World Media Watch for July 1, 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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1//The Independent, UK--ONE IN THREE EUROPEANS 'IS ANTI SEMITIC' (A new form of anti-Semitism has taken hold in Europe, fuelled by anti-Israeli sentiment, according to a survey which shows almost one in three Europeans now harbours some anti-Jewish feelings. Attitudes towards Jews vary across the five countries surveyed with Belgians, Germans and the French "most likely to hold a prejudiced view of Jews". Denmark and the UK are said to be the least prejudiced. But attitudes in the UK show a worryingly high level of anti-Semitic sentiment.)

2//BBC News, UK--BOLIVIAN VOTE 'LIKELY TO REJECT IMF' (But unless there is an outright winner, it will fall to Congress to decide who will next lead the country and, in the inevitable deal-making involved in that process, it is minor candidates like coca grower Evo Morales who will be in a strong position to influence the outcome. Mr Morales received an unexpected boost last week when the United States ambassador warned Bolivians that to vote for any candidate who supported the coca industry, would be to risk losing US aid. The rash remark seems to have unleashed a minor wave of support from people rejecting what they see as US interference.)

3//TheNewsmexico.com, Mexico--FIRMS LINKED TO FOX CAMPAIGN TO BE ASKED TO HAND OVER INFORMATION (Fox, whose victory two years ago unseated the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) after seven uninterrupted decades in power, has been accused by the opposition of accepting campaign contributions from abroad, forbidden under Mexican law. Some of Fox's campaign funds were channeled through the group "Friends of Fox," headed by businessman Lino Korrodi, and others allegedly through some businesses run by Fox's relatives.)

4//allAfrica.com, Washington, D.C./Africa--G-8 SUMMIT 'PROFOUNDLY DISAPPOINTING,' SAYS UN AIDS ADVISOR ("There is between promise and reality in this summit a distance which cannot be bridged," explains Stephen Lewis, the United Nations Special Advisor on Aids, characterizing the world leaders Africa Action Plan as "disappointing", "pathetic" and "abysmal."..."The Canadian Prime Minister wanted a guarantee that half of the future foreign aid would go to Africa. He could not get that guarantee, primarily because the United States refused to give it."..."This summit could have been such a turning point for Africa, it could have been realistically a tremendous new departure.")

5//Turkish Daily News, Turkey--MAJORITY OF TURKS SUPPORT DEMOCRATIC REFORMS, BUT RESERVED ABOUT BROADCASTS AND EDUCATION IN KURDISH (The survey, conducted by Bogazici University in Istanbul, showed that a majority of Turks favor membership in the EU and would be willing to scrap the death penalty, but only if it were replaced with life in prison without parole...In the poll, 49 percent said they see the EU as a "Christian Club," while 42 percent believe that the group has room for a Muslim country.)

6//Stratfor Strategic Forecasting, USA--RUSSIA ENDING INVOLVEMENT IN IRANIAN REACTOR (However, Washington will not relent in its pressure to stop the construction and has made it clear that no matter what Putin has already done, he should quit helping the Iranians with the Bushehr plant now. For instance, John Bolton, the U.S. undersecretary of state on arms control, has said the future of Washington's relationship with Moscow depends largely on whether Russia stops exporting dangerous weapons materials to Iran, Reuters reported June 11.)

7//Far Eastern Economic Review, Hong Kong--THE PHILIPPINES: BE YOURSELF (Arroyo's public persona is important. Since the fall of the charismatic movie actor Joseph Estrada from the Philippine presidency in January 2001, the country's politicians have been locked in an unofficial election campaign... Her relations with the Philippines' rambunctious press also seem to be deteriorating... When a radio reporter used a nationally broadcast question-and-answer session to ask her why the military still hadn't wiped out the Abu Sayyaf terrorist group despite months of training from United States advisers, her reply was biting. "I'm glad it was you who asked me," she told Rey Bayoging, station manager of Radio Agong, which has often broadcast interviews with the rebels. "In fact, you are suspected of being an accomplice because you are the source of their messages." Some time in the future, it may be Arroyo who needs the likes of Bayoging to spread her message.)

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1//The Independent 01 July 2002 01:10 BDST
http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/story.jsp?story=310541

ONE IN THREE EUROPEANS 'IS ANTI SEMITIC'
By Robert Mendick
30 June 2002

A new form of anti-Semitism has taken hold in Europe, fuelled by anti-Israeli sentiment, according to a survey which shows almost one in three Europeans now harbours some anti-Jewish feelings.

Attitudes towards Jews vary across the five countries surveyed with Belgians, Germans and the French "most likely to hold a prejudiced view of Jews". Denmark and the UK are said to be the least prejudiced. But attitudes in the UK show a worryingly high level of anti-Semitic sentiment.

The findings of 2,500 people polled - 500 in each country - show 30 per cent harboured traditional anti-Jewish views. The survey was commissioned by the Anti-Defamation League, a US-based organisation set up just before the First World War to combat anti-Semitism in the US.

(SNIP)

One in five Britons believes Jews have too much power in the business world. More than 10 per cent of those surveyed in the UK believed Jews are "more willing to use shady practices to get what they want".

One in 10 believes "Jews don't care what happens to anyone but their own kind" while one in three considers "Jews are more loyal to Israel than to this country".

Fiona Macaulay of the Board of Deputies of British Jews said: "These findings are shocking. If one was to substitute the word Jew for black there would be outrage."

2//BBC News Sunday, 30 June, 2002, 19:50 GMT 20:50 UK
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/americas/newsid_2075000/2075406.stm

BOLIVIAN VOTE 'LIKELY TO REJECT IMF'
By Peter Greste
BBC South America correspondent

Voting has ended in the Bolivian general election, in which more than four million voters have been choosing a new president and congress.

The election is expected to move the country away from economic policies of the past two decades which were inspired by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

This is anything but an obvious election: 11 candidates are competing for the presidency and, with the latest opinion polls giving none more than 23% support, nobody is likely to come close to an outright victory.

The man with a slim lead is Manfred Reyes Villa, a former city mayor campaigning on a promise "to have no more of the same".

He has tapped into a general public frustration with the IMF-inspired economic policies the Bolivians say have failed to deliver the promised prosperity.

Bolivia remains one of the poorest countries in the Western hemisphere, and there is now an increasing demand for a shift to government protection of local industries.

(SNIP)

But unless there is an outright winner, it will fall to Congress to decide who will next lead the country and, in the inevitable deal-making involved in that process, it is minor candidates like coca grower Evo Morales who will be in a strong position to influence the outcome.

Mr Morales received an unexpected boost last week when the United States ambassador warned Bolivians that to vote for any candidate who supported the coca industry, would be to risk losing US aid.

The rash remark seems to have unleashed a minor wave of support from people rejecting what they see as US interference.

3//TheNewsmexico.com Sunday, June 30, 2002
http://www.thenewsmexico.com/noticia.asp?id=29154

FIRMS LINKED TO FOX CAMPAIGN TO BE ASKED TO HAND OVER INFORMATION
EFE - 6/30/2002

Election officials say they plan to ask for financial information from domestic and foreign companies mentioned in the investigation into President Vicente Fox's 2000 campaign.

Jaime Cardenas, counsel for the Federal Electoral Institute (IFE), made the statement late Friday after a Thursday meeting of an IFE election supervisory committee.

Fox, whose victory two years ago unseated the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) after seven uninterrupted decades in power, has been accused by the opposition of accepting campaign contributions from abroad, forbidden under Mexican law.

Some of Fox's campaign funds were channeled through the group "Friends of Fox," headed by businessman Lino Korrodi, and others allegedly through some businesses run by Fox's relatives.

In reference to the investigation into alleged diversion of funds from Pemex, the state-owned oil company, to the PRI's 2000 presidential candidate, Francisco Labastida, IFE said it would request information from the Attorney General's Office and the Pemex union.

(MORE)

4//allAfrica.com Posted to the web June 28, 2002
http://allafrica.com/stories/200206280548.html

G-8 SUMMIT 'PROFOUNDLY DISAPPOINTING,' SAYS UN AIDS ADVISOR

allAfrica.com
INTERVIEW
June 28, 2002

Jim Cason
Washington, DC

"There is between promise and reality in this summit a distance which cannot be bridged," explains Stephen Lewis, the United Nations Special Advisor on Aids, characterizing the world leaders Africa Action Plan as "disappointing", "pathetic" and "abysmal."

The recommendations in the G-8 Africa Action for dealing with the issues of HIV/AIDS are particularly disappointing, says Lewis. "The leaders of the world's richest nations were able to find $20 billion to assure the dismantling of nuclear warheads in Russia, an objective which everyone agrees with, but they couldn't find even a fraction of that to save 2,300,000 lives that are being lost every single year in Sub-Saharan Africa alone."

Throughout an interview with AllAfrica's Jim Cason shortly after the G-8 Summit in Kananaskis ended, the former Canadian Ambassador did not mince his words. Excerpts:

What is your reaction to the G-8 Africa Action Plan issued on Thursday?

"Overall the G-8 summit was profoundly disappointing. Obviously a case can be made and will be argued by both the African leaders and the G-8 leaders because they have to put the best face possible on what was done, that the G-8 acceptance of Nepad in principle and the G-8 issuance of their own Africa Action Plan in response, signals, as the Secretary General said, a possible new departure for Africa."

"But, none of these summits mean anything unless they are undergirded by dollars. Otherwise down the road there is a sense of betrayal. What was so disappointing about this summit was the absence of resources for the priorities which the African leaders themselves identified."

"So we are left with the old unsatisfactory, hapless pattern of individual countries deciding when and if they are going to make contributions to Africa's needs. The suggestion of $6 billion, pretending that it is new, is in fact an illusion. The $6 billion is warmed over money, previously announced in Monterey and on other occasions."

"The Canadian Prime Minister wanted a guarantee that half of the future foreign aid would go to Africa. He could not get that guarantee, primarily because the United States refused to give it."

(SNIP)

What about your particular focus on gaining more money for the United Nations Global Fund for HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria?

"Although it was included by reference in the overall document, not a penny was provided and that I think is quite a setback. I would have thought that they might have said to the Secretary General on the front of HIV/AIDS, Mr. Secretary General, we will guarantee several billion dollars a year hereafter. It may not be everything you want but we are going to crack open this impasse. Instead just silence."

(SNIP)

"The leaders of the world's richest nations were able to find $20 billion to assure the dismantling of nuclear warheads in Russia, and objective which everyone agrees with, but they couldn't find even a fraction of that to save 2,300,000 lives that are being lost every single year in Sub-Saharan Africa alone."

"In the Nepad document, in paragraph 125, it said explicitly that we will never achieve the development unless we deal with the pandemic. In the G-8 Africa Action Plan there is a similarly worded statement, it said virtually the same thing. They say it explicitly themselves, the G-8 leaders, and then they offer not a penny to do it."

So on balance do you believe that this summit was a step forward?

"These summits can actually be dangerous. One invests so much hope and expectation. This summit could have been such a turning point for Africa, it could have been realistically a tremendous new departure. And if down the road as seems likely, the resources are not there to deal with the questions raised, then the whole summit process is discredited again. That's why I use the word dangerous. There is just a certain level of fecklessness, it is not even irresponsibility, it is just fecklessness. That these summits raise expectations, and then deliver so little."

(SNIP)

If you are disappointed, and the constituencies that you work with are probably disappointed, what is the next step? Barcelona, World Social Summit? But they are all summits?

"What one learns from these fights over a lifetime is that you just grit your teeth and never give up. We are certainly being complicit in an astonishing moral abdication and that much is unforgivable. The NGOs will be even stronger now, the voices of the United Nations will be even stronger now.

(SNIP)

So I just think you keep on fighting. The next moment in Barcelona. Barcelona is a mobilization point, a rallying point for huge numbers of people.

5//Turkish Daily News 29 June 2002
http://www.turkishdailynews.com/FrTDN/latest/for.htm#f2

MAJORITY OF TURKS SUPPORT DEMOCRATIC REFORMS, BUT RESERVED ABOUT BROADCASTS AND EDUCATION IN KURDISH
Ankara - Turkish Daily News

TESEV survey shows 90 percent of Turks not satisfied with Turkey's democracy, will support abolishment of the death penalty if convicts are given life sentence without parole.

A majority of Turks support the democratic reforms that will open the way for European Union membership, but have serious objections to allowing broadcasts and education in Kurdish, a public opinion poll commissioned by think-tank TESEV revealed on Friday.

The survey, conducted by Bogazici University in Istanbul, showed that a majority of Turks favor membership in the EU and would be willing to scrap the death penalty, but only if it were replaced with life in prison without parole.

(SNIP)

The poll showed that 64 percent of the respondents favor EU membership, 30 percent oppose it and 6 percent do not want to respond.

The survey comes at a time when Turkey's coalition government partners are at odds over the reforms the country needs to carry, to advance its longstanding bid to join the 15-nation group.

Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit's nationalist partners recently sharpened their opposition to reforms, threatening to withdraw from the government rather than support such measures as scrapping capital punishment and taking steps to legalize broadcasts and education in the Kurdish language.

The nationalists want to see Kurdish separatist terrorist leader Abdullah Ocalan executed and fear that greater minority rights would break up the country along ethnic lines.

The poll showed that 60 percent of those questioned said they are "not at all happy" with the functioning of Turkey's democracy, while 30 percent said they were "not happy." Only 9 percent said they were satisfied and only 1 percent said they were "very happy."

The survey showed that 91 percent of those surveyed said equality before the law should never be compromised, even under extraordinary conditions. Also, 90 percent said freedom of religion and conscious should not be compromised at all. This fell to 85 percent for freedom of expression, 83 percent for torture, 74 for freedom of expression and 74 percent for the right to speak in one's mother tongue.

(SNIP)

In the poll, 49 percent said they see the EU as a "Christian Club," while 42 percent believe that the group has room for a Muslim country.

Turks cited defense and national and religious values as two areas where they fear EU membership would infringe on Turkish sovereignty.

In a country where the military remains one of the most trusted institutions, 50 percent said they wanted to see the military's role over politics diminish, while 32 percent said the role should not be reduced.

(MORE)

6//Stratfor Strategic Forecasting 28 June 2002
http://www.stratfor.com/fib/topStory_view.php?ID=205057

RUSSIA ENDING INVOLVEMENT IN IRANIAN REACTOR

Summary

There are growing signs Russia may not finish constructing the $800 million Bushehr nuclear plant in Iran. Although the plant would be a lucrative deal for the cash-starved Russian government, pressure from the United States, due to concerns that Iran may be trying to acquire nuclear weapons, may be too much for the increasingly pro-West Russian president to ignore. Iran will try to keep Russia engaged as long as possible, but in the meantime will be looking for Moscow's replacement.

Analysis

STRATFOR sources inside the Russian government say President Vladimir Putin has decided to gradually end Moscow's involvement in building a 1,000-maegawatt nuclear reactor at Bushehr, 500 miles south of Tehran. In bending to enormous U.S. government pressure, and yet not wanting to appear subservient, Putin will act quietly but surely.

This strategy is already evident in the deliberate leaking of recent internal government documents, including those detailing the failure of Russia to secure a guarantee that Iran will return spent nuclear fuel from the reactor -- which could be converted into weapons-grade plutonium -- to Moscow, the Guardian reported June 24. The Middle East Newsline also reports that Tehran is opposing a Moscow proposal to institute a stronger inspection regime for the Bushehr plant.

The future of the reactor has become a critical geopolitical issue for the United States, Iran, Russia, Israel and other Middle East and international players. Washington's efforts to block construction of the Bushehr plant come from a desire to prevent Tehran from gaining the ability to produce nuclear weapons.

The Iranian government denies the charge that it will use the plant to produce weapons-grade plutonium but believes it has the right to obtain and keep a nuclear arsenal until the current nuclear powers -- the United States, Russia, France, Britain, China, Israel, India and Pakistan -- agree to liquidate their arsenals. Iran is especially concerned about the nuclear capabilities of its two major geopolitical foes: the United States and Israel.

(SNIP)

With Iraq weakened by its Gulf War defeat and the resulting blockade -- and awaiting a possible U.S. military attack -- Israel's main concern about an Islamic atomic bomb rests with Iran. During U.S. President George W. Bush's visit to Russia last May, Israel sent a high-level government delegation to Moscow to make its case to both the Americans and Russians about shutting down construction on the Bushehr reactor.

(SNIP)

But intensifying pressure from Washington in the last few weeks forced Putin to make the hard geopolitical choice of gradually phasing out Russia's involvement in the Bushehr project. Iran will still try to finish the nuclear plant's construction -- projected to be about two years off -- with Moscow's help. Its tactics for buying time and keeping Russia engaged could include indefinitely delaying any new Russian-Iran agreements that would force Tehran to return spent fuel to Russia.

Tehran will use the fact that there is no clearly spelled promise by Iran to return all spent nuclear fuel to Russia in the current agreement. It will also point to the fact that the International Agency for Atomic Energy recently made an inspection of the Bushehr reactor and said that there has been no violation of the non-proliferation agreement found.

However, Washington will not relent in its pressure to stop the construction and has made it clear that no matter what Putin has already done, he should quit helping the Iranians with the Bushehr plant now. For instance, John Bolton, the U.S. undersecretary of state on arms control, has said the future of Washington's relationship with Moscow depends largely on whether Russia stops exporting dangerous weapons materials to Iran, Reuters reported June 11.

So although he will call for continued Russian-Iranian cooperation on the nuclear plant in public, Putin will quietly cooperate with Washington by first advancing new proposals on tighter international control over the nuclear reactor and then by sticking to his request to have all spent fuel returned. The number of Russian nuclear engineers and scientists working on the reactor will also be reduced to the minimum, and those remaining will not be able to complete the construction and secure the desired launch of the plant.

This will still not stop Iran's determination to have the reactor built and working. But Tehran will look to countries whose expertise can replace the current Russian effort. In fact, even though Russian nuclear expertise is by far the most advanced compared to all potential candidates, the government is already quietly talking with several nations on the matter, according to Iranian diplomatic sources in Europe.

Since Washington has made its position on Bushehr clear, many countries are not likely to help Iran with its construction, no matter how much they may be convinced that it is a peaceful project. Still, there are some states that might be willing to take the risk for either geopolitical or economic reasons, or both. Among them could be China, France, India, Brazil, South Africa, Belarus and Malaysia.

7//Far Eastern Economic Review Issue cover-dated July 04, 2002
http://www.feer.com/articles/2002/0207_04/p018region.html

THE PHILIPPINES: BE YOURSELF
By James Hookway/Manila

The president is secure enough to step on a few toes, though the long-term damage could hurt her

IF YOU BELIEVE Manila's newspapers, she reduces civil servants to tears, frightens the pants off her cabinet secretaries and, increasingly, couldn't care less what people think of her.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo admits she comes across as a bit sharp-tongued. She occasionally compares herself to Muhammad Ali, who famously said he "floats like a butterfly, stings like a bee." But can her growing antagonism with the press and rumblings of division with her lieutenants hurt her presidency?

Some of her media handlers will say no, but ask some of her colleagues and they'll tell you her abrasiveness may cause more serious problems in the longer term.

(SNIP)

Alex Magno, president of Manila's Foundation for Economic Freedom and an occasional speech-writer for Arroyo, reckons the president's abrasiveness could pay off among voters tired of the indulgent ways of other Filipino politicians. "Sure she's cranky," he says. "But people won't mind her being cranky and snooty if she gets the job done. Given time, they might associate her crankiness with results."

Arroyo's public persona is important. Since the fall of the charismatic movie actor Joseph Estrada from the Philippine presidency in January 2001, the country's politicians have been locked in an unofficial election campaign. Presidential polls aren't due until May 2004, but that hasn't stopped the usual parade of film stars, television broadcasters and career politicians being tipped for the top post. Arroyo herself has been accused of fishing for votes by getting the central bank to put her picture on its new 200-peso ($3.98) note--an honour that's usually only bestowed on dead people here. (Her advisers say she thought the bill was a commemorative issue to mark last year's People Power 2 revolt and wouldn't be used as legal tender.) Still, making her mark among the throngs of celebrities and grandstanders vying for the presidency is crucial if Arroyo wants to bag a full six-year term.

Arroyo's growing comfort in office is unsettling some of her allies, however. Privately, a few cabinet secretaries admit to trying to keep out of her way lest they suffer the kind of tongue-lashing to which some of their hapless colleagues have been subjected after disagreeing with her. While there have been no major disputes on policy between her and her economic team just yet, rough relations could hurt the cohesiveness of a government which everybody from the International Monetary Fund to currency traders has credited with restoring some discipline to the Philippines' balance sheets.

MEDIA RELATIONS GROW SOUR

(SNIP)

Her relations with the Philippines' rambunctious press also seem to be deteriorating. Last week, Arroyo scrapped her weekly national radio programme, leaving reporters who cover the presidential palace scant resources with which to satisfy their editors. Arroyo had already abandoned weekly press conferences as well as more intimate lunches designed to help reporters grasp the details of her economic revival policies. Her acting press secretary, Silvestre Afable, Jr., said she would instead travel out into the provinces to sell her ideas to Filipinos face to face.

It maybe just as well. Arroyo's tongue can often match Ali's punches in terms of power. When a radio reporter used a nationally broadcast question-and-answer session to ask her why the military still hadn't wiped out the Abu Sayyaf terrorist group despite months of training from United States advisers, her reply was biting.

"I'm glad it was you who asked me," she told Rey Bayoging, station manager of Radio Agong, which has often broadcast interviews with the rebels. "In fact, you are suspected of being an accomplice because you are the source of their messages." Some time in the future, it may be Arroyo who needs the likes of Bayoging to spread her message.

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

"When there was joy..." a bittersweet picture/remembrance of the good times...at http://www.zianet.com/insightanalytical

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