World Media Watch for June 5, 2002

BUZZFLASH NOTE: Once again, these are the views and perspectives of the individual papers, not of BuzzFlash or Gloria. They offer BuzzFlash readers a way of reading what other nations are saying about the crisis, whether we like it or not. We repeat: This is not an endorsement of their viewpoints.

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//Asia Times Online, Thailand--US HAWKS EMBRACE 'HOT PRE-EMPTION' (For geo-strategists here, the hot new phrase in the US war on terrorism is "hot pre-emption". Coined in a speech by former secretary of state George Shultz last week, the phrase has already been featured prominently by several influential columnists, including two who strongly favor pre-emptive US military action against Iraq, as a further refinement of the so-called "Bush Doctrine"... Columnists William Safire of the New York Times and Jim Hoagland of the Washington Post already have seized on Shultz's analysis as justifications both for the US military action against Afghanistan and Israel's recent raids against targets in the West Bank and Gaza. Both also noted that the logic of Shultz's formula would also apply to an Indian intervention in Pakistan, which has sponsored and sheltered groups that have committed terrorist actions in Kashmir.)

2//The Telegraph, UK--LE PEN 'TO SUE' OVER TORTURE ALLEGATION (Jean-Marie Le Pen, the leader of France's extreme Right National Front, issued a "total and formal denial" against accusations that he tortured Algerians while serving with the French army in Algeria in 1957... As he did before the presidential election, M Le Pen is promising to surprise the establishment parties on the Left and Right in the two rounds of voting which take place on June 9 and 16. His most optimistic prediction is that the National Front will win 20 seats, which will give it the balance of power in the next parliament and put M Chirac just where M Le Pen wants him: over a barrel.)

3//The Jakarta Post, Indonesia--RI, BRAZIL, S. AFRICA TO SPEED UP BALI TALKS (The draft plan, once agreed upon, will be called the Bali Commitment, and will serve as a blue print for sustainable economic development over the next decade... Several delegates and non governmental organizations have blamed the slow progress on the U.S. delegation's tough stance and its dominating presence throughout all meetings..."It takes two to tango ... We will lead the dance but don't step on our foot," said one American delegate who refused to give his name.)

4//The Japan Times, Japan--JAPAN OFFICIALLY RATIFIES KYOTO CLIMATE PROTOCOL (The Cabinet approved the ratification in the morning. Environment Minister Hiroshi Ohki ...said he was drafting letters to 15 nations to notify those who have already approved the pact of Japan's ratification, and asking those dragging their feet -- including Russia and Canada -- to endorse it as soon as possible. The letter to the United States, however, will request that the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gases return to the climate accord...The accord will go into effect 90 days after it is signed by at least 55 nations that together spewed 55 percent or more of 1990's carbon dioxide emissions...A combination of Russia plus Poland or Canada would put the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change into force.)

5//The Philippine Daily Inquirer, Philippines--US THINK-TANK WARNS OF MORE TURBULENCE FOR MACAPAGAL ("Political scandals and the US intervention in Philippine security matters are adding to the turbulence in Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's presidency," Stratfor said in an in-depth report titled "Philippines: Bumpy Ride Ahead for Arroyo" released on its website last Friday. On Monday, Stratfor said on its website: "It appears US troops will be staying longer in the Philippines than originally planned. The move is another step in the US strategy to use the Philippines as a base in case it needs to launch aggressive anti-terrorism efforts in Southeast Asia."... Aside from Estrada's downfall, Stratfor was also the first to predict an economic collapse in Asia, Vladimir Putin's rise to power in Russia. the Kosovo conflict, the escalation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and the fall of the governments of Alberto Fujimori and Abdurrahman Wahid.)

6//Arab News, Saudi Arabia--TECHNICAL HITCH DELAYS IRAQ BORDER REOPENING (A technical problem between Baghdad and the United Nations has delayed the reopening of the main Saudi-Iraqi border crossing at Arar, closed since Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait, a Saudi customs official said yesterday...A Saudi exporter, meanwhile, said the world body wanted a UN official posted at the Iraqi side of the border to supervise the imports under the oil-for-food program, a request Iraq has so far rejected. Iraq wants the UN official to be posted on the Saudi side of the border as is the case with its frontiers with other countries.)

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1//Asia Times Online June 5, 2002
http://www.atimes.com/front/DF05Aa01.html

US HAWKS EMBRACE 'HOT PRE-EMPTION'
By Jim Lobe (Inter Press Service)

WASHINGTON - For geo-strategists here, the hot new phrase in the US war on terrorism is "hot pre-emption". Coined in a speech by former secretary of state George Shultz last week, the phrase has already been featured prominently by several influential columnists, including two who strongly favor pre-emptive US military action against Iraq, as a further refinement of the so-called "Bush Doctrine".

While President George W Bush has not yet used the precise phrase, he devoted most of his speech on Saturday to the graduating class of the US Military Academy at West Point, New York, to the idea that Washington will no longer rely on deterrence against terrorists but will strike them first, even if they are found, as in Afghanistan, across international borders.

(SNIP)

His speech, the most hawkish since his notorious "axis of evil" State of the Union address in late January, must have given Shultz, who served as then president Ronald Reagan's top diplomat, immense satisfaction, given his own battles with former defense secretary Caspar Weinberger over how to respond to terrorist attacks in the 1980s.

(SNIP)

Shultz, currently a fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University in California, has argued over the past several months that the war on terrorism should be used to revitalize the international system of nation-states created at the end of the Thirty Years' War with the Treaty of Westphalia, more than 300 years ago.

In Shultz's view, the state is indispensable "as a means of ordering our international existence". But the state's authority - that is, its sovereignty over its territory and what takes place on it - has been badly battered over the last decades by globalization or, in Schultz's words, the ways "information, money, and migrants" have moved across its borders in ways that escape its control.

At the same time, the state has ceded many of its traditional domestic responsibilities to non-governmental entities that have pressed it from below, while international organizations, according to Shultz, have begun to assume some of its other powers - in some cases, even peacekeeping and security - from above. In so doing, the state has surrendered its own accountability.

As states have weakened, "terrorists have moved in on them", Shultz wrote in January. In response, many states, especially in the Arab Middle East, have tended to make deals with terrorist movements in order to protect themselves. Some supported terrorism directly as a matter of state policy.

"If these deals are not reversed, the states that make them and ultimately the international system of states will not survive," he wrote in the Washington Post. "That is why the war on terrorism is of unsurpassed importance."

To the extent that the state has permitted terrorists to operate on its territory, it has surrendered its sovereignty to other states which are threatened by those same forces, according to Shultz, and which can exercise "hot pre-emption".

Columnists William Safire of the New York Times and Jim Hoagland of the Washington Post already have seized on Shultz's analysis as justifications both for the US military action against Afghanistan and Israel's recent raids against targets in the West Bank and Gaza.

Both also noted that the logic of Shultz's formula would also apply to an Indian intervention in Pakistan, which has sponsored and sheltered groups that have committed terrorist actions in Kashmir. However, Hoagland has suggested that the possible escalation of such a conflict into a nuclear exchange reduces the attractiveness of that option.

(MORE)

2//The Telegraph Tuesday 4 June 2002
http://news.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2002
/06/04/wpen04.xml&sSheet=/news/2002/06/04/ixworld.html

LE PEN 'TO SUE' OVER TORTURE ALLEGATION
By Philip Delves Broughton in Paris
(Filed: 04/06/2002)

Jean-Marie Le Pen, the leader of France's extreme Right National Front, issued a "total and formal denial" against accusations that he tortured Algerians while serving with the French army in Algeria in 1957.

The allegations, which were published in France by Le Monde newspaper yesterday, were intended to disrupt his campaign in the run-up to Sunday's first round of parliamentary elections, said M Le Pen, who vowed to fight them in court.

According to his alleged victims, M Le Pen was an enthusiastic torturer during his three-month tour with a parachute regiment in Algeria. He is said to have used cattle prods, gags and water torture to extract information.

(SNIP)

In 1962, M Le Pen was quoted in the military magazine Combat as saying: "I have nothing to hide. I tortured because we had to. When one is brought someone who has just planted 20 bombs which could explode at any moment, and he does not want to talk, exceptional methods are needed to make him talk."

But later he said that none of his actions could be described as torture.

(SNIP)

In 1989, M Le Pen successfully sued two newspapers, Liberation and Le Canard Enchaine, for printing similar charges against him.

But over the last two years, France's highest appeal court has ruled in favour of Michel Rocard, a former Prime Minister, and Pierre Vidal-Nacquet, a historian, who had both repeated the allegations against M Le Pen and had been sued for defamation.

The court said that M Vidal-Nacquet, an authority on the Algerian war, had acted in good faith, basing his charges on numerous interviews and serious academic inquiry.

M Rocard, a former Prime Minister, had said during a television interview: "We must know who M Le Pen really is, and remember that in Algeria he tortured people."

(SNIP)

The four men who have made the latest accusations, Mr Ammour, Mohamed Abdellaoui, Mustapha Merouane and Mohamed Amara, were all young men when they were targeted by the French army in Algiers, on suspicion of involvement with Algerian nationalists.

They say that they have come forward now because of their shock at M Le Pen's success in reaching the second round of France's recent presidential election.

As he did before the presidential election, M Le Pen is promising to surprise the establishment parties on the Left and Right in the two rounds of voting which take place on June 9 and 16.

His most optimistic prediction is that the National Front will win 20 seats, which will give it the balance of power in the next parliament and put M Chirac just where M Le Pen wants him: over a barrel.

3//The Jakarta Post June 05, 2002
http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailfeatures.asp?fileid=20020604.M10&irec=9

RI, BRAZIL, S. AFRICA TO SPEED UP BALI TALKS
The Jakarta Post, Nusa Dua, Bali

Indonesia, Brazil and South Africa have been appointed to mediate negotiations on an action plan aimed at balancing global economic development with the environment, in an effort to break the apparent deadlock three days before Friday's deadline.

The appointment came amid estimates by some delegates that a near standstill may force negotiations to continue in the upcoming World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, South Africa -- a notion the Indonesian delegates reject.

The chairman of the preparatory committee meeting in Bali, Emil Salim said on Tuesday that the three countries would call in opposing parties to get them to compromise on a number of unresolved issues in the action plan.

(SNIP)

The draft plan, once agreed upon, will be called the Bali Commitment, and will serve as a blue print for sustainable economic development over the next decade.

(SNIP)

Several delegates and non governmental organizations have blamed the slow progress on the U.S. delegation's tough stance and its dominating presence throughout all meetings.

Emil said the U.S. delegation consisted of experienced negotiators who would not reveal their positions "early in the game". "The question is now, what motivates them," he said.

Emil said that one thing in favor of the Bali Commitment was that current politics in the U.S. required the Bush administration to at least appear proactive on environmental issues.

President George Bush's administration has come under fire from environmentalists for the alleged heavy involvement of oil and gas companies in drawing up the country's energy policy.

(SKIP)

But a senior U.S. delegate said that developing countries were demanding too much from the U.S. and warned against pushing the envelope.

He said that sustainable development should start with developing countries improving their law and order and guaranteeing economic freedoms.

"It takes two to tango ... We will lead the dance but don't step on our foot," said one American delegate who refused to give his name.

The delegate also played down hopes by many in Indonesia that his government would agree on additional aid for poverty reduction and environmental conservation efforts, due to the fact that many developing countries failed to obey laws and regulations. He also expressed his doubts that more assistance would actually reach needy people or protect the environment.

"The U.S. delegation insists that they will only reach a compromise when the rest of the world considers the U.S. interests," he said.

4//The Japan Times June 5, 2002
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?np20020605a2.htm

JAPAN OFFICIALLY RATIFIES KYOTO CLIMATE PROTOCOL

Japan ratified the Kyoto Protocol on Tuesday, officially committing to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, nearly 4 1/2 years after the pact was inked.

The Cabinet approved the ratification in the morning. Environment Minister Hiroshi Ohki welcomed the move and said he was drafting letters to 15 nations to notify those who have already approved the pact of Japan's ratification, and asking those dragging their feet -- including Russia and Canada -- to endorse it as soon as possible. The letter to the United States, however, will request that the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gases return to the climate accord.

"I am happy to see the protocol ratified, but now things will get hard," Ohki said, referring to the development of national policies to trim greenhouse gas emissions that have grown by almost 7 percent in the nine years since 1990.

(SNIP)

The accord will go into effect 90 days after it is signed by at least 55 nations that together spewed 55 percent or more of 1990's carbon dioxide emissions.

Once Japan throws its weight behind the document, nations responsible for a combined 35.8 percent of the emissions in 1990 will have ratified the pact. A combination of Russia plus Poland or Canada would put the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change into force.

(SNIP)

Ohki said Japan has done its part to see that the protocol could be put into force by the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg in September.

"But Japan can't just concern itself with what other countries are doing. Now that Japan has ratified it, we have to push ahead with national legislation and measures," he said. "We will need the cooperation of all citizens, or this numerical (6 percent cut) target will be hard to achieve."

5//The Philippine Daily Inquirer Posted: 1:38 AM (Manila Time) | Jun. 05, 2002
http://www.inq7.net/nat/2002/jun/05/nat_3-1.htm

US THINK-TANK WARNS OF MORE TURBULENCE FOR MACAPAGAL
Roy S. de Guzman
INQ7.net

UNITED States-based private think-tank Strategic Forecasting, LLC (Stratfor), which had correctly predicted the fall from power of Joseph Estrada, has warned of further turbulence for President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, with an eye on continued military support for her administration.

"Political scandals and the US intervention in Philippine security matters are adding to the turbulence in Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's presidency," Stratfor said in an in-depth report titled "Philippines: Bumpy Ride Ahead for Arroyo" released on its website last Friday.

"For now the military remains in her corner, but some of her recent moves have displeased her otherwise stalwart backer."

The report came one working day before the Senate leadership imbroglio that threatened to erode the President's political control.

On Monday, Stratfor said on its website: "It appears US troops will be staying longer in the Philippines than originally planned. The move is another step in the US strategy to use the Philippines as a base in case it needs to launch aggressive anti-terrorism efforts in Southeast Asia."

A few weeks ago, Stratfor released a report entitled "Danger to US Troops Means Danger to Arroyo" saying: "In the Philippines, two recent incidents of hostility toward Americans may be a sign of more violence to come. If US troops deployed there for counterterrorism training are forced into active combat, the Philippine President would not likely survive politically."

...in April, Stratfor said the reconstruction of roads and air strips on Basilan island by US military engineers was a likely signal that the United States was setting up a regional "operations facility" for counter-terrorism.

"Ultimately," it said in its April 26 report, "US operations in the southern Philippines are directed less at defeating the Abu Sayyaf and more at establishing a forward operation base in Southeast Asia-with an eye on Indonesia as a likely first target."

Both the US ambassador and the Macapagal administration subsequently denied any plan for building a US base in the Philippines.

(SKIP)

Aside from Estrada's downfall, Stratfor was also the first to predict an economic collapse in Asia, Vladimir Putin's rise to power in Russia. the Kosovo conflict, the escalation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and the fall of the governments of Alberto Fujimori and Abdurrahman Wahid.

Stratfor says it has 35,000 paying subscribers. It was founded in 1995 and has been on line since 1996.

6//Arab News Tuesday, June 04, 2002 / 24 Rabi` al-Awwal 1423
http://www.arabnews.com/Article.asp?ID=15790

TECHNICAL HITCH DELAYS IRAQ BORDER REOPENING
By a Staff Writer

RIYADH, 5 June - A technical problem between Baghdad and the United Nations has delayed the reopening of the main Saudi-Iraqi border crossing at Arar, closed since Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait, a Saudi customs official said yesterday.

The border post was due to have opened for trade last week, but Iraq and the UN, which supervises all imports into the Arab country, have so far failed to reach agreement, the official said.

"We are ready for the opening any time. But Iraq and the UN have failed to resolve some technical differences. We are waiting for the green light to operate the crossing," the official told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.

A Saudi exporter, meanwhile, said the world body wanted a UN official posted at the Iraqi side of the border to supervise the imports under the oil-for-food program, a request Iraq has so far rejected.

Iraq wants the UN official to be posted on the Saudi side of the border as is the case with its frontiers with other countries.

(SNIP)

Saudi exports to Iraq under the oil-for-food program - introduced in 1996 to allow Baghdad to sell crude under UN supervision to meet the humanitarian needs of its sanctions-stricken population - are currently sent through Jordan.

Saudi businessmen say exporting directly to Iraq will save them between eight and 10 percent in operating revenues. Iraqi Trade Minister Mohammad Mahdi Saleh has said Baghdad has imported more than $1 billion worth of goods from Saudi Arabia within the framework of the humanitarian program.

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© 2002, Gloria R. Lalumia
insight@zianet.com

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