April 12, 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 APRIL 12, 2006

1//Asia Times Online, Hong Kong--IRANIAN, ARAB ROLES IN PEACE TALKS URGED (Foreign-policy circles in Washington, including some figures considered close to the George W Bush administration, have begun talking privately and in off-the-record meetings about the need to give Iran as well as Iraq's Arab neighbors key roles in peace negotiations, according to Middle East experts. This new support for Iranian-Arab participation in negotiations on Iraq parallels the position reportedly taken privately by US Ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad. Steven Cook, a Middle East specialist and fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, said some foreign-policy specialists "close to the administration" have been saying in private conversations that the US will need to bring Iran and the Arab states into Iraqi peace negotiations. Another Middle East expert at a Washington think-tank, who asked not to be identified, said arguments for involving the Iranians and Arabs in an Iraqi peace process had been heard with much greater frequency and urgency in recent weeks in closed, off-the-record meetings.)

2//RIA Novosti (Russian News & Information Agency), Russia--IRAN’S ECONOMY COULD WITHSTAND U.S. MILITARY STRIKE – EXPERT (Any military strike by the United States against facilities that are part of Iran's controversial nuclear program would damage but not paralyze the Iranian economy, a Russian expert said Tuesday. Radzhab Safarov, the director of the Center of Modern Iranian Studies in Moscow, said that if the U.S. launched strikes against more than 60 nuclear facilities in Iran, than about 12,000-15,000 workers would be killed and the economy would suffer large-scale damage. "However, the Iranian economy would not be paralyzed and it would not result in a political crisis in the country," Safarov said. "On the contrary, Iranians would maximally consolidate around their political leaders, Iran would withdraw from all possible legal structures and start full-scale development of its nuclear program." He said Iran would take counter measures in response, including suspension of oil exports. "Iran's economy has a six months minimum stock [of oil] and western economies could face great difficulties if not a single barrel of Iranian oil sold within this period," Safarov said.)

3//China Daily, China--POVERTY ALLEVIATION TARGETS GENDER INEQUALITY (China will pay more attention to gender mainstreaming and forming gender-sensitive policies in the development of the new countryside, said a senior official from the State Council yesterday. The population of poor women in China's rural areas decreased to 23 million at the end of 2005. In 1994 the figure stood at 35 million, said Wang Guoliang, vice-director of the State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development. "Great progress has been achieved in poverty alleviation for Chinese women in many fields, including improvements in education, employment and social participation, when compared to 10 years ago," said Wang at a high-level workshop, co-organized by the poverty alleviation group, the World Bank and the Asia Development Bank [ADB]. It is the first workshop in recent years organized by China's poverty alleviation system that highlights the relationship between gender dimensions and poverty reduction, he noted. Gender equality, which is a basic national policy, has been written in China's Constitution for more than 50 years, stating that women enjoy equal rights with men in politics, economy, culture, society and family life.)

4//The Independent, UK--BROWN ADMITS THAT HE IS IN DARK OVER WHEN BLAIR WILL STAND DOWN (Gordon Brown says that he does not known when Tony Blair plans to quit as Prime Minister. In comments that will reignite speculation about the handover of power between the two men, the Chancellor confirmed that he had not been told when Mr Blair intended to relinquish power. But speaking at the end of a trip to Mozambique, Mr Brown issued a coded message to "outriders", such as the arch Blairite former cabinet minister Alan Milburn, to stop party infighting, insisting he would focus "all my fire" on the fight against David Cameron's Conservatives in the run up to the May local elections. Mr Brown also hinted that he was planning to remain in power for the long term when he eventually did get the keys to No 10, saying he was planning to tackle challenges facing Britain over the next 10 to 15 years.)

5//Canada.com, Canada--TORIES TABLE CENTREPIECE ETHICS LEGISLATION (Prime Minister Stephen Harper says his government’s long-promised Federal Accountability Act will “change the way business is done in Ottawa forever.” The legislation, introduced Tuesday, bans corporate and union donations, cracks down on lobbyists, protects whistleblowers and gives more power to officers of Parliament, such as the ethics commissioner and auditor general. It "will replace the culture of entitlement that took root under the previous government with a culture of accountability,” Harper said. … However, the Liberals accused the government of painting a picture of the way business is done in the capital that is “totally unrealistic.” “We just heard a press conference by the prime minister suggesting this is some kind of a klepto-state to be clubbed into submission,” said Stephen Owen, the Liberal critic for democratic reform. “They’ve raised the temperature way beyond the situation ...” The Liberals dubbed the bill the “selective” accountability act and noted that it does not restrict the activities of former lobbyists, when they join government, such as Defence Minister Gordon O’Connor, a retired general who worked as a defence lobbyist.) 

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1//Asia Times Online, Hong Kong Apr 12, 2006

IRANIAN, ARAB ROLES IN PEACE TALKS URGED
By Gareth Porter

WASHINGTON - Foreign-policy circles in Washington, including some figures considered close to the George W Bush administration, have begun talking privately and in off-the-record meetings about the need to give Iran as well as Iraq's Arab neighbors key roles in peace negotiations, according to Middle East experts.

This new support for Iranian-Arab participation in negotiations on Iraq parallels the position reportedly taken privately by US Ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad.

Steven Cook, a Middle East specialist and fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, said some foreign-policy specialists "close to the administration" have been saying in private conversations that the US will need to bring Iran and the Arab states into Iraqi peace negotiations.

Another Middle East expert at a Washington think-tank, who asked not to be identified, said arguments for involving the Iranians and Arabs in an Iraqi peace process had been heard with much greater frequency and urgency in recent weeks in closed, off-the-record meetings.

The expert said advocates of that option argued that, given the influence of these neighboring states on the Shi'ite and Sunni political-military forces in Iraq, "You have to have something like a 'contact group' involving regional states to maximize leverage on the Iraqi parties."

(SNIP)

Zbigniew Brzezinski, national security adviser to president Jimmy Carter (1977-81), is the most prominent foreign-policy figure to call publicly for a regional peace process. On the Lehrer News Hour on March 20, Brzezinski suggested getting the Iraqis to convene a "conference of ... Muslim neighbors, who are interested in continued stability in Iraq and in helping to prevent a civil war from exploding".

In a speech at a Democratic Party think-tank, the Center for American Progress, on March 16, Brzezinski said the stabilization of Iraq was in Iran's interest. Brzezinski confirmed in an e-mail that there had also been private discussions about his proposal, but declined to be more specific.

Growing support in foreign-policy circles for active Iranian and Arab roles in peace negotiations has been prompted by the dramatic escalation of sectarian violence in Iraq last month. That was a signal to many that the US policy of pressing militant Shi'ite leaders to be compromising toward the Sunnis was failing to slow Iraq's descent into civil war between Sunni and Shi'ite paramilitary forces.

In the wake of worsening sectarian violence, Khalilzad has also become more anxious about the US failure to include Iranian and Arab participation in Iraqi talks on a settlement. In a March 20 article in Time magazine, Aparisim Ghosh wrote that those who know Khalilzad "say he is aware he may be powerless to stop Iraq's unraveling".

Ghosh quoted a recent visitor to Khalilzad as saying the ambassador had complained that he "needs more help from Washington to apply international pressure on Iraq's warring parties".

The "international pressure" Khalilzad mentioned could only refer to pressure by Iran on Iraq's militant Shi'ite leaders and by neighboring Arab states on the Sunni insurgents.

Khalilzad's apparent belief that the Iranians might be willing to help pressure the Shi'ite parties on a settlement is supported by the observations of former National Security Council official Kenneth Pollock on Iran's policy in Iraq after the US invasion in 2003. Pollack testified before the House Armed Service Committee last year that Iran told the militant Shi'ite parties that had been trained in Iran and strongly opposed the US occupation to cooperate with US authorities in establishing an interim government.

Pollock told the committee that Iran was motivated by the desire to avoid "civil war and chaos", which he called "their greatest fear and first priority".

Opponents of US-Iranian talks, including National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, have tried to block the active involvement of the Iranians in negotiations on a settlement in Iraq. That issue may still be unresolved as Washington and Tehran continue to negotiate proposals on the details of their talks.

Khalilzad's desire for the participation of Iraq's Arab neighbors in such negotiations is also rejected by those who still see Iraq as an experiment in bringing democracy to the Arab world. In an article just published in The New Republic Online, the Council on Foreign Relations' Cook argues that the Arab states have no interest in helping the US succeed in creating an Arab democratic state in Iraq.

Whatever their views about democratic institutions, however, Iraq's Arab neighbors are far more concerned about the potentially destabilizing impacts of Sunni-Shi'ite civil war in Iraq on their own societies, and the likelihood that it would allow al-Qaeda to consolidate its bases in Iraq for training Arab jihadis for later return to their home countries.

(MORE)

2//RIA Novosti (Russian News & Information Agency), Russia 15:19 11/04/2006

IRAN’S ECONOMY COULD WITHSTAND U.S. MILITARY STRIKE - EXPERT

TEHRAN, April 11 (RIA Novosti) - Any military strike by the United States against facilities that are part of Iran's controversial nuclear program would damage but not paralyze the Iranian economy, a Russian expert said Tuesday.

Radzhab Safarov, the director of the Center of Modern Iranian Studies in Moscow, said that if the U.S. launched strikes against more than 60 nuclear facilities in Iran, than about 12,000-15,000 workers would be killed and the economy would suffer large-scale damage.

"However, the Iranian economy would not be paralyzed and it would not result in a political crisis in the country," Safarov said. "On the contrary, Iranians would maximally consolidate around their political leaders, Iran would withdraw from all possible legal structures and start full-scale development of its nuclear program."

He said Iran would take counter measures in response, including suspension of oil exports.
"Iran's economy has a six months minimum stock [of oil] and western economies could face great difficulties if not a single barrel of Iranian oil sold within this period," Safarov said.

He said there were only two ways for Iran to take revenge on the United States - to initiate a global economic crisis or to inflict damage on Israel, America's main ally in the region.

Safarov said a serious global confrontation around Iran's nuclear program was highly possible and "there were no indications that the crisis would be settled easily."

"The only way to settle the crisis situation is to conclude an agreement with Iran, but this would be difficult as the gap in political controversies is too wide," he said.

(MORE)

3//China Daily, China Updated: 2006-04-12 05:57

POVERTY ALLEVIATION TARGETS GENDER INEQUALITY
By Jiang Zhuqing (China Daily)

China will pay more attention to gender mainstreaming and forming gender-sensitive policies in the development of the new countryside, said a senior official from the State Council yesterday.

The population of poor women in China's rural areas decreased to 23 million at the end of 2005. In 1994 the figure stood at 35 million, said Wang Guoliang, vice-director of the State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development.

"Great progress has been achieved in poverty alleviation for Chinese women in many fields, including improvements in education, employment and social participation, when compared to 10 years ago," said Wang at a high-level workshop, co-organized by the poverty alleviation group, the World Bank and the Asia Development Bank (ADB).

It is the first workshop in recent years organized by China's poverty alleviation system that highlights the relationship between gender dimensions and poverty reduction, he noted.

Gender equality, which is a basic national policy, has been written in China's Constitution for more than 50 years, stating that women enjoy equal rights with men in politics, economy, culture, society and family life.

The Chinese Government is implementing an ambitious programme to help reduce poverty in 592 poor counties, which involves the lives of 100 million people (half of whom are women), officials said.

However, gender inequality is still very common in many poor rural areas in China, said Bettina Gransow, a professor from the Free University in Berlin, in a keynote speech.

(SNIP)

The absence of gender in poverty statistics makes it difficult for the government to give their anti-poverty strategy a gender dimension, said the professor.

Men are dominant in migration out of the countryside, as a result there is an increasing feminization of agriculture in rural areas; and women are also playing predominant roles in the household, echoed Yiching Song, a gender expert from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, who headed a field investigation in early 2004.

In forming gender-sensitive policies, China will assess the impact of poverty alleviation strategies and activities using the experiences of advanced foreign nations, said Wang.

4//The Independent, UK Published: 12 April 2006

BROWN ADMITS THAT HE IS IN DARK OVER WHEN BLAIR WILL STAND DOWN
By Ben Russell, Political Correspondent

Gordon Brown says that he does not known when Tony Blair plans to quit as Prime Minister.

In comments that will reignite speculation about the handover of power between the two men, the Chancellor confirmed that he had not been told when Mr Blair intended to relinquish power.

But speaking at the end of a trip to Mozambique, Mr Brown issued a coded message to "outriders", such as the arch Blairite former cabinet minister Alan Milburn, to stop party infighting, insisting he would focus "all my fire" on the fight against David Cam-eron's Conservatives in the run up to the May local elections.

Mr Brown also hinted that he was planning to remain in power for the long term when he eventually did get the keys to No 10, saying he was planning to tackle challenges facing Britain over the next 10 to 15 years.

Mr Blair is understood to have decided a timetable for stepping down, after he pledged not to fight the next general election, but has refused to announce a departure date.

Asked whether he knew the date in Mr Blair's mind, Mr Brown replied: "That is not for me either to speculate about or to think I know something about dates. It's for him, when he decides, to make his announcement."

He said: "What I know is what I've told you, that Tony Blair has said he is not standing at the next election as leader of the Labour Party. He has said to the Parliamentary Labour Party that he wants to play his part in organising a stable and orderly transition. The rest is up to other people."

Mr Brown's comments come after a week of speculation about relations between him and Mr Blair. The pair did not take questions at Labour's local election campaign launch amid reports of friction, while the party's former deputy leader Lord Hattersley said at the weekend that feuds between rival camps loyal to the two men were "ruining the party".

Mr Milburn launched an attack on Mr Brown's tax plans in the Budget debate and refused at the weekend to rule himself out of standing for the Labour leadership when Mr Blair stood down. Mr Brown refused directly to criticise Mr Milburn, saying he had praised the Budget.

However, he emphasised that he would devote all his energies to demonstrating that the Conservatives had failed to meet the big challenges facing Britain despite Mr Cameron's leadership.

Mr Brown outlined a series of major long-term policy initiatives he would be launching in the coming weeks. He will host talks at Downing Street in 10 days on the economic, social and political consequences of global economic change before travelling to America to make a speech on future reform of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

He is also planning a speech on the environment and climate change, one of a series of long-term policy pronouncements which go far beyond his Treasury brief and that have fuelled speculation that the handover of power has already begun.
Gordon Brown says that he does not known when Tony Blair plans to quit as Prime Minister.

In comments that will reignite speculation about the handover of power between the two men, the Chancellor confirmed that he had not been told when Mr Blair intended to relinquish power.

But speaking at the end of a trip to Mozambique, Mr Brown issued a coded message to "outriders", such as the arch Blairite former cabinet minister Alan Milburn, to stop party infighting, insisting he would focus "all my fire" on the fight against David Cameron's Conservatives in the run up to the May local elections.

Mr Brown also hinted that he was planning to remain in power for the long term when he eventually did get the keys to No 10, saying he was planning to tackle challenges facing Britain over the next 10 to 15 years.

Mr Blair is understood to have decided a timetable for stepping down, after he pledged not to fight the next general election, but has refused to announce a departure date.

Asked whether he knew the date in Mr Blair's mind, Mr Brown replied: "That is not for me either to speculate about or to think I know something about dates. It's for him, when he decides, to make his announcement."

He said: "What I know is what I've told you, that Tony Blair has said he is not standing at the next election as leader of the Labour Party. He has said to the Parliamentary Labour Party that he wants to play his part in organising a stable and orderly transition. The rest is up to other people."

Mr Brown's comments come after a week of speculation about relations between him and Mr Blair. The pair did not take questions at Labour's local election campaign launch amid reports of friction, while the party's former deputy leader Lord Hattersley said at the weekend that feuds between rival camps loyal to the two men were "ruining the party".

(MORE)

5//Canada.com, Canada Tuesday, April 11, 2006

TORIES TABLE CENTREPIECE ETHICS LEGISLATION
CanWest News Service

OTTAWA - Prime Minister Stephen Harper says his government’s long-promised Federal Accountability Act will “change the way business is done in Ottawa forever.”

The legislation, introduced Tuesday, bans corporate and union donations, cracks down on lobbyists, protects whistleblowers and gives more power to officers of Parliament, such as the ethics commissioner and auditor general.

It "will replace the culture of entitlement that took root under the previous government with a culture of accountability,” Harper said.

The changes proposed in the legislation are wide-ranging. The actual bill takes up more than 200 pages and contains 317 sections. Treasury Board President John Baird said in the leadup to the bill tabled in Parliament that the new government condensed six months of work into six weeks. Even government officials explaining the legislation to reporters on Tuesday admitted that it was a “difficult” bill and “not easy to read.”

Harper first laid out the framework  in November 2005. On the campaign trail, the Conservative leader referred to the act on a daily basis.

When his party came to power, Harper made the bill his top priority.

However, the Liberals accused the government of painting a picture of the way business is done in the capital that is “totally unrealistic.”

“We just heard a press conference by the prime minister suggesting this is some kind of a klepto-state to be clubbed into submission,” said Stephen Owen, the Liberal critic for democratic reform. “They’ve raised the temperature way beyond the situation ... ”

The Liberals dubbed the bill the “selective” accountability act and noted that it does not restrict the activities of former lobbyists, when they join government, such as Defence Minister Gordon O’Connor, a retired general who worked as a defence lobbyist. 

NDP Leader Jack Layton focused on what the legislation did not include, such as measures dealing with democratic reform and floor-crossing, in his criticisms.

“You can’t always look at a product and judge on its label,” he said of the bill.

The Tory bill creates nine new or reconstituted authorities to keep tabs on elected officials and bureaucrats and to enforce federal laws.