June 5, 2006

World Media Watch

edited 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 JUNE 5, 2006

1/Inter Press Service News Agency, Italy--GULF STATES RETHINK U.S.-LED SECURITY ALLIANCE (Amid increasing tensions between Tehran and Washington over Iran's nuclear programme, the George W. Bush administration is courting the Persian/Arab Gulf monarchies with the same proposal it offered them 15 years ago after the first Gulf War -- purchase U.S. armoury in the billions and Washington will protect you against your Persian nemesis. But today, the Arab monarchies are less than enthusiastic about putting their security solely in the hands of an increasingly unpopular United States. With China's dependence on Gulf energy increasing and with the inevitable rise of Iran, the Arabs are eyeing other alternatives. … The Arabs believe that the geopolitical significance of the Gulf region will increase substantially over the next decades as the energy demands of China and India skyrocket. The region is expected to supply 32 percent of the world's oil by 2025, compared to 26 percent today. As the Asian economies become increasingly dependent on Gulf oil, China, Japan and India will develop a stake in Gulf security and an interest in protecting their energy supply lines, the reasoning goes. Though reluctant to challenge the U.S., it is difficult to foresee the Asian giants continuing to depend on Washington or elementary regional security mechanisms as a guarantee for regional stability. Consequently, with or without Washington's consent, geopolitical forces are making Gulf security matters unlikely to remain solely a U.S. prerogative. The question is how Washington will react to these developments.)

2/The Independent, UK--REVEALED: ROBOT SPYPLANES TO GUARD EUROPE’S BORDERS (Fleets of unmanned "drone" aircraft fitted with powerful cameras are to be used to patrol Europe's borders in a dramatic move to combat people-smuggling, illegal immigration and terrorism. The Independent on Sunday can today reveal that the tiny planes will fly at more than 2,500 feet over the English Channel and Mediterranean beaches as part of a £1bn programme to equip Europe's police forces, customs officers and border patrols with hi-tech surveillance and anti-terrorism equipment. … Alongside the new "spies in the sky", officials in Brussels have launched more than a dozen research projects to develop new technologies for counter-terrorism, policing and border security. They include body scanners that can see through clothing and detect explosive vests, guns or chemical weapons; portable devices that can "see" through walls and detect people moving inside buildings; and tiny radio tags that would be fitted on people inside buildings under surveillance. … A new report by the London-based civil rights group Statewatch and the Transnational Institute in Amsterdam claims that Brussels and the European defence companies are desperate to catch up with spending in the US, where President Bush has pledged to spend $1bn (£530m) a year on "homeland security". Ben Hayes, the author of the report, said: "Everyone agrees with more money for the police and security services to combat terrorism, but the danger is that EU policy is increasingly skewed towards a particular brand of 'security', based on military, police and corporate interests.")

3/The Moscow Times, Russia--TV PRESENTER AND REGIONAL PRESS SQUARE OFF (Russians are tired of all the facts in reports by non-state media and want a soothing, Soviet approach to the news, Nikolai Svanidze, a presenter on Rossia state television, said Sunday. Independent regional publishers sharply countered that their readers were hungry for alternative viewpoints and all but begged for stories correcting erroneous reports in state-controlled media. Six panelists -- including Svanidze, Izvestia's chief executive and a close associate of murdered Ukrainian journalist Heorhiy Gongadze -- sparred over press freedom at the opening of an annual conference of the World Association of Newspapers. Joining them from the floor were journalists from the regions, Tajikistan and Tanzania. Panelists named hidden advertising and a lack of financial independence as the main threats to press freedom. One panelist noted Gazprom's seemingly unstoppable expansion in media and other sectors and joked that Russia was in danger of one day being renamed Gazpromia. Svanidze ignited the debate by saying that the range of viewpoints in mass media was shrinking because the public "has grown tired of pluralism." "Our guests from the United States and European countries may not understand what I'm talking about, but the classic Soviet viewer is not used to alternatives," he said. "It's tiring to have a choice because you have to think." Russian audiences "don't want either-or, they want to know exactly what's going on and what to do about it," he said.)

4/The Jordan Times, Jordan--US TO REPORT ON TALKS WITH SAUDIS ON RELIGIOUS FREEDOM (The United States said Friday it would announce the outcome of talks with Saudi Arabia on reforms following the expiry of a waiver period for sanctions against the Islamic republic over religious freedom violations. Saudi Arabia, a key US ally, was blacklisted as a "country of particular concern" by the State Department in 2004 for "its systematic violations of the right to freedom of thought, conscience, religion and belief." A year after the designation, which under US law could subject the country to sanctions, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice approved a temporary 180-day "waiver of further action" to allow for talks with the Saudi government. The waiver expired in late March 2006. … Two US Senators, in a letter to Rice, said they were "very concerned" that since the waiver expired more than two months ago, no action had been taken against Saudi Arabia. "We fully expect that any action or agreement reached with the Saudi government will be made public in the interest of the accountability that results from transparency," Democratic Senator Charles Schumer and Republican Susan Collins said in the letter.)

5/The Daily Star, Lebanon--DUBAI FIRM BUYS TIMES SQUARE HOTEL FOR $300 MILLION (A Dubai government-owned firm said Sunday it had bought the Knickerbocker Hotel in New York's Times Square for $300 million, shortly after acquiring New York-based retail chain Loehmann's. Istithmar Hotels, which has investments at home and abroad, said the classic, Beaux Arts-style hotel, converted into an office property in the 1950s, would be converted back into a five-star hotel. … "Located in the heart of Manhattan on the southeast corner of Broadway and 42nd Street, it is today also known as 6 Times Square. Built in the early 1900s, Knickerbocker was one of midtown's premier hotels and one of the tallest buildings on Times Square," the company said in a statement. … Istithmar's purchase of US interests comes on the heels of the recent controversy that surrounded the acquisition of British shipping giant Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company earlier this year by Dubai Ports World (DP World), another government-controlled company. … Dubai Investment Group, part of state Dubai Holding, purchased the Essex House Hotel in Manhattan last September. The hotel is now operated by Dubai Holding's hotel arm, the Jumeirah Group.)

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1/Inter Press Service News Agency, Italy June 1, 2006

GULF STATES RETHINK U.S.-LED SECURITY ALLIANCE
Analysis by Trita Parsi
(Dr. Trita Parsi is the author of "Treacherous Triangle -- The Secret Dealings of Iran, Israel and the United States", Yale University Press, 2007.)

WASHINGTON, Jun 1 (IPS) - Amid increasing tensions between Tehran and Washington over Iran's nuclear programme, the George W. Bush administration is courting the Persian/Arab Gulf monarchies with the same proposal it offered them 15 years ago after the first Gulf War -- purchase U.S. armoury in the billions and Washington will protect you against your Persian nemesis.

But today, the Arab monarchies are less than enthusiastic about putting their security solely in the hands of an increasingly unpopular United States. With China's dependence on Gulf energy increasing and with the inevitable rise of Iran, the Arabs are eyeing other alternatives.

After the 1991 Persian Gulf War, the United States was in a unique position to construct an inclusive security architecture for the region. This would have been in line with Security Council Resolution 598, which put an end to the Iraq-Iran war and explicitly called for the U.N. Security Council to address -- together with regional states -- the question of security in the Gulf.

But the U.S.'s continued presence in the Gulf depended on its military protection of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states against external threats, i.e. Iran and Iraq. A common security arrangement that included Iran could lessen the Arab states' dependence on Washington, give the leadership in Tehran undue influence and undermine the justification for Washington's military presence in the Gulf, the administration of George Bush Sr. feared.

Recognising that Iraq's defeat provided an opportunity for it to mend fences with Washington and reintegrate itself in to the region's political order, Iran aggressively pushed for a common security system that could end the perpetual insecurity that put a dark shadow over the energy-rich region.

But Iran was no match for the U.S. at its unipolar moment. Washington defined the options facing the GCC -- to seek a Middle East order with Iran, or an Arab order with the U.S. By offering the GCC states bilateral security deals, Washington pre-empted an inclusive Gulf security arrangement and managed to keep the mullahs in Tehran isolated.

Rather than increasing security through confidence-building measures and intensified and sustained diplomacy, the Arabs armed themselves to the teeth with Washington's blessing, in order to contain what was referred to as the Iranian threat -- even though the Arabs vastly outspent Iran on arms.

(SNIP)

Under the U.S. security umbrella, the region resembles Europe between the two world wars -- it is fundamentally disordered and riddled with uncertainty, negative competition, and massive instability. Rather than providing security, the absence of an inclusive security arrangement has only increased anticipation of forthcoming insecurity and warfare, while making the Arab states beholden to a security arrangement with an ally that they can't do without, but who they still find increasingly unreliable.

Washington's invasion of Iraq has further fuelled anti-U.S. sentiment in the region and put the Arab regimes' security alliance with the U.S. under intensified domestic criticism. Furthermore, the Arabs' nightmare scenario -- a U.S.-Iran conflict that would spill over to the Arab states -- still looms large. Combined with Washington's criticism of the lack of democracy in the Arab kingdoms, the common interests between the guarantor of Gulf security and the supposed benefactors of this umbrella are no longer as clear cut.

In spite of this, the Bush administration is yet again seeking to convince the Gulf Arabs to purchase U.S. arms to balance the rise of Iran. Robert Joseph, undersecretary of state for arms control and international security, visited Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman last month to sell the idea of spreading across the region a sophisticated missile defence systems aimed at Iran.

As geo-political forces have worked to the disadvantage of the Arabs, previously unattractive solutions have begun to be seen in a new light. Recently, Arab leaders broke with tradition and voiced support for the idea of a collective security architecture for the region -- that includes Iran. In particular, the Arabs are growing increasingly frustrated with Washington's reluctance to talk directly with Iran.

(SNIP)

The Arabs believe that the geopolitical significance of the Gulf region will increase substantially over the next decades as the energy demands of China and India skyrocket. The region is expected to supply 32 percent of the world's oil by 2025, compared to 26 percent today. As the Asian economies become increasingly dependent on Gulf oil, China, Japan and India will develop a stake in Gulf security and an interest in protecting their energy supply lines, the reasoning goes.

Though reluctant to challenge the U.S., it is difficult to foresee the Asian giants continuing to depend on Washington or elementary regional security mechanisms as a guarantee for regional stability.

Consequently, with or without Washington's consent, geopolitical forces are making Gulf security matters unlikely to remain solely a U.S. prerogative. The question is how Washington will react to these developments.

(MORE)

2/The Independent, UK Published: 04 June 2006

REVEALED: ROBOT SPYPLANES TO GUARD EUROPE’S BORDERS
By Severin Carrell

Fleets of unmanned "drone" aircraft fitted with powerful cameras are to be used to patrol Europe's borders in a dramatic move to combat people-smuggling, illegal immigration and terrorism.

The Independent on Sunday can today reveal that the tiny planes will fly at more than 2,500 feet over the English Channel and Mediterranean beaches as part of a £1bn programme to equip Europe's police forces, customs officers and border patrols with hi-tech surveillance and anti-terrorism equipment.

(SNIP)

A senior commission official said: "We're convinced that this is a very good way of using military technologies for non-military purposes."

Alongside the new "spies in the sky", officials in Brussels have launched more than a dozen research projects to develop new technologies for counter-terrorism, policing and border security. They include body scanners that can see through clothing and detect explosive vests, guns or chemical weapons; portable devices that can "see" through walls and detect people moving inside buildings; and tiny radio tags that would be fitted on people inside buildings under surveillance.

However, the research programme, which will start in earnest early next year, has caused alarm among civil liberties groups and MPs. They accuse officials in Brussels of breaking EU law by starting these projects before they had been agreed by MEPs and member states. A new report by the London-based civil rights group Statewatch and the Transnational Institute in Amsterdam claims that Brussels and the European defence companies are desperate to catch up with spending in the US, where President Bush has pledged to spend $1bn (£530m) a year on "homeland security".

Ben Hayes, the author of the report, said: "Everyone agrees with more money for the police and security services to combat terrorism, but the danger is that EU policy is increasingly skewed towards a particular brand of 'security', based on military, police and corporate interests."

A British-built "spy in the sky" is already in service with the US Immigration Department, patrolling the Mexican border where millions of illegal workers cross into the US every year.

3/The Moscow Times, Russia Monday, June 5, 2006. Issue 3425. Page 1.

TV PRESENTER AND REGIONAL PRESS SQUARE OFF
By Stephen Boykewich, Staff Writer

Russians are tired of all the facts in reports by non-state media and want a soothing, Soviet approach to the news, Nikolai Svanidze, a presenter on Rossia state television, said Sunday.

Independent regional publishers sharply countered that their readers were hungry for alternative viewpoints and all but begged for stories correcting erroneous reports in state-controlled media.

Six panelists -- including Svanidze, Izvestia's chief executive and a close associate of murdered Ukrainian journalist Heorhiy Gongadze -- sparred over press freedom at the opening of an annual conference of the World Association of Newspapers. Joining them from the floor were journalists from the regions, Tajikistan and Tanzania.

Panelists named hidden advertising and a lack of financial independence as the main threats to press freedom. One panelist noted Gazprom's seemingly unstoppable expansion in media and other sectors and joked that Russia was in danger of one day being renamed Gazpromia.

Svanidze ignited the debate by saying that the range of viewpoints in mass media was shrinking because the public "has grown tired of pluralism."

"Our guests from the United States and European countries may not understand what I'm talking about, but the classic Soviet viewer is not used to alternatives," he said. "It's tiring to have a choice because you have to think."

Russian audiences "don't want either-or, they want to know exactly what's going on and what to do about it," he said.

Fellow panelist Yury Purgin, CEO of independent regional publisher Altapress, was one of numerous dissenters. "Our readers aren't tired by our offering them different opinions -- they thank us for it," Purgin said.

(SNIP)

Pyotr Godlevsky, director general of the newspaper Izvestia since 2005, said a lack of financial expertise was keeping many media organizations from being commercially independent, making editorial independence hard to maintain.

"Most problems happen on the economic level -- the levers that are used to influence the media are economic ones," Godlevsky said.

U.S. media consultant William Dunkerly concurred, suggesting Izvestia was one of the more prominent casualties.

"I've seen how propaganda masquerading as news is so prominent here," Dunkerly said. "Natural resource monopolies directed by the presidential administration ... have conscripted newspapers to serve their own interests."

The media arm of state natural gas monopoly Gazprom purchased Izvestia last June. Gazprom-Media also controls NTV, one of three national television networks, and is thought to be interested in buying the newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda.

"By 2008," Dunkerly joked, "the country's name may be changed to Gazpromia."

Godlevsky responded that Izvestia had not received "a single kopek" directly from Gazprom.

"The creation of this holding [Gazprom-Media] has been a very important step toward the creation of commercially independent media," Godlevsky said, drawing scornful laughter from some audience members.

Godlevsky bristled at a journalist's query about Izvestia's recent decision to hire United Russia spokesman Ilya Kissilyov as deputy editor.

"It is a usual practice in all the world, in all countries, for various party functionaries" to later take up careers in journalism, he said.

(MORE)

4/The Jordan Times, Jordan Monday, June 5, 2006

US TO REPORT ON TALKS WITH SAUDIS ON RELIGIOUS FREEDOM

WASHINGTON (AFP) — The United States said Friday it would announce the outcome of talks with Saudi Arabia on reforms following the expiry of a waiver period for sanctions against the Islamic republic over religious freedom violations.

Saudi Arabia, a key US ally, was blacklisted as a "country of particular concern" by the State Department in 2004 for "its systematic violations of the right to freedom of thought, conscience, religion and belief."

A year after the designation, which under US law could subject the country to sanctions, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice approved a temporary 180-day "waiver of further action" to allow for talks with the Saudi government.

The waiver expired in late March 2006.

"The State Department has been working intensively with Saudi Arabia since we put in place a waiver of sanctions last September with the goal of securing progress on religious tolerance and increased freedom for religious practice there," a department spokesman told AFP.

"We will be announcing the results shortly," the spokesman said.

Two US Senators, in a letter to Rice, said they were "very concerned" that since the waiver expired more than two months ago, no action had been taken against Saudi Arabia.

"We fully expect that any action or agreement reached with the Saudi government will be made public in the interest of the accountability that results from transparency," Democratic Senator Charles Schumer and Republican Susan Collins said in the letter.

(MORE)

5/The Daily Star, Lebanon Monday, June 05, 2006

DUBAI FIRM BUYS TIMES SQUARE HOTEL FOR $300 MILLION
By Agence France Presse (AFP)

DUBAI: A Dubai government-owned firm said Sunday it had bought the Knickerbocker Hotel in New York's Times Square for $300 million, shortly after acquiring New York-based retail chain Loehmann's. Istithmar Hotels, which has investments at home and abroad, said the classic, Beaux Arts-style hotel, converted into an office property in the 1950s, would be converted back into a five-star hotel.

"Knickerbocker is a premier property in one of the worlds most recognized locations," said Muneef Tarmoom, chief executive officer of parent company Istithmar.

"Located in the heart of Manhattan on the southeast corner of Broadway and 42nd Street, it is today also known as 6 Times Square. Built in the early 1900s, Knickerbocker was one of midtown's premier hotels and one of the tallest buildings on Times Square," the company said in a statement.

Istithmar said on May 20 that it had acquired Loehmann's, a 60-store chain specializing in designer women's and men's apparel at discount prices, for $300 million from Atlanta-based private equity firm Arcapita. Loehmann's, which was founded in 1921, was forced into bankruptcy protection in 1999 after over-expanding and embarked on a restructuring program. The then-publicly listed company was bought by Arcapita in 2004 for $178 million and turned private.

Istithmar's purchase of US interests comes on the heels of the recent controversy that surrounded the acquisition of British shipping giant Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company earlier this year by Dubai Ports World (DP World), another government-controlled company.

(SNIP)

Dubai Investment Group, part of state Dubai Holding, purchased the Essex House Hotel in Manhattan last September. The hotel is now operated by Dubai Holding's hotel arm, the Jumeirah Group.