March 27, 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 27, 2006

1//Azzaman in English, Iraq--OIL MINISTRY IN CRISIS, EXPERTS SAY (Iraq's oil ministry, mired in corruption, is facing a serious crisis, experts said. … . "The Iraqi oil sector currently suffers from the absence of an effective leadership, bad administration, retreat in output and has become a fertile ground for corruption," said Fadhil Jalabi, an Iraqi oil expert and head of the London-based Energy Center. Shamkhi Faraj, a senior ministry official, agreed. "The country is ruined and these officials are working to achieve their personal wishes," he said. Another senior official, refusing to be named, was even blunter in his criticism, saying: "The conditions have reached the worst stage one can imagine." …. . Jalabi said officials put in charge of the oil sector, the country's mainstay, were being selected on factional and sectarian grounds rather than efficiency. … . The ministry needs to raise nearly $500 million a month to cover fuel imports, but the officials said allocations for imports were running out. They said if the ministry halts imports the current fuel crisis will exacerbate, leading to popular discontent and anger across the country.)

2//The Khaleej Times, United Arab Emirates--EUROPEAN GROUP TO HELP AFGHAN POPPY FARMERS SUE BRITAIN (A European-based drug-policy group said on Sunday it would help hundreds of Afghan opium farmers sue the British government to collect 21 million dollars owed to them for eradicating their poppy crop two years ago after the few cheques they received had bounced. The Senlis Council, a Paris-based group, said farmers in southern Helmand province claim British officials had promised them 350 dollars for every jerib (one-fifth of a hectare) of their opium crop they destroyed in 2002. The farmers said they had together torn up 62,000 jeribs of opium. However only a few of them were paid and most of the cheques issued by British officials had bounced, the council said in a statement. The situation has left a bad feeling towards Britain in the province, where 3,000 British troops are due to deploy to assist in the fight against Taleban insurgents and in opium eradication, the council said.)

3//The Guardian, UK--BLAIR: MY PROMISE TO QUIT MAY HAVE BEEN A MISTAKE (Tony Blair last night admitted that he may have made a mistake when he announced 18 months ago that he would not be seeking a fourth term in office. At the start of a week-long tour of the Asia-Pacific region, he accepted that he may have been wrong to make a promise before the last general election that he would serve a full third term in No 10 but then step down. … . With speculation rife about when the prime minister will chose to hand over the keys of No 10 to his successor, Mr Blair himself is understood to have now set a date for his departure. The details have been kept from even his closest aides, but the timing is unlikely to be as soon as Labour rebels hope. The prime minister has made it clear to his inner circle that he wants to tackle the financial crisis in the health service and push through NHS reforms before he stands aside - a process that could take him into next summer and beyond.)

4//News.com.au, Australia--WORKERS FACE UP TO NEW WORLD (Changes to national industrial rules covering workers and bosses come into force today. Unions and Labor say the Work Choices reforms will erode workers' pay and conditions. The Government says they'll provide greater flexibility and more jobs in small business. Unions began a new wave of campaigning last night with television ads warning workers would not be protected from unfair dismissal. … . "I do not believe that the world is going to come to an end, or the sky will fall in next week, as has been predicted by Mr Combet and Mr Beazley," the PM said. "More jobs will be generated in the small business sector as a result of the removal of the absurd job-destroying unfair dismissal laws." Parts of the laws took affect soon after Parliament passed them late last year. But the bulk of the powers will come into force today, including arrangements to move many state workers into the Federal system. Under the changes companies with 100 or fewer staff will be exempt from unfair dismissal laws.)

5//The Moscow Times, Russia--TRANSNEFT'S PIPELINE FACES MORE SCRUTINY (Russia's environmental watchdog has thrown another roadblock in the way of an $11 billion oil pipeline meant to feed energy-hungry Asian markets, rejecting Transneft's planned terminating point for the pipeline, a spokesman for the watchdog said Friday. The Federal Service for Environmental, Technological and Atomic Inspection has rejected the choice of Perevoznaya Bay as the terminus of the planned Eastern Siberia-Pacific Ocean pipeline due to environmental concerns, a service spokesman said by telephone Friday. The pipeline, designated a priority project by President Vladimir Putin, is key to Russia's plans to expand energy supplies to Asian markets including China, Japan and South Korea. Pipeline monopoly Transneft has faced fierce opposition by environmentalists and government environmental agencies over the planned construction route, which runs as close as 800 meters to Lake Baikal, the world's largest freshwater lake. … . A spokesman for Greenpeace Russia, which campaigned along with World Wildlife Fund Russia and other groups against running the pipeline to Perevoznaya, said the environmental watchdog's decision was a victory, but a qualified one. "The thing that worries us very much -- and not only us -- is that despite the experts' decision about Perevoznaya, they made a far bigger mistake by accepting the first part of the route alongside Baikal," spokesman Yevgeny Usov said by telephone Friday. Alfa Bank oil and gas analyst Konstantin Batunin agreed that Russia's intention to secure its position as a major world energy supplier far outweighed environmental concerns. "It's Transneft who decides where the pipeline will go, and any obstacle lying in its way, including expert commissions, will be removed," Batunin said.)

* * *

1//Azzaman in English, Iraq March 22, 2006
http://www.azzaman.com/english/index.asp...

OIL MINISTRY IN CRISIS, EXPERTS SAY
Nidhal al-Laithi

Iraq's oil ministry, mired in corruption, is facing a serious crisis, experts said.

They said the ministry lacked "effective leadership" and the officials in charge were only keen to attain personal gains.

The accusations come as exports have plunged to nearly half their level before the 2003 U.S. invasion and fears that the ministry may not be able even to pay for fuel imports.

" The Iraqi oil sector currently suffers from the absence of an effective leadership, bad administration, retreat in output and has become a fertile ground for corruption," said Fadhil Jalabi, an Iraqi oil expert and head of the London-based Energy Center.

Shamkhi Faraj, a senior ministry official, agreed.

" The country is ruined and these officials are working to achieve their personal wishes," he said.

Another senior official, refusing to be named, was even blunter in his criticism, saying: "The conditions have reached the worst stage one can imagine."

Jalabi said officials put in charge of the oil sector, the country's mainstay, were being selected on factional and sectarian grounds rather than efficiency.

Officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Iraqi oil was being sold at "a high discount" on international market raising suspicions that senior officials were involved in return for hefty commissions.

(SNIP)

The ministry needs to raise nearly $500 million a month to cover fuel imports, but the officials said allocations for imports were running out.

They said if the ministry halts imports the current fuel crisis will exacerbate, leading to popular discontent and anger across the country.

2//The Khaleej Times, United Arab Emirates 26 March 2006
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle.asp?xfile=data/the...

EUROPEAN GROUP TO HELP AFGHAN POPPY FARMERS SUE BRITAIN
(AFP)

KABUL - A European-based drug-policy group said on Sunday it would help hundreds of Afghan opium farmers sue the British government to collect 21 million dollars owed to them for eradicating their poppy crop two years ago after the few cheques they received had bounced.

The Senlis Council, a Paris-based group, said farmers in southern Helmand province claim British officials had promised them 350 dollars for every jerib (one-fifth of a hectare) of their opium crop they destroyed in 2002.

The farmers said they had together torn up 62,000 jeribs of opium.

However only a few of them were paid and most of the cheques issued by British officials had bounced, the council said in a statement.

The situation has left a bad feeling towards Britain in the province, where 3,000 British troops are due to deploy to assist in the fight against Taleban insurgents and in opium eradication, the council said.

The first troops are already on the ground, preparing for the arrival of the main force later this year.

"The farmers of Helmand province are telling us that they mistrust the British and that they are angry at not being paid as promised," Senlis Council executive director Emannuel Reinert said.

"This means that the British military will arrive in a province of farmers who are very hostile to their presence."

The British embassy in Kabul said it could not comment on the matter.

Helmand is the main producer of Afghanistan's annual crop of about 4,000 tonnes of opium, which supplies about 90 percent of the heroin in Europe.

(MORE)

3//The Guardian, UK Monday March 27, 2006
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/labour/story/0,,1740373,00.html

BLAIR: MY PROMISE TO QUIT MAY HAVE BEEN A MISTAKE
PM privately sets departure date but won't go before NHS crisis is resolved

Tania Branigan in Melbourne

Tony Blair last night admitted that he may have made a mistake when he announced 18 months ago that he would not be seeking a fourth term in office.

At the start of a week-long tour of the Asia-Pacific region, he accepted that he may have been wrong to make a promise before the last general election that he would serve a full third term in No 10 but then step down.

He told the Australian Broadcasting Company that "it was an unusual thing for me to say, but people kept asking me the question so I decided to answer it. Maybe that was a mistake."

With speculation rife about when the prime minister will chose to hand over the keys of No 10 to his successor, Mr Blair himself is understood to have now set a date for his departure. The details have been kept from even his closest aides, but the timing is unlikely to be as soon as Labour rebels hope.

The prime minister has made it clear to his inner circle that he wants to tackle the financial crisis in the health service and push through NHS reforms before he stands aside - a process that could take him into next summer and beyond.

Mr Blair's made his unconventional announcement in September 2004, telling the BBC that he had no intention to serve a fourth term because "I do not think the British people would want the prime minister to stay on that long".

Labour party insiders have expressed concern that this promise has backfired. Rather than ending the uncertainty over his future, it has triggered more questions.

(MORE)

4//News.com.au, Australia March 27, 2006
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,18616330-2,00.html

WORKERS FACE UP TO NEW WORLD
From: AAP

Changes to national industrial rules covering workers and bosses come into force today.

Unions and Labor say the Work Choices reforms will erode workers' pay and conditions.

The Government says they'll provide greater flexibility and more jobs in small business.

Unions began a new wave of campaigning last night with television ads warning workers would not be protected from unfair dismissal.

ACTU secretary Greg Combet says the first person who is sacked unfairly, which he predicts could occur as early as today, can send a thank-you note to Prime Minister John Howard.

"It's in every workplace and community across the country and there's no doubt that Labor needs to focus on it," Mr Combet said on ABC TV.

Mr Combet claimed that foreign workers were already taking Australian jobs and were paid low wages in their own currencies.

Mr Combet said companies were employing guest workers who were allowed into Australia for low-skilled jobs, with their Australian employers not checking whether locals were available.

But Mr Howard says he's prepared for a union scare campaign and predicts it will fail.

"I do not believe that the world is going to come to an end, or the sky will fall in next week, as has been predicted by Mr Combet and Mr Beazley," the PM said. "More jobs will be generated in the small business sector as a result of the removal of the absurd job-destroying unfair dismissal laws." Parts of the laws took affect soon after Parliament passed them late last year.

But the bulk of the powers will come into force today, including arrangements to move many state workers into the Federal system.

Under the changes companies with 100 or fewer staff will be exempt from unfair dismissal laws.

(MORE)

5//The Moscow Times, Russia Monday, March 27, 2006. Issue 3379. Page 7.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2006/03/27/044.html

TRANSNEFT'S PIPELINE FACES MORE SCRUTINY
By Stephen Boykewich, Staff Writer

Russia's environmental watchdog has thrown another roadblock in the way of an $11 billion oil pipeline meant to feed energy-hungry Asian markets, rejecting Transneft's planned terminating point for the pipeline, a spokesman for the watchdog said Friday.

The Federal Service for Environmental, Technological and Atomic Inspection has rejected the choice of Perevoznaya Bay as the terminus of the planned Eastern Siberia-Pacific Ocean pipeline due to environmental concerns, a service spokesman said by telephone Friday.

The pipeline, designated a priority project by President Vladimir Putin, is key to Russia's plans to expand energy supplies to Asian markets including China, Japan and South Korea.

Pipeline monopoly Transneft has faced fierce opposition by environmentalists and government environmental agencies over the planned construction route, which runs as close as 800 meters to Lake Baikal, the world's largest freshwater lake.

Confirmation of the refusal comes two weeks after the environmental service controversially overturned its own expert commission's decision to reject the first half of the route, which is the part that skirts Lake Baikal.

The watchdog's expert commission voted against the route in January, but then approved it in a revote earlier this month after watchdog head Konstantin Pulikovsky delayed the final decision and added additional members to the commission.

Transneft vice president Sergei Grigoriyev said he was unperturbed by the rejection of Perevoznaya Bay, adding that it would neither delay construction nor affect the cost.

"It's nothing to worry about. We have 2,300 kilometers of the pipeline's first stage to build before we need to know where it ends," Grigoriyev said by telephone Friday.

"Perevoznaya was one of 10 possibilities we chose from. We're in the process of choosing another fairly close by," he said.

Grigoriyev repeated previous assurances that the planned pipeline would involve "such careful safety measures, it's difficult to imagine."

(SNIP)

A spokesman for Greenpeace Russia, which campaigned along with World Wildlife Fund Russia and other groups against running the pipeline to Perevoznaya, said the environmental watchdog's decision was a victory, but a qualified one.

"The thing that worries us very much -- and not only us -- is that despite the experts' decision about Perevoznaya, they made a far bigger mistake by accepting the first part of the route alongside Baikal," spokesman Yevgeny Usov said by telephone Friday.

Alfa Bank oil and gas analyst Konstantin Batunin agreed that Russia's intention to secure its position as a major world energy supplier far outweighed environmental concerns.

"It's Transneft who decides where the pipeline will go, and any obstacle lying in its way, including expert commissions, will be removed," Batunin said.

Copyright 2006, Gloria R. Lalumia