May 1, 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 MAY 1, 2006

1//Asia Times Online, Hong Kong--COOL IN ANKARA: A PARTNERSHIP UNDER STRAIN (… The growing perception in Turkish opinion is that the United States' Kurdish allies in northern Iraq are actively helping the PKK guerrillas, and that the US itself is "the master of all puppets in Iraq" - as the Turkish Daily News sardonically commented on Rice's visit. According to media reports, after the Turkish troop movements, PKK leaders in northern Iraq have been spirited away to "safe areas in Baghdad" - presumably, so that they will be beyond the long arm of the Turkish military. For its part the US seems to be sending an unambiguous message to Ankara - friendship is a two-way street. If "strategic partnership" were to make allowance for differences of opinion regarding the Iran nuclear issue or Hamas and Syria, can it be any different apropos the fight against terrorism? But the issue is not a limited question of Turkey's "hot pursuit" of Kurdish guerrillas. There is a fundamental clash of interests between the US and Turkey over the future of Iraq. There is no country that has such a high stake in the preservation of Iraq's territorial integrity as Turkey. But in fact Iraq is disintegrating - and Turkey sees that happening day by day.)

2//The Daily Star, Lebanon--BAGHDAD ACCUSES TEHRAN OF SHELLING PKK REBELS INSIDE IRAQ (Baghdad accused Iranian forces Sunday of entering Iraqi territory and shelling Turkish-Kurdish PKK guerrilla positions, with the Kurds accusing Tehran of working with Ankara to attack their movement. … The shelling was the second military attack on the Kurdish guerrillas by Iranian forces in 10 days. The previous attack on April 20 left two guerrillas dead and another 10 wounded. The Kurdish rebel group, Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), who have established themselves in Iraq's northern Kurdish-controlled area on the border with Iran and Turkey, have warned Iran not to interfere in their fight against Ankara's rule in southeast Turkey. The leader of a group of PKK rebels, Rustom Judi, told AFP in an interview that Iranian forces have "no reason" to fight the PKK because "fighting has been between our men and soldiers inside Turkey, far from the Iranian border." But Iran is bound by treaty with Turkey to fight the outlawed PKK, which has waged a 15-year insurgency against Ankara for self rule in Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast. In return, Turkey has pledged to fight the Iranian armed opposition group, the Iraq-based People's Mujahideen.)

3//The Daily Times, Pakistan--PAKISTAN AND IRAN AGREE TO BUILD PIPELINE WITHOUT INDIA (Pakistan and Iran have agreed to build a bilateral gas pipeline if India does not join the project to bring cheap Iranian gas to South Asia, officials said on Sunday at the conclusion of three days of technical talks. … Iran’s Deputy Oil Minister Mohammad Hadi Nejad Hosseinian, who headed an eight-member Iranian team at the talks, said he did not expect United Nations sanctions due to its nuclear programme to affect the gas pipeline to Pakistan and India or the country’s oil and gas sector. “Oil prices are very high. Sanctions against Iran extending to its energy sector will push oil prices further up in the international market. The world cannot afford such a hike in oil prices,” Hosseinian said at the press conference after the two sides signed a joint statement at the conclusion of the seventh meeting of the Pakistan-Iran Joint Working Group. Wagar also played down the threat of sanctions against Iran. “Pakistan is viewing this project keeping in view its national interests. We need energy to sustain economic growth,” he added.)

4//The Toronto Star, Canada--TAX CUTS TO DOMINATE FIRST TORY BUDGET (Personal and business taxes, as well as spending programs, will all be cut in Tuesday's federal budget as the minority Conservatives move quickly to put their own stamp on Canada's finances. Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government will take the opportunity to begin making some dramatic changes to the way Ottawa works. … Spending on military and police will also be highlighted in the budget, while some environmental programs will be on the chopping block, reflecting a shift in priorities. But whether the minority Tory government can win necessary support from opposition parties remains a serious question. Interim Liberal leader Bill Graham — whose party won't chose a new permanent leader until December — wouldn't say Sunday how the Grits will ultimately vote on the Tory fiscal blueprint. Without adequate support in the Commons, the budget — and Harper's government — would fall, triggering another election only a dozen weeks after the last vote. Graham did denounce the Tory plan to create a new family allowance scheme by paying parents of pre-schoolers $1,200 for each child aged under six. … "This is the most inequitable, unjust way of distributing money to people to achieve something ... they are following the American model of supporting the rich end, taking from poorer Canadians to enable richer people to become richer," Graham told CTV.)

5//The Independent, UK--BERLUSCONI BOWS OUT BUT PRODI’S PROBLEMS GO ON (… With the election of veteran union leader Franco Marini as president (speaker) of the Senate, and unreconstructed communist Fausto Bertinotti as his counterpart in the Chamber of Deputies, Prodi has now cleared the most important hurdles in the way of forming a government. But the election of Mr Marini, in particular, did not augur well for the durability of his administration. Thanks to the new electoral system brought in at the last minute by Berlusconi's government, the centre-left obtained the thinnest possible majority in the Senate. … Mr Berlusconi and his coalition will not give them relief. "Berlusconi will pursue them mercilessly, not only in parliament but also in the country," promised Gianfranco Rotondi, a Berlusconi ally, yesterday.)

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1//Asia Times Online, Hong Kong Apr 29, 2006

COOL IN ANKARA: A PARTNERSHIP UNDER STRAIN
By M K Bhadrakumar

Conventional wisdom holds that any serious US diplomacy with any of Iran's neighbors at this time would have something to do with the US-Iran standoff. So the red-carpet welcome extended to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliev by the White House this week underscored the extent to which Washington is prepared to go to woo Iran's neighbors.

Until very recently, Aliev figured prominently on the US "watch list" of dictators dotting the post-Soviet landscape. Indeed, hardly four months ago, Baku was paranoid that Washington was plotting another "color revolution", this time in Azerbaijan.

But now it is time to kiss and make up, which Washington did without any hesitation. Azerbaijan happens to be very valuable real estate for any US operations directed against Iran. Iranian national-security chief Ali Larijani alleged in an interview with the Arab media earlier in the week that US intelligence operatives have already begun working out of Azerbaijan.

The warmth extended to Azerbaijan contrasted sharply with the coolness in Washington's relations with another important regional player. The Iran nuclear issue indeed figured in the talks during US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's visit to Turkey on Tuesday. But the two erstwhile Cold War allies agreed to disagree. As soon as Rice wound up her visit, Ankara accepted a pending proposal from Tehran for consultations with Larijani.

Iran's chief negotiator on the nuclear issue, Ali Larijani is expected to visit Ankara next Wednesday. (This is in addition to the likely meeting between Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad on the sidelines of the Economic Cooperation Organization summit meeting scheduled to take place in Baku next week. Ankara also hosted Palestine Authority President Mahmoud Abbas for a two-day visit just before Rice arrived.)

(SNIP)

On Iran, Birand pointed out, there is broad agreement between Turkey and the US that Iran should not become a nuclear-weapons state. But having said that, he added, "The difference of opinion is how Iran can be stopped. Are aggressive methods like embargoes, isolation and military intervention the way to go, or is diplomatic persuasion preferable?

"Ankara wants diplomacy, while the US prefers more aggressive approaches ... Turkey is worried about the US policies in the region that are based on trying to isolate countries. Efforts to isolate Syria, Hamas and Iran are causing consternation in Ankara. The basis reason this is so is the fact that such policies will shut down all of Turkey's links to Central Asia."

Conceivably, for Rice's Turkish counterpart, Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, the priority in their talks in Ankara on Tuesday was not the Iran nuclear issue. The top agenda item in Turkish-American relations, as one views it from Ankara, happens to be Iraq. Specifically, this concerns the serious escalation in Kurdish violence in Turkey's southeastern provinces in recent weeks.

The German newspaper Der Spiegel gave a colorful twist to the situation by writing last week that "the government in Ankara is worried about a Kurdish intifada". But the realities on the ground are grave enough for Ankara to be seriously concerned. Fifteen soldiers, four police officers and more than 40 Kurdish militants have reportedly been killed in the recent outbreak of violence. There were eight incidents of terrorist bombings that left two people dead and 47 injured.

Turkish media reports in recent days pointed toward substantial reinforcements of the security forces in the border region with northern Iraq. Some reports put the figure of Turkish troop deployment at 250,000. The Turkish Daily News quoted military officials as putting the figure at about 120,000 troops. Naturally, considerable speculation followed whether Turkish forces might resort to "hot pursuit" of Kurdish guerrillas into their sanctuaries in northern Iraq. Turkey's chief of general staff, General Hilmi Ozkok, insisted that Turkey's national-security concerns could not be compromised in any way.

(SNIP)

The growing perception in Turkish opinion is that the United States' Kurdish allies in northern Iraq are actively helping the PKK guerrillas, and that the US itself is "the master of all puppets in Iraq" - as the Turkish Daily News sardonically commented on Rice's visit. According to media reports, after the Turkish troop movements, PKK leaders in northern Iraq have been spirited away to "safe areas in Baghdad" - presumably, so that they will be beyond the long arm of the Turkish military.

For its part the US seems to be sending an unambiguous message to Ankara - friendship is a two-way street. If "strategic partnership" were to make allowance for differences of opinion regarding the Iran nuclear issue or Hamas and Syria, can it be any different apropos the fight against terrorism?

But the issue is not a limited question of Turkey's "hot pursuit" of Kurdish guerrillas. There is a fundamental clash of interests between the US and Turkey over the future of Iraq. There is no country that has such a high stake in the preservation of Iraq's territorial integrity as Turkey. But in fact Iraq is disintegrating - and Turkey sees that happening day by day.

(SNIP)

Certainly, during Ali Larijani's visit to Ankara next Wednesday, Turkey would want to harmonize its concerns over the Iraqi situation with Iran. Turkey would ascertain whether on the broader plane of the loosening of Iraq as a federal state Iran would see a positive process in its implications for "Shi'astan" - the Shi'ite-majority southern provinces. But, equally so, Iran would seek Turkey's continued understanding on its standoff with the United States.

2//The Daily Star, Lebanon Monday, May 01, 2006

BAGHDAD ACCUSES TEHRAN OF SHELLING PKK REBELS INSIDE IRAQ
By Simon ostrovsky, Agence France Presse (AFP)

BAGHDAD: Baghdad accused Iranian forces Sunday of entering Iraqi territory and shelling Turkish-Kurdish PKK guerrilla positions, with the Kurds accusing Tehran of working with Ankara to attack their movement.

"Iranian forces hit a border area called Haj Umran and then entered 5 kilometers into Iraqi territory and hit the area of Lollan with heavy artillery with 180 shells targeting PKK positions," an Iraqi Defense Ministry statement said.

The shelling was the second military attack on the Kurdish guerrillas by Iranian forces in 10 days. The previous attack on April 20 left two guerrillas dead and another 10 wounded.

The Kurdish rebel group, Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), who have established themselves in Iraq's northern Kurdish-controlled area on the border with Iran and Turkey, have warned Iran not to interfere in their fight against Ankara's rule in southeast Turkey.

The leader of a group of PKK rebels, Rustom Judi, told AFP in an interview that Iranian forces have "no reason" to fight the PKK because "fighting has been between our men and soldiers inside Turkey, far from the Iranian border."

But Iran is bound by treaty with Turkey to fight the outlawed PKK, which has waged a 15-year insurgency against Ankara for self rule in Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast.

In return, Turkey has pledged to fight the Iranian armed opposition group, the Iraq-based People's Mujahideen.

Turkey says some 5,000 armed PKK militants have found refuge in northern Iraq since 1999, when the group declared a unilateral cease-fire after the capture of its leader Abdullah Ocalan.

The truce was called off in June 2004.

"I warn Iran that their aggression against our party's positions in Iraq will have consequences," Judi said.

The details of casualties from Sunday's attack were not yet known.

Kurds make up the majority in three adjacent areas within Iraq, Iran and Turkey.

Tehran and Ankara have accused a number of separatist rebel groups of exploiting Kurdish-controlled areas in Iraq to launch attacks inside their countries.

For around a year, Iran has been battling border infiltrations by a Kurdish group called Pejak, which Tehran says is linked to the PKK.

Reports claim at least 120 Iranian police were killed and scores wounded in Kurdish rebel attacks last year, many of them blamed on Pejak.

Meanwhile, Turkey has massed troops along the border to intensify operations against PKK rebels who are sneaking into Turkey in growing numbers with the arrival of spring when snow melts and makes passage through the mountains easier.

(MORE)

3//The Daily Times, Pakistan Monday, May 01, 2006

PAKISTAN AND IRAN AGREE TO BUILD PIPELINE WITHOUT INDIA
By Fida Hussain

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and Iran have agreed to build a bilateral gas pipeline if India does not join the project to bring cheap Iranian gas to South Asia, officials said on Sunday at the conclusion of three days of technical talks.

Petroleum Secretary Ahmad Waqar, who headed the Pakistani side at the talks, told a press conference here that Pakistan and Iran had reached an agreement on basic principles of a gas pricing formula and decided to work on a bilateral Iran-Pakistan pipeline regardless of India’s involvement in the project.

Iran’s Deputy Oil Minister Mohammad Hadi Nejad Hosseinian, who headed an eight-member Iranian team at the talks, said he did not expect United Nations sanctions due to its nuclear programme to affect the gas pipeline to Pakistan and India or the country’s oil and gas sector.

“Oil prices are very high. Sanctions against Iran extending to its energy sector will push oil prices further up in the international market. The world cannot afford such a hike in oil prices,” Hosseinian said at the press conference after the two sides signed a joint statement at the conclusion of the seventh meeting of the Pakistan-Iran Joint Working Group.

Waqar also played down the threat of sanctions against Iran. “Pakistan is viewing this project keeping in view its national interests. We need energy to sustain economic growth,” he added.

(SNIP)

The next JWG meeting will be held in Islamabad on May 25, while petroleum ministers from both countries will meet in Tehran in June. Waqar said that the construction cost for Pakistan is likely to be $2-2.5 billion. He said that the president and prime minister envisioned Pakistan becoming an energy corridor for China.

He said it was also possible to lay two parallel pipelines to meet India and Pakistan’s energy requirements “Things still have to be sorted out at bilateral level,” he said. Hosseinian said that Iran had reserved enough gas for the IPI pipeline to meet both Pakistan and India’s energy needs. If there were a gas shortage, Iran could reserve gas in other fields, he added.

4//The Toronto Star, Canada Apr. 30, 2006. 07:49 PM

TAX CUTS TO DOMINATE FIRST TORY BUDGET
Sanddra Cordon, Canadian Press

OTTAWA — Personal and business taxes, as well as spending programs, will all be cut in Tuesday's federal budget as the minority Conservatives move quickly to put their own stamp on Canada's finances.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government will take the opportunity to begin making some dramatic changes to the way Ottawa works.

Top of the agenda? Tax reductions — primarily Harper's controversial plan to cut the GST by one percentage point, at an annual cost of the treasury of about $5 billion.

It's widely expected that some new income tax cuts will also be contained in the Tories' maiden budget. The aim of that exercise is to replace previous Liberal income tax reductions that Harper has vowed to eliminate — but at the same time to let the Conservatives avoid accusations that they're raising income taxes to pay for their GST cuts.

Watch for a one percentage point cut in the middle income tax rates of 22 per cent and 26 per cent, predicts Conservative MP Garth Turner.

"I think it's going to be one of the most significant and good news budgets people have seen in a long time, particularly for middle-class taxpayers," Turner said Sunday on CTV's Question Period.

Spending on military and police will also be highlighted in the budget, while some environmental programs will be on the chopping block, reflecting a shift in priorities.

But whether the minority Tory government can win necessary support from opposition parties remains a serious question.

Interim Liberal leader Bill Graham — whose party won't chose a new permanent leader until December — wouldn't say Sunday how the Grits will ultimately vote on the Tory fiscal blueprint.

Without adequate support in the Commons, the budget — and Harper's government — would fall, triggering another election only a dozen weeks after the last vote.

Graham did denounce the Tory plan to create a new family allowance scheme by paying parents of pre-schoolers $1,200 for each child aged under six.

The payments would replace the former Liberal child-care plan that relied on transfers payments to the provinces to create day-care spaces. Graham says the Tory approach would favour wealthier, stay-at-home parents at the expense of those who work outside the home.

"This is the most inequitable, unjust way of distributing money to people to achieve something ... they are following the American model of supporting the rich end, taking from poorer Canadians to enable richer people to become richer," Graham told CTV.

(MORE)

5//The Independent, UK Published: 01 May 2006

BERLUSCONI BOWS OUT BUT PRODI’S PROBLEMS GO ON
By Peter Popham in Rome

Silvio Berlusconi has finally agreed to hand in his resignation, allowing a new Italian government to take over. He announced at the weekend that he will call on President Ciampi tomorrow.

Mr Berlusconi had little choice but to resign after new speakers were elected for Italy's two houses of parliament on Saturday.

But it is still unclear when Romano Prodi, the victorious leader of the centre-left coalition in the general election held three weeks ago, will be able to take over. Yesterday he told reporters outside his headquarters in central Rome, "Between today and tomorrow I will see all party leaders.

"We are pushing ahead with the government line-up so that we can be ready when the president sees fit to give me the mandate."

Mr Prodi's problem is no longer Berlusconi's intransigence but the uncertainty clouding the institution of the president. Mr Ciampi, 85, reaches the end of his seven-year term on 18 May. He has said numerous times that he does not want a second term, and if he sticks to that decision a new head of state must be elected by 13 May by the two houses of parliament sitting together. Already the opposing coalitions are canvassing fiercely for their preferred candidates.

It is still possible that Mr Ciampi may bow to pressure and swear Mr Prodi in as prime minister during the next few days, as is clearly Prodi's desire. But Ciampi said immediately after the election that he would leave that task to his successor, and it is not yet clear whether he will change his mind. If he refuses to budge, Italy will remain in a political vacuum until after the middle of May.

With the election of veteran union leader Franco Marini as president (speaker) of the Senate, and unreconstructed communist Fausto Bertinotti as his counterpart in the Chamber of Deputies, Prodi has now cleared the most important hurdles in the way of forming a government.

But the election of Mr Marini, in particular, did not augur well for the durability of his administration.

Thanks to the new electoral system brought in at the last minute by Berlusconi's government, the centre-left obtained the thinnest possible majority in the Senate.

(SNIP)

Mr Marini was finally elected on Saturday, when a simple majority was sufficient, but Friday's bizarre proceedings left commentators doubting whether Mr Prodi would be able to enforce coalition discipline in the Senate sufficiently to get legislation passed and win votes of confidence.

Mr Berlusconi and his coalition will not give them relief. "Berlusconi will pursue them mercilessly, not only in parliament but also in the country," promised Gianfranco Rotondi, a Berlusconi ally, yesterday.