March 22, 2006

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 MARCH 22, 2006

1//The Independent, UK--POLICE PROBE ‘LOANS FOR PEERAGES’ IN BLOW TO BLAIR (Tony Blair's attempt to draw a line under the "loans for peerages" scandal was scuppered when Scotland Yard launched an investigation into the alleged sale of honours by Labour. Hours after Labour's ruling national executive committee [NEC] agreed to close ranks to limit the damage from the affair, the Metropolitan Police said its specialist crime directorate was looking into three complaints about alleged breaches of a 1925 law passed following the sale of peerages by David Lloyd George when he was Prime Minister. … At a bruising NEC meeting, the party reasserted its grip over finances after criticism that Mr Blair ran a parallel operation by seeking the secret loans to fund last year's general election campaign. The "clear the air" meeting left important questions about the affair unanswered.)

2//PakTribune (Pakistan News Service), Pakistan--PAKISTAN SUCCESSFULLY TEST-FIRES HATF-VII CRUISE MISSILE (Pakistan on Tuesday successfully test-fired a cruise missile that can carry a nuclear warhead and hit targets within a 310-mile range, the army said. Pakistan first tested the Babur, or Hatf VII, cruise missile in August last year. … Babur cruise missile, which was tested in the ground launched version, will also be capable of being placed in submarines and on surface ships. The Babur, which has near stealth capabilities, is a low flying, terrain hugging missile with high maneuverability, accuracy, and radar avoidance features with a range of 500 kms. It can carry all types of warheads. … The Prime Minister said that the nation is proud of their achievement and values their efforts in making the country’s defense even more impregnable. Pakistan, he said, is a peaceful country, which does not harbor aggressive designs against any country. It is keen to ensure a minimum credible deterrence in order to ensure peace in the region, the Prime Minister added.)

3//Middle East Online, UK--LEBANON SEEKING WAYS TO BREAK POLITICAL DEADLOCK (Lebanese political leaders are Wednesday to resume their drive to break a deadlock on the disarmament of the Hezbollah militia and the fate of the country's pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud. The chairman of the conference, parliament speaker Nabih Berri, has said the forum would carry on for as long as it takes to thrash out these issues, "even if this means weeks, or months." After an eight-day break in the meetings between leaders from across the political and religious spectrum, the question of the presidency, however, will be discussed behind the scenes rather than in open sessions, he said. Lahoud, who has been under mounting pressure by the anti-Damascus parliamentary majority to resign, repeated on Saturday that he would hold his ground. … Also over the weekend, Fatah's chief in Lebanon said his Palestinian faction would round up weapons from refugee camps amid growing calls for militias in the country to be disbanded in line with UN Security Council Resolution 1559.)

4//Asia Times Online, Hong Kong--RUSSIA SAYS ‘NYET’ TO MILITARY IN THE CASPIAN (Russia, which has significant economic interests in the oil-and-gas-rich Caspian region, is warning against any military buildup in the area, particularly by the United States. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov made that clear during a two-day meeting last week of his counterparts from the other four countries that border the Caspian Sea - Iran, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan. He was upset by what he called "efforts by some nations from outside the region to infiltrate the Caspian politically and militarily with ill-defined goals ... It is easy to invite foreign troops, but it can be difficult to make them withdraw," he said. Lavrov is believed to have been targeting the US, which is thought to be trying to establish a base in Azerbaijan while assisting the country with an overhaul of its navy.)

5//The Guardian, UK--BIG WATER COMPANIES QUIT POOR COUNTRIES (Millions of people could have to wait years for clean water as some of the world's largest companies pull out of developing countries because of growing doubts about privatisation projects, a major UN report reveals today. … The UN report, which urges private firms to partner local authorities or governments, says the trend of privatisation is now reversing and that local and small-scale water companies are mushrooming. "Their potential to improve water supply remains unexplored ... There is a need to refocus privatisation. It is high time to bring the government back in," it says. The report was broadly welcomed by development groups. "Water privatisation in developing countries has failed. Despite this, the UK government and the World Bank insist on supporting it at the expense of the world's poor. Governments and international institutions must ... invest public money in proven public solutions," said Peter Hardstaff of the World Development Movement in London. In a separate report, the UK relief and development charity Tearfund claims that aid for water and sanitation from the EU and its members has been falling for five years, despite the fact that 6,000 children die every day as a result of poor water and sanitation. More aid money is going to middle-income rather than low-income countries, it says.)

* * *

1//The Independent, UK Published: 22 March 2006

POLICE PROBE ‘LOANS FOR PEERAGES’ IN BLOW TO BLAIR
By Andrew Grice and Colin Brown

Tony Blair's attempt to draw a line under the "loans for peerages" scandal was scuppered when Scotland Yard launched an investigation into the alleged sale of honours by Labour.

Hours after Labour's ruling national executive committee (NEC) agreed to close ranks to limit the damage from the affair, the Metropolitan Police said its specialist crime directorate was looking into three complaints about alleged breaches of a 1925 law passed following the sale of peerages by David Lloyd George when he was Prime Minister.

Two of the complaints were made by the Scottish National Party and Plaid Cymru, and Labour officials hope the move will be seen as a political stunt. There has been only one prosecution under the 1925 Honours (Prevention of Abuses) Act.

The police inquiry has prolonged Mr Blair's agony over the £14m of secret loans provided by 12 rich businessmen, four of whom were blocked when he proposed them for peerages. Scotland Yard has informed the Home Office about the investigation, which will be led by Deputy Assistant Commissioner John Yates.

Angus MacNeil, an SNP MP who made a formal complaint, welcomed the decision, saying: "If Labour has been receiving dirty money, then we have a right to know, and ultimately action must be taken. The law is the law and it applies to all of us, even the Prime Minister." He added: "With 80p in every £1 received by Labour from individual donors coming from people who have received an honour and every Labour donor of over £1m in receipt of a peerage or a knighthood, there are big questions to answer."

In another sign that the controversy would not die down, the Home Secretary, Charles Clarke, rallied to Mr Blair's defence by hitting back at Jack Dromey, Labour's treasurer, who exposed the Prime Minister's crucial role in the affair last week when he complained he was kept in the dark. Mr Clarke told journalists: "It raises serious questions about Jack's position as treasurer. Any competent treasurer would look at the finances of the organisation they are involved with." He added: "It should be part of the job to look at the finances. If he wasn't asking that question, you would have to ask how well he was doing that job."

At a bruising NEC meeting, the party reasserted its grip over finances after criticism that Mr Blair ran a parallel operation by seeking the secret loans to fund last year's general election campaign. The "clear the air" meeting left important questions about the affair unanswered.

(SNIP)

Labour figures hope that the focus will now switch to the Tories, who have promised to declare any future loans but do not want to reveal previous ones totalling a reported £18m.

They have refused to say whether they were lent money by foreign residents, from whom donations are banned.

Last night the Electoral Commission increased the pressure on the Tories to match Labour by disclosing the names of lenders. Sam Younger, the commission's chairman, wrote to all parties asking them to make available all the information immediately on lenders. "We are asking them to search their consciences," said a commission official.

2//PakTribune (Pakistan News Service), Pakistan Tuesday March 21, 2006 (1501 PST)

PAKISTAN SUCCESSFULLY TEST-FIRES HATF-VII CRUISE MISSILE

ISLAMABAD, March 22 (Online): Pakistan on Tuesday successfully test-fired a cruise missile that can carry a nuclear warhead and hit targets within a 310-mile range, the army said.

Pakistan first tested the Babur, or Hatf VII, cruise missile in August last year.

According to details, all phases of the planned trajectory were extremely successful and the missile impacted with pinpoint accuracy.

It may be recalled that the Babur cruise missile, which has been indigenously developed, was tested for the first time in August 2005.

Babur cruise missile, which was tested in the ground launched version, will also be capable of placed in submarines and on surface ships.

The Babur, which has near stealth capabilities, is a low flying, terrain hugging missile with high maneuverability, accuracy, and radar avoidance features with a range of 500 kms. It can carry all types of warheads.

Meanwhile President of Pakistan General Pervez Musharraf, who witnessed the test fire, said that the nation was proud of its scientists and engineers, who had once again demonstrated their ability to master rare technologies with ease and professionalism.

He said that his government would continue to provide all support to their endeavors in fortifying national defense.

"The strategic programme, which had come to symbolize the nation’s resolve for its security, will continue to go from strength to strength with credible minimum deterrence as the cornerstone", Musharraf added.

(SNIP)

The Prime Minister said that the nation is proud of their achievement and values their efforts in making the country’s defense even more impregnable. Pakistan, he said, is a peaceful country, which does not harbor aggressive designs against any country.

It is keen to ensure a minimum credible deterrence in order to ensure peace in the region, the Prime Minister added.

3//Middle East Online, UK First Published 2006-03-21, Last Updated 2006-03-21 14:27:00

LEBANON SEEKING WAYS TO BREAK POLITICAL DEADLOCK
Lebanese leaders resume push to break political deadlock on disarmament of Hezbollah, Lahoud’s fate

By Salim Yassine - BEIRUT

Lebanese political leaders are Wednesday to resume their drive to break a deadlock on the disarmament of the Hezbollah militia and the fate of the country's pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud.

The chairman of the conference, parliament speaker Nabih Berri, has said the forum would carry on for as long as it takes to thrash out these issues, "even if this means weeks, or months".

After an eight-day break in the meetings between leaders from across the political and religious spectrum, the question of the presidency, however, will be discussed behind the scenes rather than in open sessions, he said.

Lahoud, who has been under mounting pressure by the anti-Damascus parliamentary majority to resign, repeated on Saturday that he would hold his ground.

"If I quit now, it might be thought that I was a traitor, or that I had violated the constitution," he said.

Also over the weekend, Fatah's chief in Lebanon said his Palestinian faction would round up weapons from refugee camps amid growing calls for militias in the country to be disbanded in line with UN Security Council Resolution 1559.

"We have decided to collect all the weapons we possess, including individual arms, and put them in secure places (inside the camps), in accordance with the wishes of the inter-Lebanese dialogue conference," said Sultan Abul Aynain.

On March 12, the forum struck an accord on normalising ties with former powerbroker Syria that were thrown into turmoil by the February 2005 assassination of Lebanon's ex-prime minister Rafiq Hariri.

"Participants want relations between Lebanon and Syria to be as equals, based on the establishment of diplomatic relations and embassies and demarcating Lebanese-Syrian frontiers," said Berri.

(MORE)

4//Asia Times Online, Hong Kong Mar 20, 1006

RUSSIA SAYS ‘NYET’ TO MILITARY IN THE CASPIAN
By Sergei Blagov

MOSCOW - Russia, which has significant economic interests in the oil-and-gas-rich Caspian region, is warning against any military buildup in the area, particularly by the United States.

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov made that clear during a two-day meeting last week of his counterparts from the other four countries that border the Caspian Sea - Iran, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan.

He was upset by what he called "efforts by some nations from outside the region to infiltrate the Caspian politically and militarily with ill-defined goals ... It is easy to invite foreign troops, but it can be difficult to make them withdraw," he said.

Lavrov is believed to have been targeting the US, which is thought to be trying to establish a base in Azerbaijan while assisting the country with an overhaul of its navy. But Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign Minister Khalaf Khalafov told a news conference in Moscow that a foreign military presence in the Caspian region "cannot be considered in isolation from other problems". However, he insisted that the sovereign rights of the coastal countries be respected.

Lavrov said Russia was not calling for withdrawal of all military forces from the region. "Demilitarization of the Caspian does not correspond to the realities of today," he said, adding that such a goal could entail "disarmament of the Caspian states, which now face new threats". Still, he warned against "any pretexts for conflicts in the region".

Lavrov said he hoped drafting a convention on the legal status of the Caspian Sea could be completed "in the very near future". The foreign ministers agreed to hold the next round of talks in Turkmen capital Ashgabat, but provided no date.

(SNIP)

Russian President Vladimir Putin last July attended an international conference on Caspian security, held on board Russia's Caspian Flotilla flagship naval vessel, Tatarstan. The conference supported an idea of creating a joint naval force of the littoral states, similar to the Black Sea Force and presumably under the Russian aegis.

The Russian Caspian Flotilla still remains the strongest naval force in the sea. After the division of the Soviet Caspian Flotilla in 1992 between Moscow and Baku, Russia kept three-quarters of the naval vessels and personnel. In the past five years, Russia nearly doubled its Caspian naval force, which now includes two frigates, 12 major patrol vessels and about 50 smaller vessels based in Astrakhan, as well as some 20,000 personnel.

Moscow has also moved to boost its economic clout in the northern Caspian.

Putin and Kazakh counterpart Nursultan Nazarbayev in July witnessed the signing of a 55-year production-sharing agreement for the Kurmangazy oilfield in the Caspian Sea. Russian and Kazakh investment in the Kurmangazy oil deposit could hit US$22 billion to $23 billion. Russia and Kazakhstan also finalized a deal to develop jointly the Khvalynskoye oil and gas field in the northern Caspian.

Russia's state-controlled gas giant Gazprom now plans to build a major petrochemical complex in Russia's main Caspian port of Astrakhan, and crude-oil production is expected to start in the Russian section of the Caspian shelf by next year.

Moscow's opposition to outside meddling in the Caspian region grows proportionately to its increasingly significant economic interests.

5//The Guardian, UK Wednesday March 22, 2006l

BIG WATER COMPANIES QUIT POOR COUNTRIES
· Political and consumer pressure forces rethink
· British firms identified as seeking less risky markets

John Vidal, environment editor

Millions of people could have to wait years for clean water as some of the world's largest companies pull out of developing countries because of growing doubts about privatisation projects, a major UN report reveals today.

Political and consumer unease about multimillion-pound schemes that were intended to end the cycle of drought and death that has afflicted many countries is forcing major multinationals to think again. "Due to the political and high-risk operations, many multinational water companies are decreasing their activities in developing countries," says the UN's second world water development report, published today in Mexico City.

"In many settings, privatisation is a heavily politicised issue that is creating social and political discontent and sometimes outright violence."

Many companies have met intense political resistance in the past five years after winning large contracts to supply cities but then having to raise prices significantly. Some have been forced out of countries, others have left voluntarily.

The report cites Thames Water leaving Shanghai, Saur leaving Mozambique and Zimbabwe, and Suez downsizing in Latin America and Africa, as well as major demonstrations against European and American water companies in Bolivia, Malaysia, South Africa and Indonesia.

Many companies, it says, have not been able to make money and are now concentrating on less risky markets in Europe and North America.

Water privatisation was seen by the World Bank and G8 countries as the most effective way to bring clean water to large numbers of poor countries throughout the 1990s, but in spite of investments of $25bn (£14bn) between 1990 and 1997, the rich have mostly benefited at the expense of the poor. Sub-Saharan Africa has received less than 1% of all the money invested in water supplies by private companies in the last 10 years.

"Those who have benefited from private water services in developing countries are predominantly those living in relatively affluent urban pockets ... the very poor sections normally tend to be excluded," it says.

While some privatisations have been successful, many companies have faced accusations of profiteering or not meeting pledges to connect poor districts to the mains. British firms have been involved in controversial privatisations in Malaysia, South Africa, Tanzania and Indonesia.

(SNIP)

The UN report, which urges private firms to partner local authorities or governments, says the trend of privatisation is now reversing and that local and small-scale water companies are mushrooming. "Their potential to improve water supply remains unexplored ... There is a need to refocus privatisation. It is high time to bring the government back in," it says.

The report was broadly welcomed by development groups. "Water privatisation in developing countries has failed. Despite this, the UK government and the World Bank insist on supporting it at the expense of the world's poor. Governments and international institutions must ... invest public money in proven public solutions," said Peter Hardstaff of the World Development Movement in London.

In a separate report, the UK relief and development charity Tearfund claims that aid for water and sanitation from the EU and its members has been falling for five years, despite the fact that 6,000 children die every day as a result of poor water and sanitation. More aid money is going to middle-income rather than low-income countries, it says.