helmand - Afghanistan's number one opium producing region - have now been abandoned.

On paper though, Nato nations remain committed to the expansion of the peacekeeping force.

Foreign ministers agreed to provide 6,000 troops for the move south at a meeting last week in Brussels, with most coming from Britain - which will lead the alliance's forces - and Canada.

But as so often in the past since Nato took over leadership of the Afghan peacekeeping mission - which it calls its number one priority - the details of this commitment had not been resolved.

Only the Canadian part of the plan is on track, with about half their 2,000 promised troops already in place in Kandahar.

'Dutch wobble'

In Afghan government circles, there is some frustration at the confusion, directed especially at the Dutch.

(MORE)

2//Institute for War & Peace Reporting, UK (ARR No. 197, 14-Dec-05)
http://www.iwpr.net/?p=arr&s=f&o=258670&apc_state=henparr

MINISTERS PLAY THE BLAME GAME
Given the chance to list their accomplishments during the past year, most point the finger of blame at others as explanation for the lack of progress.

By Mohammad Jawad Sharifzada in Kabul

It seemed like a good idea at the time. A little more than a year after being elected president, Hamed Karzai decided it was time for the ministers in his government to go before the public and account for their activities during their term in office.

“This is not just a ceremonial event or propaganda,” promised Jawed Ludin, the presidential chief of staff. “This is a moment of truth, so that the government understands that it is serving the nation and must answer to the nation. The people must realise that they have the right to call the government to account.”

Over the course of a week in late November, each of the government’s 34 ministers was given 20 minutes on national television to summarise successes and failures. These accounts were also aired on radio and published in the press.

These appearances were then followed up by news conferences, where reporters could question the ministers.

That, at least, was the theory.

In fact, Karzai’s “Accountability Week” failed to shed much light on government operations. Many of the 250 reporters who participated in the news conferences came away complaining that the ministers wasted much of the time allotted for the question-and-answer sessions by merely repeating what they had said during their previous television appearances.

Others grumbled that the ministers largely avoided dealing with difficult issues, turning the seven-day event into an exercise in public relations.

For example, there were few answers to questions concerning the slow pace reconstruction in the country. With a small army of aid workers and over four billion US dollars invested in numerous projects, many Afghans had expected to see more accomplished since the fall of the Taleban in 2001.

“At this rate, it will take 400 years to reconstruct Afghanistan,” muttered one Kabul resident as his car clattered over the unpaved road leading east from the airport.

But all Economics Minister Mir Mohammad Amin Farhang could do when questioned on the topic was complain that his ministry is hampered by the lack of accountability among the international assistance community which fuels the bulk of Afghanistan’s economic growth. Some estimates say international aid accounts for 90 per cent of Afghanistan’s official economy.

“When we ask the [non-governmental organisations] to account for their performance and activities, they ignore us, because the international organisations working in the country consider themselves to be above the government. If we put pressure on them they threaten to shut down operations,” he said.

Officials were equally evasive when faced with questions regarding public corruption. A recent report by Transparency International, the international corruption watchdog organisation, ranked Afghanistan among the 50 most corrupt nations in the world. Karzai himself has referred to corruption as one of his country’s most severe problems.

(SNIP)

“We need a real mechanism for accountability,” said political analyst Mohammad Qasim Akhgar. “The people of Afghanistan must be able to question the ministers, and put real pressure on them if they refuse to answer questions.”

Akhgar added, “With this kind of accountability, you could bring Mullah Omar in and he could give you an account, too.”

Saifuddin Saihoon, a lecturer in economics at Kabul University, said if Accountability Week was an attempt to showcase the cabinet’s competence, it failed.

“The journalists knew more than some of the ministers,” he said.

The public also seemed less than impressed by what they saw as the president’s public relations event.

“This was really a kind of amusement for the ministers,” said Nafiza, 40, an employee at the ministry of information and culture. “Who did they render their accounts to? Really, just to each other.”

“This was just a sort of show,” said Ahmad Farid, 43, a resident of Kabul. “What has the government done? Kabul doesn’t have electricity, unemployment is very high, and so are prices.”

3//Xinhua Online, China 2005-12-14 09:02:24
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-12/14/content_3919248.htm

CHINA MOVES TO NO. 4 IN GDP RANKINGS

BEIJING, Dec. 14 -- China is likely to declare itself the world's fourth largest economy next week, having leapfrogged Italy, France and Britain, helped by a likely huge revision of its gross domestic product figures.

Economists say the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), which is due to release part of the results of its first national economic census on Dec. 20, is likely to put a much bigger figure on the size of China's services sector.

The South China Morning Post, citing unnamed economists, reported on Tuesday that the agency would probably revise GDP by as much as $300 billion, or about 20 percent of 2004 output.

A revision of that magnitude could catapult China from the world's seventh-largest economy into fourth spot, now occupied by Britain.

Jim O'Neill, chief global economist at Goldman Sachs in London, said China could attain that status even without such a big revision based on growth rates and currency changes in 2005.

Not only has China grown far more quickly than Italy, France and Britain this year, but the yuan has risen about 2.5 percent against the dollar, further boosting its output when measured in dollars. The euro and sterling, by contrast, have fallen.

"China could squeak in ahead of Britain even without a revision," O'Neill said. "It just goes to show how much it's contributing to the world economy."

Economists said an upward revision of 20 percent, as reported by the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post, would be in line with their own estimates -- or could even be too modest.

Chen Xingdong, chief China economist for BNP Paribas Peregrine in Beijing, said he would not be surprised if the NBS revised up its estimate of China's GDP, which totalled $1.65 trillion in 2004, by 15 percent to 20 percent.

China's number-crunchers have failed to capture the boom in small and medium-sized industrial enterprises, Chen said.

"We always argue that it has been largely underestimated for a long, long time," he said. "Even a number like 15 percent is not that large for us."

Understated

Dong Tao, chief economist for non-Japan Asia at Credit Suisse First Boston (Hong Kong) Ltd., said China's GDP would still be understated even if it was revised up by $300 billion.

"There's a massive under-reporting of GDP in the service sector," Tao said.

(MORE)

4//Channel News Asia, Singapore Posted: 14 December 2005 0833 hrs
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/...

RUSSIA, ASEAN FORGE NEW PARTNERSHIP IN HISTORIC FIRST SUMMIT

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) - Russia and 10 Southeast Asian countries vowed Tuesday to work together in fighting terrorism and stimulating wealth as part of a new partnership signed at the first Russia-ASEAN summit.

But despite being welcomed as a regular summit partner by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Russia faced an uphill battle in its stated desire to play a more influential role in wider Asia-Pacific affairs.

President Vladimir Putin, who arrived in Kuala Lumpur a day after making a lightning dash to the war-torn Russian province of Chechnya, held inaugural summit talks with his ASEAN counterparts for around 90 minutes.

That meeting was capped by the signing of a joint 27-point declaration of "comprehensive partnership" between Russia and ASEAN along with a detailed action plan that officials described as a "road map" for the next 10 years.

(SNIP)

The declaration contained a number of points aligned with some of Moscow's prime foreign policy objectives, including affirmation of UN pre-eminence in international affairs and an emphasis on the dangers of global terrorism.

Russia and ASEAN reaffirmed their determination to counter terrorism and "recognize it as one of the most serious challenges that the international community faces today," the declaration said.

The two sides stated that in an era of globalization they were mutually dependent for the security and development of their countries and pledged to consolidate dialogue with a view to promoting economic expansion for both.

They also agreed to make Russia-ASEAN summits a regular event in the future.

However, even before the Russia-ASEAN summit began it was clear that Moscow's go-fast approach to asserting more influence in the wider Asia-Pacific region's affairs was in for a bumpy ride.

Putin was due on Wednesday to address an inaugural summit of a new grouping -- the East Asia Summit, which includes ASEAN and six other regional powers -- as a guest and not a full-fledged participant.

Ahead of Putin's arrival in Malaysia, it was reported that Russia's desire to play a full role in the East Asia Summit had been opposed by some members of ASEAN, many of whom are traditionally close to the United States.

Abdullah however seemed to scotch that notion, indicating instead that it may be China that was not anxious to see its giant neighbour Russia fully take part in the East Asia Summit (EAS).

He said it was the non-ASEAN participants in Wednesday's summit -- that is, China, Japan, South Korea, India, Australia and New Zealand -- that "also appear to be against the inclusion of Russia".

"We believe that Russia's participation in the EAS is the key to keeping it as an open and outward-looking forum," he said, adding: "We hope China would continue to support Russia's admission in the EAS."

Russian officials have played down the minor role assigned to Putin at Wednesday's inaugural EAS -- he will be permitted to give a brief address to the summit but not attend the leaders' retreat.

Officials travelling with Putin could not immediately be reached to comment on Abdullah's remarks.

On a more positive note for the Kremlin, however, Philippine President Gloria Arroyo proposed the creation of a new anti-terrorism coalition between ASEAN and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization led by Russia and China.

Putin is eager to see this group, which includes five ex-Soviet republics in Central Asia still dominated by Moscow, play a more significant role in Asian security and economic affairs.

(MORE)

5//The Moscow Times, Russia Tuesday, December 13, 2005. Issue 3315. Page 1
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2005/12/13/002.html

POP, ECO-POLITICS AND A LETTER TO GEORGE
By Stephen Boykewich, Staff Writer

Tens of thousands of young people in the Moscow region were let out of class for Monday's Constitution Day holiday, but not for a day off. Hundreds of buses bore them to two snowy outdoor demonstrations under the banner of a little-known youth movement of "political ecologists" called Mestniye, or Locals.

At the larger of the events, billed as a "concert-demonstration," about 40,000 young people filled a parking lot outside the Crocus City mall in northwestern Moscow and listened to pop music performances. Another 5,000 gathered outside the U.S. Embassy in central Moscow to protest what Mestniye representatives said was a U.S. policy of interference with Russian national interests.

"We propose that the American ambassador study our Constitution carefully and treat it with deep respect," Mestniye head Sergei Fateyev said in a brief speech to the large crowd at the Crocus City event. Several of the young people held banners reading, "America, don't teach us democracy!" in Russian and English. A crane held a giant Russian flag aloft behind the stage.

"Mestniye! Long live the Russian Constitution!" Fateyev cried, then quickly turned the stage over to the pop group Ivanushki International.

Speaking to journalists as the concert continued, Fateyev said he could not name specific violations of the Russian Constitution on the part of the United States, but said that "people who want to teach us what democracy is ought to make sure they know what's in our Constitution."

To that end, Mestniye members at the second demonstration presented a letter and several copies of an English translation of the Constitution to a U.S. Embassy representative.

The English-language version of the letter provided to the media by the group was addressed to U.S. Ambassador William Burns and "the President of the United States Jorge W. Bush," and read in part: "Following ideas and reasons which moved founder-fathers of the United States, who created the Declaration of Independence of the U.S.A., we would like to remind you about the right of nation to remain the sovereign democratic state."

Asked about the letter, embassy spokeswoman Courtney Austrian said by telephone, "We congratulate the Russian people on Constitution Day, and we're delighted to receive copies of the Constitution and the letter."

Austrian noted that in the version of the letter delivered to the embassy, Bush's first name was spelled correctly as George.

It was unclear who had provided funding for the events, or what Mestniye's relationship was to the constantly growing number of government-linked youth movements, such as the pro-Kremlin Nashi, or Us, Mayor Yury Luzhkov's Grazhdanskaya Smena, or Civil Change, and the United Russia party's Young Guard.

Mestniye spokeswoman Darya Mikhailova said that the group's previous events had been financed by local businesspeople who wanted to remain anonymous. Mikhailova declined to comment on the cost or sponsors of the Constitution Day events.

(MORE)