March 24, 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.

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WORLD MEDIA WATCH FOR MARCH 24, 2006

1//Asia Times Online, Hong Kong--REHEATING THE COLD WAR (Three assaults on the Kremlin within the month must be extraordinary even by Cold War standards. They prompted Anatol Lieven, a prominent American scholar on Russia, to pose a rhetorical question: "Why are we trying to reheat the Cold War?" … Rice, speaking to a town-hall audience in Sydney, saw "a very difficult and shaky path" right now for Russian democracy, and expressed the hope that the Russian people "will find their voice to demand accountable, transparent institutions and to demand the ability to organize themselves to petition their government and, if necessary, to change their government". A "regime change" in Russia! Lieven wrote in his article featured in the Los Angeles Times of March 18 that historians of the future would look back with amazement that "hardliners within the Bush administration, and especially in the office of Vice President Dick Cheney, are arguing for a new line against Moscow along the lines of a scaled-down Cold War" and that they advocate forming "anti-Moscow military alliances" and giving "overt support" to Putin's domestic political opponents. … Underlying these differences lies the US perception that Russia is increasingly using energy as the primary lever of the country's foreign policy, and that Russia's growing role in the world energy markets is determining its geopolitical influence. In other words, the Western perception is that energy is being refined by the Kremlin as a far cheaper and far more effective way of expanding global influence than the tanks and missiles that the Soviet Union amassed at enormous cost, which drained resources and ultimately led to the weakening of the Soviet state structure.)

2//Arab News, Saudi Arabia--SYRIA’S FIRST FEMALE VICE PRESIDENT HAILED AS PROGRESS FOR WOMEN (Syria named a veteran former culture minister, Najah Al-Attar, as its first woman vice president, the official SANA news agency reported yesterday. “Mrs. Najah Al-Attar was sworn in as second vice-president in charge of cultural policy by President Bashar Assad,” SANA said. … Director General of the Khadija bint Khuwailed Center Nadiah Baashan said it was not only good news, but also righteous. “Women are taking back their right that has been assigned by Islamic Law,” said Baashan. “The Holy Prophet [peace be upon him] had assigned to Nusaiba, daughter of Kaab, a role identical to the head of a market-inspection team. What is happening to women in the world presently is aberration from the right.” … A male political science professor at a prominent local Saudi university who did not want to be named said … “There’s no doubt that women are being driven to join the Arab political arena because men’s representation on behalf of women’s voices is poor if not totally dumb,” he said. “There’s no doubt that the majority of Saudi men dread the involvement and competition of women; it’s called intimidation and control-loss.”)

3//The Daily Star, Lebanon--AL-JAZEERA MAY HOLD OFF ON ENGLISH CHANNEL (The much-hyped launch of Arabic satellite television Al-Jazeera's English-language channel will be delayed until later this year, the group's director general said Thursday. The start-up of Al-Jazeera International, which had been expected sometime in the northern spring, "has been delayed, probably to the summer ... for technical reasons," Al-Jazeera Satellite Network director general Waddah Khanfar told AFP. The channel, which has changed the face of television news in the Arab world since it was founded in 1996, has faced relentless criticism from the United States over its broadcasting of footage and messages from militants. Al-Jazeera International is due to transmit from four regional broadcast centers in Doha, Kuala Lumpur, London and Washington with 250 journalists based in 30 countries. Al-Jazeera International director Nigel Parsons said however that the English-language channel may still start broadcasting as planned. "We might still be launching it in the spring. We don't know yet," he told AFP, adding that the network was waiting for technical installations to be completed.)

4//The Moscow Times, Russia--HUNDREDS CHEER FALLEN QUEEN (Hundreds of people crowded Kiev's Independence Square to support the fallen queen of the Orange Revolution, Yulia Tymoshenko, on the eve of weekend parliamentary elections. The scene Thursday evening at first glance resembled a repeat of last year's protests against vote falsification that brought the pro-West duo of Tymoshenko and President Viktor Yushchenko to power. People waved flags and danced to live concert music, and the tents that symbolized the people power of the Orange Revolution were back out on the square. … The duo that led the 2004 Orange Revolution split acrimoniously last year amid increasing infighting over economic policy and a slew of corruption allegations. Yushchenko fired Tymoshenko as his prime minister, and since then the diminutive blond firebrand many have compared to Eva Peron has been out in the cold, while Yushchenko has been floundering amid a worsening economy, a gas dispute with Russia and one Cabinet crisis after another. The split appeared to have turned the Orange Revolution sour along with hopes for democracy and clean government. But as people gathered on the square Thursday evening, it seemed some were prepared to do it all over again, even if it meant supporting just Tymoshenko or hoping she would join forces with Yushchenko once again. … The split has also helped open the way for a resurgence in popularity for Viktor Yanukovych, the pro-Russia rival the duo displaced in the bitter dispute over falsified election results. Yanukovych's Party of the Regions currently leads the polls, with 30 to 34 percent.)

5//Xinhuanet. China--CHINA WORKING TO RESTORE ANCIENT IRRIGATION NETWORK (… The network of wells and underground irrigation tunnels extends more than 5,000 kms and are found mainly in Turpan, Hami and Hotan. Dubbed "the subterranean Great Wall", it is one of the three landmark projects left by Chinese forefathers - the other two being the Great Wall and the Grand Canal linking Beijing and Hangzhou. Yet experts warn it is a pressing job to restore the ancient project, as the region has been losing at least 20 karezes a year,a result of insufficient groundwater, excessive exploitation and lack of funding. In response, the local government of Turpan has set up a water consumers' association in every village which, headed by village officials, dredges and reinforces the karezes to ensure sufficient water supply. Meanwhile, the local government has also educated Ugyur farmers in modern irrigation technologies to reduce the per-hectare water consumption by 4,500 cubic meters a year, an annual cutback of 135 million cubic meters at least. Water conservation experts in Xinjiang have recently completed an illustrated encyclopedia of the region's karezes, a trilingual version of Chinese Mandarin, Ugyur and English, to detail location, storage capacity and length of each existing karez.)

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1//Asia Times Online, Hong Kong Mar 24, 2006

REHEATING THE COLD WAR
By M K Bhadrakumar
(M K Bhadrakumar served as a career diplomat in the Indian Foreign Service for more than 29 years, with postings including ambassador to Uzbekistan and to Turkey.)

Three assaults on the Kremlin within the month must be extraordinary even by Cold War standards. They prompted Anatol Lieven, a prominent American scholar on Russia, to pose a rhetorical question: "Why are we trying to reheat the Cold War?"

It all began with a 94-page report released by the influential think-tank the Council on Foreign Relations on March 5 titled "Russia's Wrong Direction: What the United States Can and Should Do". It concluded that Russia's foreign and domestic policies had taken directions that hurt US global interests; that a US-Russian partnership was no longer feasible; and that the US should lead a coordinated Western policy of "selective cooperation" with Russia, a variant of the policy of detente during the Cold War years.

Then appeared, hardly a week later, the annual human-rights report issued by the US State Department, which roundly criticized the Russian leadership of President Vladimir Putin for authoritarianism by "virtually stripping parliament of power ... continuing media restrictions and self-censorship ... continuing corruption and selectivity in enforcement of law, political pressure on the judiciary, and harassment of some non-governmental organizations", all of which has resulted in an "erosion of the accountability of government leaders to the people".

This was followed within a week on March 16 by the White House blueprint called the National Security Strategy, which in a distinct hardening of tone toward Moscow not only called on Russia to respect freedom at home, but specifically warned that the Kremlin's "efforts to prevent democratic development at home and abroad will hamper the development of Russia's relations with the US, Europe and its neighbors".

The same day, while on a visit to Australia, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice expressed concern over the "centralization of power in the Kremlin" and spoke about the danger that "by its very existence, a presidency that is strong without countervailing institutions can be subverted, can subvert democracy".

Rice, speaking to a town-hall audience in Sydney, saw "a very difficult and shaky path" right now for Russian democracy, and expressed the hope that the Russian people "will find their voice to demand accountable, transparent institutions and to demand the ability to organize themselves to petition their government and, if necessary, to change their government".

A "regime change" in Russia! Lieven wrote in his article featured in the Los Angeles Times of March 18 that historians of the future would look back with amazement that "hardliners within the Bush administration, and especially in the office of Vice President Dick Cheney, are arguing for a new line against Moscow along the lines of a scaled-down Cold War" and that they advocate forming "anti-Moscow military alliances" and giving "overt support" to Putin's domestic political opponents.

(SNIP)

In an overarching philosophical sense, the EU and Russia visualize a dialectic involving the interests of the energy-consuming and transit countries and those of oil-exporting countries, whereas Russia refuses to be drawn into stereotyped modes of behavior in the era of globalization.

Underlying these differences lies the US perception that Russia is increasingly using energy as the primary lever of the country's foreign policy, and that Russia's growing role in the world energy markets is determining its geopolitical influence.

In other words, the Western perception is that energy is being refined by the Kremlin as a far cheaper and far more effective way of expanding global influence than the tanks and missiles that the Soviet Union amassed at enormous cost, which drained resources and ultimately led to the weakening of the Soviet state structure.

(MORE)

2//Arab News, Saudi Arabia Friday, 24, March, 2006 (23, Safar, 1427)

SYRIA’S FIRST FEMALE VICE PRESIDENT HAILED AS PROGRESS FOR WOMEN
Somayya Jabarti & Abdul Maqsood Mirza, Arab News

JEDDAH, 24 March 2006 — Syria named a veteran former culture minister, Najah Al-Attar, as its first woman vice president, the official SANA news agency reported yesterday.

“Mrs. Najah Al-Attar was sworn in as second vice-president in charge of cultural policy by President Bashar Assad,” SANA said.

In Saudi Arabia, women were keen to hail the move as another step in the right direction of empowering qualified women for high positions of power. Fatin Bundugji, director of Women Empowerment & Research at the Khadija bint Khuwailed Center of the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry emphasized that “qualified” is the operative term.

“The fact that she’s a woman does not undermine the fact that she’s the most qualified one for the job,” Bundugji told Arab News. “The decision of her appointment as vice president was not gender-based, though the fact that she’s a woman is a plus for the women’s cause. Her appointment is based on qualification.”

Indeed, Attar, 68, has served as minister of culture from 1976 to 2000 and was most recently in charge of the ministry’s translation department. She holds a doctorate from Edinburgh University and has published a number of books.

Director General of the Khadija bint Khuwailed Center Nadiah Baashan said it was not only good news, but also righteous.

“Women are taking back their right that has been assigned by Islamic Law,” said Baashan. “The Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) had assigned to Nusaiba, daughter of Kaab, a role identical to the head of a market-inspection team. What is happening to women in the world presently is aberration from the right.”

(SNIP)

A male political science professor at a prominent local Saudi university who did not want to be named said the political shift in Syria is a part of a greater move where women, who are underrepresented in politics in the region, have no choice but to keep their eyes on the prize and grab the fruits of power through hard work and diligence.

“There’s no doubt that women are being driven to join the Arab political arena because men’s representation on behalf of women’s voices is poor if not totally dumb,” he said. “There’s no doubt that the majority of Saudi men dread the involvement and competition of women; it’s called intimidation and control-loss.”

(MORE)

3//The Daily Star, Lebanon Friday, March 24, 2006

AL-JAZEERA MAY HOLD OFF ON ENGLISH CHANNEL
By Agence France Presse (AFP)

DOHA: The much-hyped launch of Arabic satellite television Al-Jazeera's English-language channel will be delayed until later this year, the group's director general said Thursday.

The start-up of Al-Jazeera International, which had been expected sometime in the northern spring, "has been delayed, probably to the summer ... for technical reasons," Al-Jazeera Satellite Network director general Waddah Khanfar told AFP.

The channel, which has changed the face of television news in the Arab world since it was founded in 1996, has faced relentless criticism from the United States over its broadcasting of footage and messages from militants.

Al-Jazeera International is due to transmit from four regional broadcast centers in Doha, Kuala Lumpur, London and Washington with 250 journalists based in 30 countries.

Al-Jazeera International director Nigel Parsons said however that the English-language channel may still start broadcasting as planned.

"We might still be launching it in the spring. We don't know yet," he told AFP, adding that the network was waiting for technical installations to be completed.

"The delay - if there will be a delay - is technical," Par-sons added.

In November, British tabloid Daily Mirror, citing a top secret Downing Street memorandum, reported that U.S. President George W. Bush discussed bombing the Arabic-language channel but was dissuaded by British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

The White House has called the story "outlandish" despite strong indignation and protests from Al-Jazeera.

The Arabic channel often receives footage of hostages held in Iraq by Islamic militants and has become the almost exclusive conduit for audio and video messages from Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and his deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri.

(MORE)

4//The Moscow Times, Russia Friday, March 24, 2006. Issue 3378. Page 4.

HUNDREDS CHEER FALLEN QUEEN
By Catherine Belton, Staff Writer
KIEV -- Hundreds of people crowded Kiev's Independence Square to support the fallen queen of the Orange Revolution, Yulia Tymoshenko, on the eve of weekend parliamentary elections.

The scene Thursday evening at first glance resembled a repeat of last year's protests against vote falsification that brought the pro-West duo of Tymoshenko and President Viktor Yushchenko to power. People waved flags and danced to live concert music, and the tents that symbolized the people power of the Orange Revolution were back out on the square.
This time, however, amid widespread disillusionment over the revolution's results, the numbers paled in comparison with the thousands that thronged the square last year, while the flags were of different colors and the tents were too. For Yulia, as she is fondly known here, the tents and flags were white with a red heart emblazoned across them. Interspersed with them were the orange flags and tents of Yushchenko's Our Ukraine bloc.

Some, however, were there to stick it out. "We wanted democracy, and we got it," said Zinaida Petrovna, a stout woman in her 50s, as she pointed at the plethora of various colored flags. "Now, we're continuing our fight for democracy."
The duo that led the 2004 Orange Revolution split acrimoniously last year amid increasing infighting over economic policy and a slew of corruption allegations. Yushchenko fired Tymoshenko as his prime minister, and since then the diminutive blond firebrand many have compared to Eva Peron has been out in the cold, while Yushchenko has been floundering amid a worsening economy, a gas dispute with Russia and one Cabinet crisis after another.

The split appeared to have turned the Orange Revolution sour along with hopes for democracy and clean government. But as people gathered on the square Thursday evening, it seemed some were prepared to do it all over again, even if it meant supporting just Tymoshenko or hoping she would join forces with Yushchenko once again.

"We're not disappointed with the Orange Revolution," Petrovna said, clutching a Yulia scarf. "We stood for democracy, and we did not lose out."

The split has also helped open the way for a resurgence in popularity for Viktor Yanukovych, the pro-Russia rival the duo displaced in the bitter dispute over falsified election results. Yanukovych's Party of the Regions currently leads the polls, with 30 to 34 percent. Tymoshenko's and Yushchenko's blocs are vying for second place, with polls placing Yushchenko at 17 to 20 percent and Tymoshenko at 14 to 20 percent.

(MORE)

5//Xinhuanet. China 2006-03-23 19:39:18

CHINA WORKING TO RESTORE ANCIENT IRRIGATION NETWORK

URUMQI, March 23 (Xinhua) -- Yasin Nuyos and his co-workers crouch in a tunnel three or four meters underground shifting silt in the dim light of a lamp. Sweat flows freely even though the daytime temperature in early spring still hovers below freezing.

The team, largely consisting of Uygurs in Turpan, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, are preserving a 2,000-year-old network of more than 600 "karezes", or subterranean irrigation canals, that channels water from the snow-covered Tianshan Mountains to cropland and solve the drinking water shortages in the arid region.

To their delight, the Chinese government will invest 200 million yuan (some 25 million U.S. dollars) this year to make their dredging job easier.

The money will equip the team with state-of-the-art technologies and machinery in order to protect and restore more karezes in Turpan and Hami, said Hupur Nurdin, secretary general of the Karez Research Association in Xinjiang, in an exclusive interview with Xinhua.

"We plan to protect 391 karezes, 276 of which will be reinforced," he said. "We'll also restore 89 karezes that have dried up altogether."

When the entire project is completed by the end of 2008, the restored system will be able to irrigate 8,600 hectares of land, said Nurdin.

This is by far the heaviest bout of government spending on rescuing the ancient irrigation system hailed by water conservation experts as a good example of man and nature working in harmony, he added.

The 600-odd karezes that still exist today promise an annual water supply of 200 million cubic meters, not even a third of the 1950s volume, he said.

Back then, Xinjiang's underground irrigation system comprise more than 1,000 karezes. Its annual water supply was 680 million cubic meters - enough to water 24,200 hectares of land.

The locals owe a lot to the karezes that help the arid Turpan Basin find fame as China's leading grower of grapes and sweet melons.

The network of wells and underground irrigation tunnels extends more than 5,000 kms and are found mainly in Turpan, Hami and Hotan. Dubbed "the subterranean Great Wall", it is one of the three landmark projects left by Chinese forefathers - the other two being the Great Wall and the Grand Canal linking Beijing and Hangzhou.

Yet experts warn it is a pressing job to restore the ancient project, as the region has been losing at least 20 karezes a year, a result of insufficient groundwater, excessive exploitation and lack of funding.

In response, the local government of Turpan has set up a water consumers' association in every village which, headed by village officials, dredges and reinforces the karezes to ensure sufficient water supply.

Meanwhile, the local government has also educated Ugyur far mersin modern irrigation technologies to reduce the per-hectare water consumption by 4,500 cubic meters a year, an annual cutback of 135 million cubic meters at least.

Water conservation experts in Xinjiang have recently completed an illustrated encyclopedia of the region's karezes, a trilingual version of Chinese Mandarin, Ugyur and English, to detail location,storage capacity and length of each existing karez.

(MORE)