World Media Watch for July 3, 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//TheNewsmexico.com, Mexico--POWELL SAYS U.S. "CURSED" WITH UNILATERALIST CHARGE AS CRITICISM RESURFACES ("Every time we do something that is not in sync with everyone else, we're being accused of unilateralism," Powell told AFP in an interview. "It's a curse that is being tossed our way."... Though other officials also adamantly rejected the assertion, they allowed that President George W. Bush and his administration faced uphill diplomatic battles in their quest to oust Arafat and grant immunity from ICC prosecution to UN peacekeepers.)

2//The Independent, UK--KABUL TV CHIEF IGNITES ROW AFTER BANNING WOMEN FROM SINGING ON AIR (Mr Mansoor is from the Northern Alliance, which claims to be more liberal than the Pashtun-supported former Taliban regime. Some observers say his stance is embarrassing Alliance members of Mr Karzai's government. Others say the row has the tacit approval of Alliance leaders unhappy at losing seats in the government after the loya jirga.)

3//Asia Times Online, Hong Kong--MUSHARRAF AND THE KASHMIR CURSE (But now opposition parties - and even some of Musharraf's allies - are saying that his new policies are laying the foundation for major trouble, and they are even comparing him to a beleaguered Yasser Arafat...the federal Ministry of the Interior has published advertisements in the papers of the largest newspaper group in the country (both in its Urdu and English newspapers) under the headline, "These people are dangerous religious terrorists". It is widely believed that this move was prompted by US authorities, as it is said unlikely that the Musharraf government on its own would do such a thing that could create a strong backlash. Even the British authorities have criticized US moves to operate against al-Qaeda in the Pakistani tribal belt, saying this would strengthen opposition to the US and Pakistani authorities.)

4//The Moscow Times, Russia--PARTY OF LIFE HAS KREMLIN'S BLESSING (A cryptic new party with a vague grassroots platform and the blessing of the country's No. 3 politician was formed over the weekend, fueling speculation as to who was behind it and whose political tool it would be in the 2003-04 election season...There were several interpretations of the party's raison d'etre. Andrei Ryabov of the Moscow Carnegie Center said Monday that he believed the party was created by the so-called St. Petersburg clan of intelligence and security officials close to Putin, indicating they are set to battle for power against the dominant pro-Kremlin United Russia party in coming elections.)

5//The Philippine Daily Inquirer, Philippines--LAWMAKERS QUESTION TERMS OF NEW MILITARY DEAL WITH US (CONGRESSMEN reacted cautiously Tuesday to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's announcement that the Philippines and the United States had entered into a "sustained" military cooperation agreement, with House of Representatives leaders saying an indefinite timetable would violate the Constitution.)

6//TimesOnline, UK--REAL IRA HOLDS SECRET CEASEFIRE TALKS IN DUBLIN (Security sources in the Irish Republic believe that the group has been penetrated to such an extent that its potential to cause damage has been hugely undermined...The Continuity IRA is now regarded as the main republican terrorist threat. Security sources say that its chief of staff has been travelling across the Republic and Northern Ireland recruiting and reorganising the group.)

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1//TheNewsmexico.com Tuesday, July 02, 2002
http://www.thenewsmexico.com/noticia.asp?id=29307

POWELL SAYS U.S. "CURSED" WITH UNILATERALIST CHARGE AS CRITICISM RESURFACES
Matthew Lee, AFP - 7/2/2002

WASHINGTON - Secretary of State Colin Powell said Monday the United States was "cursed" with unfair charges of unilateralism -- as U.S. officials conceded that hardline stances against the International Criminal Court and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat had reopened the allegation.

"Every time we do something that is not in sync with everyone else, we're being accused of unilateralism," Powell told AFP in an interview. "It's a curse that is being tossed our way.

"I'm not going to spend a lot of time defending myself from charges of unilateralism," he said when asked about the resurfacing of such criticism over the U.S. position on Arafat and its veto of the renewal of the UN peacekeeping mission in Bosnia over concerns about the ICC.

"It's a charge that anybody can throw against us any time we do something that is different from what 18 other NATO nations or 14 or 15 EU nations or some group of folks overseas does not consider the right way to go," Powell said.

"It's a false charge. It's an easy one to make but one that doesn't stand up to analysis."

Though other officials also adamantly rejected the assertion, they allowed that President George W. Bush and his administration faced uphill diplomatic battles in their quest to oust Arafat and grant immunity from ICC prosecution to UN peacekeepers.

"It's no secret that we have our work cut out for us," one official told AFP on condition of anonymity. "We're not the most popular kids on the block right now.

"But we are taking principled stands that we think are in our best interests as well as the best interests of others," the official said. "Now, we just have to convince them of that."

(SNIP)

Now, with the decisions of the past week, the perception of the United States as a lone juggernaut has resurfaced, as U.S. diplomats press for Arafat's removal and threaten UN peacekeeping operations with opposition to the ICC.

Powell and his team remain undeterred.

"This is what diplomacy is all about," the first official said. "It's a challenge, but in the end we know we are right and believe we will prevail."

Powell said Monday that Bush was comfortable taking unpopular decisions if he was convinced they were appropriate.

"This president, on an issue of principle that we feel strongly about, he will speak out and he will go against the consensus if we think we have the better of the argument or not only the better of the argument, but because of our national interests," Powell told AFP.

2//The Independent 02 July 2002 20:39 BDST
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/asia_china/story.jsp?story=311138

KABUL TV CHIEF IGNITES ROW AFTER BANNING WOMEN FROM SINGING ON AIR
By Kim Sengupta

The new Afghan government of Hamid Karzai is trying to resolve a dispute after the head of the country's broadcasting service defied a request to step down for imposing a ban on women singing on television and radio.

The impasse has highlighted women's rights, an important issue in the post-Taliban administration, with increasing signs of a male backlash. Abdul Hafiz Mansoor, president of Kabul TV and radio, tore up the order of the Information Minister, Sayed Makhdoom Raheen, to leave his post and refused to move out of his office.

Mr Mansoor, who was, briefly, information minister after the fall of the Taliban, is said to have unilaterally taken the decision to bar women from singing on Kabul broadcasting, though they are allowed to do so even in more conservative areas such as Kandahar in the south.

(SNIP)

Why Mr Raheen ordered Mr Mansoor's dismissal is unclear. But Mr Mansoor has made several controversial decisions, including the ban on women singing. The Taliban banned television as un-Islamic. Mr Mansoor noted that he returned women to on-air jobs when the new government resumed television broadcasts. "I didn't ban this," he said of women singing. "But Islam bans this. This is a matter for the country's supreme court. We are an Islamic society."

(SNIP)

"I did not receive any orders from Karzai to step down, but if they come I will respect it, 100 per cent," he said. "I was on the front line fighting al-Qa'ida to enter Kabul. For 23 years, I was in the centre of wars and struggle ... And what did Raheen do? Nothing." Mr Mansoor is from the Northern Alliance, which claims to be more liberal than the Pashtun-supported former Taliban regime.

Some observers say his stance is embarrassing Alliance members of Mr Karzai's government. Others say the row has the tacit approval of Alliance leaders unhappy at losing seats in the government after the loya jirga.

3//Asia Times Online Jul 3, 2002
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/DG03Df05.html

MUSHARRAF AND THE KASHMIR CURSE
By Syed Saleem Shahzad

KARACHI - United States pressure has forced Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf to turn his policies upside down, the reward for which he believes is the license to prolong his dictatorial rule and tread into dangerous waters.

But now opposition parties - and even some of Musharraf's allies - are saying that his new policies are laying the foundation for major trouble, and they are even comparing him to a beleaguered Yasser Arafat.

The most recent developments indicate the Musharraf government's earnest desire to follow the dictates of the US at any cost. This includes the removal of Brigadier Abdullah, the Chief of the Inter-Services Intelligence's (ISI) Kashmir desk after the military government reversed its stance on Kashmir.

While many indigenous Kashmiris do not accept the Line of Control that divides Indian- and Pakistani-administered Kashmir, the government has placed a ban on people crossing the LoC. Military training camps in Pakistani Kashmir, many of them started only a few months ago, have been closed and the government has cut off all supplies to the Kashmiri fighters. The new man at the ISI Kashmir desk will be charged with ensuring that all cross-border activity related to the struggle in Kashmir cease.

This development apart, the federal Ministry of the Interior has published advertisements in the papers of the largest newspaper group in the country (both in its Urdu and English newspapers) under the headline, "These people are dangerous religious terrorists".

(SNIP)

Interestingly, the government approached all newspapers to print the advertisement, but only the Jang Group - which puts out the Daily Jang and The News International - printed the ads in its Karachi editions. A senior intelligence agency official said the purpose of placing the advertisements was to create awareness that the people listed were not sincere to the true Islamic cause and were in fact terrorists.

It is widely believed that this move was prompted by US authorities, as it is said unlikely that the Musharraf government on its own would do such a thing that could create a strong backlash. Even the British authorities have criticized US moves to operate against al-Qaeda in the Pakistani tribal belt, saying this would strengthen opposition to the US and Pakistani authorities.

The government moves on Kashmir have been deeply criticized by the religious opposition parties, which are now preparing to launch a campaign against the Musharraf regime, and they even have the backing of normally ardent supporters of Musharraf, such as cricketer-turned politician Imran Khan, for whom Musharraf once prayed publicly, "May God give success to him in politics like [he had] in cricket."

(SNIP)

Sources say militants have dumped enough ammunition in Indian Kashmir to last the thousands of militants from the different organizations that operate there several years. At the same time, the decisions taken by New Delhi, including banning the Dukhtaran-i-Millat and arresting Syed Ali Gillani, a former chief of the All-Party Hurriyat Conference and leader of the Jamaat-i-Islami (Indian Kashmir), will further spur militant groups into action, especially in the lead-up to scheduled elections in the region in September.

This situation apart, the Taliban have begun their campaign of organized military strikes against US and allied troops all over Afghanistan, using the Pakistani tribal belt, where they have much support, as a base.

And just as the Palestinian militants are out of Yasser Arafat's hands, so are the militants in Pakistan out of Musharraf's, at least as far as Kashmir is concerned. The crucial question is whether or not Musharraf will push on with his latest stance on Kashmir, because if he does, expect an escalation of strikes in the troubled region.

4//The Moscow Times Tuesday, Jul. 2, 2002. Page 3
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2002/07/02/013.html

PARTY OF LIFE HAS KREMLIN'S BLESSING
By Natalia Yefimova
Staff Writer

A cryptic new party with a vague grassroots platform and the blessing of the country's No. 3 politician was formed over the weekend, fueling speculation as to who was behind it and whose political tool it would be in the 2003-04 election season.

Federation Council Speaker Sergei Mironov welcomed more than 200 delegates to the founding congress of the Party of Life on Saturday -- with new members ranging from animal lovers to advocates of veterans' rights to representatives of Mironov's Will of Petersburg bloc.

Politicians and analysts were confident the Kremlin had approved -- or even engineered -- the creation of the new party. In a greeting read out by Mironov and quoted by Interfax, President Vladimir Putin said: "The creation of the Party of Life is a good omen for our country and a testament to the development of a civil society and the spiritual rebirth of the nation."

(SNIP)

There were several interpretations of the party's raison d'etre. Andrei Ryabov of the Moscow Carnegie Center said Monday that he believed the party was created by the so-called St. Petersburg clan of intelligence and security officials close to Putin, indicating they are set to battle for power against the dominant pro-Kremlin United Russia party in coming elections.

The Kommersant newspaper wrote Monday that, despite the party's bottom-up platform, security at the congress was inordinately tight and journalists had to go through several security cordons, including searches by the Federal Security Service. The Gazeta.ru web site speculated that the rumors about the Petersburg clan could be a Kremlin "decoy" intended to discredit the chekisty if the party is a flop. The report also floated the idea that the Party of Life could be the presidential administration's way of keeping United Russia on its toes.

Mironov's press secretary Lyudmila Fomicheva directed all questions to the new party, but calls to its offices went unanswered Monday afternoon.

Others speculated that the party was part of a Kremlin attempt to lure fringe voters -- such as pensioners -- away from the Communists. Ryabov disagreed, saying that the ideas espoused by the Party of Life and Mironov himself were too extravagant to attract the conservative, "ideologized" constituency of the Communists.

5//The Philippine Daily Inquirer Posted: 0:06 AM (Manila Time) | Jul. 03, 2002
http://www.inq7.net/nat/2002/jul/03/nat_3-1.htm

LAWMAKERS QUESTION TERMS OF NEW MILITARY DEAL WITH US
By Juliet Javellana and Martin Marfil
Inquirer News Service

CONGRESSMEN reacted cautiously Tuesday to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's announcement that the Philippines and the United States had entered into a "sustained" military cooperation agreement, with House of Representatives leaders saying an indefinite timetable would violate the Constitution.

"I want to know the duration because it should not be indefinite. It would amount to permanent basing for the US, which is not allowed by our Constitution," said the chairperson of the House foreign relations committee, Representative Apolinario Lozada.

Questions about timing aside, related developments are certain to heat up the policy debate about future "Balikatan (Shoulder-to-Shoulder)" Philippine-US joint military exercises.

Also on Tuesday:

A spokesperson for the American contingent said US troops taking part in Balikatan 02-1 had been given permission to train and assist Philippine soldiers right on the frontlines of the campaign against the Abu Sayyaf bandit group.

In Washington, US President George W. Bush ordered up to 10 million dollars in counter-terrorism aid for the Philippines.

The Philippine-US Mutual Defense Board, which met in Honolulu last week, has included a "long-term program against terrorism" in its current five-year plan.

"There's nothing wrong with (the sustained program) but there must be new terms of reference," said House Deputy Speaker for the Visayas Raul Gonzalez.

Lozada urged President Macapagal to convene the National Security Council to discuss her plan to extend the Balikatan but on a smaller scale and with wider coverage. "For as long as it is covered by a new terms of reference, it should not be a problem," he said in a phone interview.

Both Gonzalez and Lozada warned that the sustained program should have a definite timeframe. "It should not be permanent because it would violate our Constitution. They can do it in stages," Gonzalez said.

Lozada said he wanted to see the definite plans first before giving his support or withholding it. He said general terms of reference (TOR) for a sustained Balikatan should spell out the total number of participating US troops, the specific areas where the joint training exercises will be held, and the duration of the exercises.

Frontline posting

More than 500 US troops are deployed in Basilan for training exercises that will end on July 31. The US force includes some 160 Special Forces commandos who will now be allowed to join government forces at the company level, said US Major Cynthia Teramae.

(SNIP)

She said approval came from US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who "will determine, upon his discretion," when American forces join local troops on patrol.

(MORE)

6//TimesOnline July 02, 2002
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-344305,00.html

REAL IRA HOLDS SECRET CEASEFIRE TALKS IN DUBLIN
By David Lister, Ireland Correspondent

THE Real IRA is in such disarray that it has entered into secret peace talks with the Irish Government, according to security sources.

The dissident republican group, which killed 29 people with the Omagh bomb in 1998, is said to have approached civil servants in Dublin about ending its bloody campaign in return for concessions for its prisoners.

The negotiations are being pushed by the family of the group's alleged leader, Michael McKevitt, who is in prison awaiting trial on charges of directing terrorism. He is suffering from hypertension and his brother Vincent, also awaiting trial, has had a heart attack. He is on bail.

(SNIP)

Although the talks have been described as "low level", the Real IRA has also attempted to approach one of Bertie Ahern's senior advisers. Officials in Dublin are, however, sceptical about the group's motives and are said to be treating it with caution.

Security sources in the Irish Republic believe that the group has been penetrated to such an extent that its potential to cause damage has been hugely undermined. It is thought to have between 100 and 200 members, but 39 are in jail in the Republic and a security official there said yesterday: "The Garda Special Branch has effectively beaten the Real IRA. Their leaders are locked up and their remaining members are unable to mount any serious operations."

The Continuity IRA is now regarded as the main republican terrorist threat. Security sources say that its chief of staff has been travelling across the Republic and Northern Ireland recruiting and reorganising the group.

Security sources in the Irish Republic believe that the group has been penetrated to such an extent that its potential to cause damage has been hugely undermined. It is thought to have between 100 and 200 members, but 39 are in jail in the Republic and a security official there said yesterday: "The Garda Special Branch has effectively beaten the Real IRA. Their leaders are locked up and their remaining members are unable to mount any serious operations."

The Continuity IRA is now regarded as the main republican terrorist threat. Security sources say that its chief of staff has been travelling across the Republic and Northern Ireland recruiting and reorganising the group.

Security officials say that the Real IRA is bitterly divided over whether to end its faltering military campaign. The prospect of a ceasefire will be repugnant to many members because of the group's fanatical opposition to the Good Friday peace accord and one senior dissident republican denied that the talks were taking place, saying: "It would be inconceivable, it would fly in the face of everything." But others regard an end to the military campaign as inevitable: it is eight months since the group attempted an attack in mainland Britain, where it has failed to produce a single terrorist "spectacular".

(MORE)

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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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