June 28, 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 28, 2006

1//The Daily Star, Lebanon--ARM OF IRANIAN MILITARY SET TO ENTER ENERGY SECTOR (Iran's powerful ideological army, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), is set to enter the oil and gas sectors in a move that would increase their stake in the Islamic Republic's economy. "The Revolutionary Guards have obtained the contract to develop phases 15 and 16 of South Pars," a huge offshore gas field divided between Iran and Qatar, General Abdolreza Abed said in an interview with the Shargh newspaper. … For many observers, the wave of lucrative deals going to the IRGC is connected to last year's shock presidential election win by hard-liner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad - a veteran of the force - who promised to favor domestic entrepreneurs. In his former job as Tehran's mayor, Ahmadinejad had already awarded municipal contracts to the IRGC, which began to move into business during the reconstruction phase after the 1980-88 war with Iraq. Completed contracts include the construction of a new 120-kilometer highway between Tehran and Saveh to the south, as well as dams. The Pasdaran have also been steadily encroaching into national politics, and during disputed parliament elections in 2004 some 40 R IRGC veterans won seats.)

2//Arab News, Saudi Arabia--ABDULLAH DECLARES AMNESTY TO MILITANTS WHO SURRENDER (Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah yesterday declared an amnesty to militants at large who have joined deviant groups provided they surrendered themselves to the security forces. The king, who had made a similar declaration in June 2004, announced this amnesty during the weekly meeting of the Council of Ministers at Al-Salam Palace in Jeddah yesterday afternoon. The June 2004 royal amnesty, which lasted for one month, resulted in six wanted suspects turning themselves in; one was on the most-wanted list. These men were released five months later. Speaking to Arab News, Shoura Council member Mohsen Al-Obaikan said that the pardon issued last year had been a success because it “turned a number of men back to the right path.” … Badr Al-Mutawa, a Jeddah-based political analyst, said the royal pardon has been a successful tool the Kingdom has used in its fight against terrorism. Sheikh Ahmed Al-Ghamdi, acting director of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice in the Makkah region, said that it gives these deviant men a chance to seek redemption. “It offers a chance for these people to return to God,” he said.)

3//The Daily Times, Pakistan--GOVT MAY BAR MEDIA FROM NA COMMITTEES (Top government officials and members of the military establishment have been so irked by press coverage of National Assembly [NA] standing committees that they have proposed barring journalists from attending them, official sources told Daily Times on Monday. They said that NA speaker Chaudhry Amir Hussain had recently held talks with chairpersons of standing committees open to the media to draw up a strategy to deal with the ‘problem’. The NA speaker, they stressed, had acted on directives from the top political leadership, which believed that instead of attending sessions, the press should simply be given a handout of proceedings. According to sources, government officials had repeatedly warned Hussain as well as committee chairpersons that press reporting of proceedings routinely jeopardised the ‘national interest’.)

4//The Toronto Star, Canada--U.S. BORDER ID PLAN ASSAILED BY EX-AMBASSADORS (Two former ambassadors to Canada are urging U.S. officials to delay the plan for strict new identification documents at the border, saying it's a looming train wreck that won't make anyone safer. James Blanchard and Paul Cellucci, who spoke Tuesday at a conference on Canada-U.S. relations, said there has to be a better way. "This is a potential disaster," said Cellucci, who served in Canada under President George W. Bush before David Wilkins was appointed a year ago. … Blanchard, the U.S. representative under former president Bill Clinton, said American officials simply aren't ready to properly implement the security program requiring passports or another secure document at land crossings by Jan. 1, 2008. "It could be a total train wreck in our relationship," he told the forum at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "A lot of people in Washington don't understand the degree of social integration between our two countries." … The two countries will "have a union in everything but name" in 10 or 15 years, said Cellucci, who thinks tourists shouldn't have to pay duty on goods and supports easy labour mobility between Canada, Mexico and the United States.)

5//The Independent, UK--HUMILIATION FOR BERLUSCONI AS ITALY REJECTS ‘DEVOLUTION’ (The boldest attempt by Silvio Berlusconi's government to transform Italy was in ruins yesterday after Italians voted overwhelmingly to reject his constitutional reform. It was the second humiliation the media tycoon has suffered following his defeat at the general election in April - last month the centre-right was also routed in regional elections - and it put a big question mark over Mr Berlusconi's ability to hold his opposition coalition together. … The devolution proposed by the referendum foresaw control of police, schools and education passing from the centre into regional control. It was meant to be the first step on the road to autonomy and indeed, in the minds of the hardcore members of the Northern League, eventually full independence. … If the reform had been passed, an Italian prime minister would have powers broadly comparable to those of his British counterpart. This could have the merit of making Italian governance more decisive and bold - but many Italians fear that it could pave the way for a leader with despotic inclinations. It was the experience of 20 years of Mussolini's rule that led the drafters of Italy's Constitution to give the prime minister such limited powers.)

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1//The Daily Star, Lebanon Wednesday, June 28, 2006

ARM OF IRANIAN MILITARY SET TO ENTER ENERGY SECTOR
Revolutionary guards have won contract to develop gas field

By Siavosh Ghazi, Agence France Presse (AFP)

TEHRAN: Iran's powerful ideological army, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), is set to enter the oil and gas sectors in a move that would increase their stake in the Islamic Republic's economy. "The Revolutionary Guards have obtained the contract to develop phases 15 and 16 of South Pars," a huge offshore gas field divided between Iran and Qatar, General Abdolreza Abed said in an interview with the Shargh newspaper.

Abed, who heads up the Guards' economic operations, said the contract was worth $2.09 billion.

The deal would be a major boost to the operations of the force, initially created after the 1979 Islamic Revolution to protect the regime from foreign and domestic threats. It comes on the back of a string of advances into Iran's economy: Several weeks ago the Pasdaran - as the IRGC are called is Farsi - was awarded a $1.3 billion contract to construct a 900-kilometer pipeline between South Pars and southeastern Iran. In both South Pars cases, the projects were awarded after the usual tendering process was abandoned.

For the South Pars development deal, the IRGC - under the name of their economic nerve center of Khatam al-Anbia - entered a partnership with the Norwegian firm Aker Kvaerner, although this firm subsequently pulled out. The Oil Ministry then moved to open another tender process, but this was cut short. Last week, press reports said the IRGC had also been awarded a $2 billion contract to develop Tehran's metro system.

For many observers, the wave of lucrative deals going to the IRGC is connected to last year's shock presidential election win by hard-liner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad - a veteran of the force - who promised to favor domestic entrepreneurs. In his former job as Tehran's mayor, Ahmadinejad had already awarded municipal contracts to the IRGC, which began to move into business during the reconstruction phase after the 1980-88 war with Iraq.

Completed contracts include the construction of a new 120-kilometer highway between Tehran and Saveh to the south, as well as dams. The Pasdaran have also been steadily encroaching into national politics, and during disputed parliament elections in 2004 some 40 R IRGC veterans won seats.

Abed told the centrist Shargh newspaper there was nothing wrong with the IRGC - now one of Iran's most powerful institutions - branching out.

"Since when do the Pasdaran have to stick to building roads, dams, small tunnels or short pipelines?" he argued. "If we take on big projects we can put small entrepreneurs to work."

(MORE)

2//Arab News, Saudi Arabia Tuesday, 27, June, 2006 (01, Jumada al-Thani, 1427)

ABDULLAH DECLARES AMNESTY TO MILITANTS WHO SURRENDER
Samir Al-Saadi & Abdul Haleem, Arab News

JEDDAH, 27 June 2006 — Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah yesterday declared an amnesty to militants at large who have joined deviant groups provided they surrendered themselves to the security forces.

The king, who had made a similar declaration in June 2004, announced this amnesty during the weekly meeting of the Council of Ministers at Al-Salam Palace in Jeddah yesterday afternoon.

The June 2004 royal amnesty, which lasted for one month, resulted in six wanted suspects turning themselves in; one was on the most-wanted list. These men were released five months later.

Speaking to Arab News, Shoura Council member Mohsen Al-Obaikan said that the pardon issued last year had been a success because it “turned a number of men back to the right path.”

“These are people who have benefited from the pardon and are presently living normal lives with their families,” he said.

Badr Al-Mutawa, a Jeddah-based political analyst, said the royal pardon has been a successful tool the Kingdom has used in its fight against terrorism.

Sheikh Ahmed Al-Ghamdi, acting director of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice in the Makkah region, said that it gives these deviant men a chance to seek redemption. “It offers a chance for these people to return to God,” he said.

During yesterday’s ministerial meeting Transport Minister Jabara Al-Seraisry, who was standing in for the culture and information minister yesterday, told the Saudi Press Agency that the king briefed the council about regional and international issues and the deepening miseries of the Palestinian people consequent to the hostile activities of the Israeli forces. He said the king also commended Saudi security forces over their performance in the recent bust at a Riyadh villa.

“King Abdullah commended the successful pre-emptive operations of the security forces against the members of the deviant group in Riyadh on Friday and their arrests at various locations in the Kingdom,” said Al-Seraisry.

The king also stressed the vital role every citizen and resident in the country should play in maintaining the security and peace in the country. He appealed for cooperation in security matters without being lax and not giving protection to any person who might engage in subversive acts.

(MORE)

3//The Daily Times, Pakistan Tuesday, June 27, 2006

GOVT MAY BAR MEDIA FROM NA COMMITTEES
Mulls introducing ‘Code of Ethics’ to regulate media reporting

By Shahzad Raza

ISLAMABAD: Top government officials and members of the military establishment have been so irked by press coverage of National Assembly (NA) standing committees that they have proposed barring journalists from attending them, official sources told Daily Times on Monday.

They said that NA speaker Chaudhry Amir Hussain had recently held talks with chairpersons of standing committees open to the media to draw up a strategy to deal with the ‘problem’. The NA speaker, they stressed, had acted on directives from the top political leadership, which believed that instead of attending sessions, the press should simply be given a handout of proceedings.

According to sources, government officials had repeatedly warned Hussain as well as committee chairpersons that press reporting of proceedings routinely jeopardised the ‘national interest’.

Currently, five of the 35 NA standing committees remain open to the media: Public Accounts Committee (PAC), standing committees on local government, population welfare, food and agriculture and interior.

The NA standing committee on water and power had previously been open to the press. Its new chairperson, however, has barred journalists from attending its proceedings.

Under NA rules, committee chairpersons are authorised to allow journalists to sit in on proceedings to ensure the system’s transparency and to hold relevant officials directly accountable to the people.

Sources said that during Hussain’s talks with committee chairpersons, the idea of establishing a ‘Code of Ethics’ had been floated to regulate press coverage of proceedings. Also discussed was the idea of chairpersons declaring sensitive parts of the proceedings ‘off-the-record’. Government officials, however, made it clear that committee chairpersons would bear responsibility for any controversy created through media reports.

Sources said that the NA speaker specifically expressed concern over reporting of PAC proceedings, noting that opposition members often levelled serious allegations against the government, which were subsequently reported by the press.

The government had, until last year, kept secret PAC proceedings.

(MORE

4//The Toronto Star, Canada Jun. 27, 2006. 05:30 PM

U.S. BORDER ID PLAN ASSAILED BY EX-AMBASSADORS
Beth Gorham, Canadian Press

WASHINGTON — Two former ambassadors to Canada are urging U.S. officials to delay the plan for strict new identification documents at the border, saying it's a looming train wreck that won't make anyone safer.

James Blanchard and Paul Cellucci, who spoke Tuesday at a conference on Canada-U.S. relations, said there has to be a better way.

"This is a potential disaster," said Cellucci, who served in Canada under President George W. Bush before David Wilkins was appointed a year ago.

"At the minimum we need to postpone this. I don't think it's going to stop any terrorist attack," said Cellucci, who applauded intelligence-sharing between the two countries leading up to Canada's anti-terror bust early this month.

Blanchard, the U.S. representative under former president Bill Clinton, said American officials simply aren't ready to properly implement the security program requiring passports or another secure document at land crossings by Jan. 1, 2008.

"It could be a total train wreck in our relationship," he told the forum at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"A lot of people in Washington don't understand the degree of social integration between our two countries."

There are already rumblings about delaying the rule requiring passports from air and sea travellers to the United States that's supposed to go into effect next Jan. 1, although American officials insist they're on track.

"I think they've already talked about pushing that one back because they're not ready," said Cellucci, who noted that Bush wasn't crazy about the land crossing plan in some of his early comments on the issue.

Congress passed the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative in 2004 as a way to more closely monitor who's entering the country after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.

So it's going to require a stronger lobbying effort among politicians from border states on Capitol Hill to explain the devastating impacts on tourism and commerce, said Cellucci.

"I don't think those senators and congressmen can stand by and let these consequences take place."

The forum on Canada-U.S. ties was held as Alberta kicked off a week of events to promote its energy resources in the U.S. capital and participate in the Smithsonian Folklife Festival starting Friday.

Cellucci, who didn't endear himself to some Canadians with his pointed criticism at times, said he's a "little disturbed" by accusations from some U.S. politicians that Canada has become a haven for terrorists because of lax immigration laws.

(SNIP)

And he applauded the defence spending boosts under federal Conservatives.

Canada and the United States should continue their incremental economic integration, he said, and avoid a big, rancorous debate over sovereignty.

The two countries will "have a union in everything but name" in 10 or 15 years, said Cellucci, who thinks tourists shouldn't have to pay duty on goods and supports easy labour mobility between Canada, Mexico and the United States.

(MORE)

5//The Independent, UK Published: 27 June 2006

Humiliation for Berlsuconi as Italy rejects 'devolution'
By Peter Popham in Rome

The boldest attempt by Silvio Berlusconi's government to transform Italy was in ruins yesterday after Italians voted overwhelmingly to reject his constitutional reform.

It was the second humiliation the media tycoon has suffered following his defeat at the general election in April - last month the centre-right was also routed in regional elections - and it put a big question mark over Mr Berlusconi's ability to hold his opposition coalition together.

Mr Prodi's job as Prime Minister, conversely, has become easier.

More than 53 per cent of Italians voted in the referendum, with greater numbers in the north than in the south, but "yes" votes prevailed only in the two regions that are the heartland of Umberto Bossi's secessionist Northern League, Lombardia and Veneto, which contains Venice. Even Milan, the centre of Mr Berlusconi's political support since he entered politics 13 years ago, said "no".

At the core of the referendum was the political raison d'être of the Northern League, the most dynamic new force to enter Italian politics since the second world war. It burst upon the scene 16 years ago with the avowed intention of breaking the centre's grip on policy making and implementation. The devolution proposed by the referendum foresaw control of police, schools and education passing from the centre into regional control. It was meant to be the first step on the road to autonomy and indeed, in the minds of the hardcore members of the Northern League, eventually full independence.

The League is back at square one. Its long and difficult partnership with Mr Berlusconi's Forza Italia and Gianfranco Fini's post-Fascist National Alliance having come to nothing. It is questionable how long Mr Berlusconi can continue to count on their support now they see all their efforts and hopes gone to waste.

For the centre-left, on the other hand, the referendum result was the second piece of cheering news following the nail-bitingly close general election. Romano Prodi said after the result became clear: "I never thought of this referendum as a test for our government, unlike the leader of the opposition who claimed that it was." His satisfaction was nonetheless evident.

(SNIP)

If the reform had been passed, an Italian prime minister would have powers broadly comparable to those of his British counterpart. This could have the merit of making Italian governance more decisive and bold - but many Italians fear that it could pave the way for a leader with despotic inclinations. It was the experience of 20 years of Mussolini's rule that led the drafters of Italy's Constitution to give the prime minister such limited powers.

Mr Prodi and his centre-left coalition allies have gone out of their way to insist that they are not against reform, only against this one. The government is likely to try to put together a constitutional conference, so the next attempt at reform will enjoy the support of both sides of parliament. In particular the government is anxious to overturn the law that allows fundamental reforms to be railroaded on to the statute books by a simple majority in parliament.