World Media Watch for August 14, 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//Arab News, Saudi Arabia--THE TRUTH ABOUT IRAQ (One thing that we will never hear Bush tell the American public is that going into Baghdad, with population of over six million, we will surely be sending the young soldiers into the death trap that will be set up by the Iraqi people... my wife, a recent immigrant from Iraq, had witnessed such actions. She told me that the government of Iraq has found a way to protect its city and people by distributing weapons to each and every home in the city. The Iraqi citizens referred to this possible invasion of the city as: Inzal, meaning: The drop.)

2//Islamic Republic News Agency, Iran--OFFICIALS CITE RISE IN US MILITARY FLIGHTS FROM GERMANY (The number of US military flights have increased at Frankfurt Airport over the past weeks, DPA quoted officials as saying Tuesday. Carsten Roehl, a spokesman for the south German town of Raunheim which borders on the airport, said the frequency of the flights reminded him of the situation before the first Persian Gulf War in 1991.)

3//The Dawn, Pakistan--EXXON BIGGER THAN PAKISTAN ECONOMY: UN (Twenty-nine of the world's 100 leading economic entities are companies, with the largest - Exxon Mobil Corp - bigger than the economy of Pakistan, a United Nations survey showed on Monday..."In general, the top companies are growing at a faster rate than countries," Unctad spokesman Miguel Perez-Ludena said.

4//The Moscow Times, Russia--PUTIN PENS CODE FOR ETHICAL CONDUCT (The nonbinding three-page document, signed Monday and released by the Kremlin's press service Tuesday, instructs government officials to refrain from abusing their positions of power, to avoid conflicts of interest and to remain "politically neutral" in the interests of the public good... Andrei Ryabov of the Moscow Carnegie Center said Tuesday he had not yet seen the presidential decree but believed it was unlikely to have any tangible effect on the country's bureaucrats...This must all be regarded as part of an election campaign," Ryabov said, referring to upcoming parliamentary and presidential elections in 2003 and 2004, respectively.)

5//The Guardian, UK--COMMENT: GERMANY WRACKED WITH UNCERTAINTY (Germany is beset by even greater uncertainty than usual in the run-up to the general election on September 22. Europe's biggest country both economically and politically, Germany is feeling its way in the dark...Whatever the outcome of September 22, Germany looks set for another period of introspection about its failure to live up to the world's economic expectations.)

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1//Arab News 13 August 2002 / 4 Jumada ath-Thani 1423
http://www.arabnews.com/Article.asp?ID=17720

THE TRUTH ABOUT IRAQ
By Rizgar Khoshnaw

Recently it seems that not a day goes by without hearing or reading that the majority of America politicians screaming that we should and "need" to attack Iraq. But to my dismay and surprise, not many people are talking about the lives of innocent people that will be lost if and when such action is taken. Whether it is the young American soldiers or innocent Iraqi citizens that will be the victims of this "personal" war that Bush is determined to get us involved in it.

Moreover, such attack might destabilize the Middle East and hurt (socially and financially) the neighboring countries such as: Saudi Arabia, Syria and Jordan, but that does not seem to bother Bush at all. How many people remember the 600 woman and children that were killed in 1991 while hiding in an underground bunker when one bomb dropped by an America war plane- taking orders from Bush, Sr., one early morning in Baghdad?

One thing that we will never hear Bush tell the American public is that going into Baghdad, with population of over six million, we will surely be sending the young soldiers into the death trap that will be set up by the Iraqi people. Feeling that they must fight to defend them selves, they will fight to the end. Lets not forget that in their minds it is the American government that has caused the death of one and a half million innocent Iraqi due to the embargo that has been placed on them for over eleven years. When Bush, Sr., the war in 1991, it was not because he loved Iraqi people, but rather he knew that the Iraqi government had distributed a great deal of weapons to its citizens in case the Americans would try to invade the Baghdad and Bush did not want to take that chance. This was a fact and my wife, a recent immigrant from Iraq, had witnessed such actions.

She told me that the government of Iraq has found a way to protect its city and people by distributing weapons to each and every home in the city. The Iraqi citizens referred to this possible invasion of the city as: Inzal, meaning: The drop. This was short title used to for the meaning of: whenever the American parachutes down to the city, that the Iraqi citizens would fire at the American soldiers before hitting the ground. That is a very scary scenario and I would not want ONE single young American to experience this possible disaster. And if Bush thinks that he can go house to house fighting the Iraqi people, he has lost the meaning of reality!

(SNIP)

In 1991 when Bush "told" the Kurds in the North to rise against Baghdad and the Arabs in the South, and the American will be right behind them to help them, the Americans never showed up! The result: 183,000 Kurds left dead and that does not include the death toll to the South. Furthermore, Bush caused over two million Kurd to flee their homes and to find refuge in Turkey where they were denied entering Turkey. The whole world knows how much the Turks love the Kurds! They were left out in the open in the cold to die and starve. These memories will never go a way and that is one reason that the Kurds will never trust Bush, Jr., his father.

Even if Bush convince, or blackmail, the Kurdish politicians to join, the Kurdish citizens will not go along with that. I know as I have visited that area sixteen times in the past five years and each visit lasted two to three months. During my visits, I had the opportunity to interview hundreds, if not thousands, of people from all levels. Last year I wrote a book about the living conditions there and how people managed their daily lives.

It was not difficult for me to get the real picture and the truth from the people I interviewed since I am an Iraqi Kurd by origin and they would tell me how they truly felt. The Kurdish people on the average are not too happy with the fact that Bush wants to attack Iraq and very possibly they will pay the price, once again even if the Kurds don't take part in this "war."

(MORE)

2//Islamic Republic News Agency (Full release)
http://www.irna.com/en/world/020813161556.ewo.shtml

OFFICIALS CITE RISE IN US MILITARY FLIGHTS FROM GERMANY

Berlin, Aug 13, 16:15 IRNA -- The number of US military flights have increased at Frankfurt Airport over the past weeks, DPA quoted officials as saying Tuesday.

Carsten Roehl, a spokesman for the south German town of Raunheim which borders on the airport, said the frequency of the flights reminded him of the situation before the first Persian Gulf War in 1991.

Meanwhile the flight noise commissioner for the state of Hess, Johann Bruinier, pointed to a seven-fold increase in US military flights compared to before the start of the anti-terror war in Afghanistan last October. According to Bruinier, between 24 and 30 military planes are taking off and landing at Frankfurt's Rhein-Main Airport. The US Rhein-Main military airbase is right next to the civilian section of Frankfurt Airport.

3//The Dawn 13 August 2002 Tuesday 03 Jamadi-us-Saani 1423
http://www.dawn.com/2002/08/13/nat19.htm

EXXON BIGGER THAN PAKISTAN ECONOMY: UN

GENEVA, Aug 12: Twenty-nine of the world's 100 leading economic entities are companies, with the largest - Exxon Mobil Corp - bigger than the economy of Pakistan, a United Nations survey showed on Monday.

Pakistan is a country of more than 141 million people, although just over half of those are of working age. An Exxon Mobil spokeswoman said the oil giant employed 95,000 staff worldwide.

The UN Conference on Trade and Development (Unctad) measured "value added" - comparing profit and wages at companies to the economic output of countries - and ranked Exxon Mobil 45th on the list with value added of $63 billion.

It found that General Motors is bigger than New Zealand while Nigeria is slotted between DaimlerChrysler and General Electric.

Tobacco company Philip Morris, with value added of $19 billion, is on a par with Tunisia, Slovakia and Guatemala, UNCTAD said.

The figures show that relative importance of the top 100 companies is on the rise, with their value-added activities accounting for 4.3 per cent of world gross domestic product in 2000 compared with 3.5 per cent in 1990.

"In general, the top companies are growing at a faster rate than countries," Unctad spokesman Miguel Perez-Ludena said.

(MORE)

4//The Moscow Times Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2002. Page 1
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2002/08/14/003.html

PUTIN PENS CODE FOR ETHICAL CONDUCT
By Andrei Zolotov Jr.
Staff Writer

In an attempt to boost public trust in government and maintain control over the course of administrative reform, President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree outlining the general principles of ethical conduct for public officials, calling on them to be professional, efficient and conscientious.

The nonbinding three-page document, signed Monday and released by the Kremlin's press service Tuesday, instructs government officials to refrain from abusing their positions of power, to avoid conflicts of interest and to remain "politically neutral" in the interests of the public good. "A civil servant ... must proceed on the premise that recognizing, upholding and protecting the rights and freedoms of people and citizens determine the main purpose and substance" of his work, reads the document.

On paper, the decree addresses a major concern of ordinary Russian citizens, who routinely find themselves at the mercy of corrupt officials and endless bureaucratic rigmarole -- often blamed for stifling personal initiative and private enterprise.

(SNIP)

Andrei Ryabov of the Moscow Carnegie Center said Tuesday he had not yet seen the presidential decree but believed it was unlikely to have any tangible effect on the country's bureaucrats.

"First and foremost, the behavioral code [of public officials] is determined by socioeconomic conditions," Ryabov said by telephone. In reality, he added, many top-level functionaries depend on sources of income other than their official salaries and often use their positions for personal gain.

Ryabov speculated that the Kremlin's decision to issue the decree now may be an attempt to "seize the political initiative" and push its own version of administrative reform instead of the one submitted this spring by the Duma deputies.

"This must all be regarded as part of an election campaign," Ryabov said, referring to upcoming parliamentary and presidential elections in 2003 and 2004, respectively.

"This is not the way to boost public trust," Ryabov added. "Public trust is boosted by the effectiveness of the state machine, and a reduction in the reams of paperwork that people are required to produce or obtain in their relations with the government. Unfortunately, in this sense, I doubt the code will accomplish anything."

5//The Guardian Tuesday August 13, 2002
http://www.guardian.co.uk/germany/article/0,2763,773829,00.html

COMMENT: GERMANY WRACKED WITH UNCERTAINTY
David Gow
David Gow is the Guardian's industrial editor

Germany is beset by even greater uncertainty than usual in the run-up to the general election on September 22.

Europe's biggest country both economically and politically, Germany is feeling its way in the dark. The ruling party's election campaign is already in full swing, brought forward to the holiday period by chancellor Gerhard Schröder. Supporters of Schröder hope that his personal standing and attractiveness, compared with the stiff and drab personality of his opponent, Edmund Stoiber, will enable his coalition of Social Democrats and Greens to close the long-standing gap with the conservative and liberal grouping. Schröder could even prepare the ground for a grand coalition of Social and Christian Democrats that he has long favoured - allowing him to cut loose from the unstable liberals of the Free Democratic Party (FDP).

Even though the opposition has held a clear lead for the whole of this year, the outcome of the election is still unclear.

German business executives, many of whom like Schröder, but favour the FDP on policy grounds, worry about the prospect of a grand coalition as this would set back even further the prospects for economic reform, in areas such as the welfare system.

(SNIP)

Already, commentators have been re-examining their lukewarm forecasts for German growth as the strength of the euro has reduced the scope for increased exports - the traditional source of growth - and consumers show considerable reluctance to take up the slack. The US bank Goldman Sachs saw growth stuck at 0.6% this year, rising to 1.7% in 2003 - close to the economy's full potential.

(SNIP)

Schröder came to power with a promise that the number of unemployed would be under 3.5 million by this time, but he is certain to face the electorate next month with figures above that level.

"Economic growth is too weak and unstable to revive the labour market," says Florian Gerster, head of the federal labour office and a Social Democrat.

A policy response could be required to avoid a slowdown in growth and potentially a slide back into recession.

Normally that could only be a loosening of the fiscal reins and allowing public spending to rise - rather than the 1.2bn euro cuts projected for next year. The cuts are designed to meet the stability and growth pact's commitment to a virtually balanced budget in 2004.

Germany, the traditional guardian of Europe's "stability culture," may well find itself criticised even more forcibly than it was earlier this year for appearing to breach the pact's target.

Whatever the outcome of September 22, Germany looks set for another period of introspection about its failure to live up to the world's economic expectations.

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

Updated listings of Radio for Progressives on the internet at http://www.zianet.com/insightanalytical

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