by Gloria R. Lalumia
World
Media Watch
by Gloria R. Lalumia
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//Asia Times Online, Hong Kong-COMMENTARY: PRAIRIE FIRE OF TERROR SPREADS TO MOSCOW ("One doesn't go to a 'war' against terrorism with bagpipers playing Colonel Bogey's March and thousands of patriotic citizens waving the US flag as an armada sets sail. In an effective counter-terrorism campaign, one thinks unconventionally, plans unconventionally and strikes unconventionally - while all the time having one's feet firmly on the ground. One avoids bombast and rhetoric and focuses on action based on ground realities. Lack of professionalism has been the defining characteristic of the war so far.")
2//The Australian, Australia--HANDGUNS SHOULD BE BANNED BY CHRISTMAS (A national ban on almost all handguns could be in place by the end of this year following agreement between the Prime Minister and premiers on tightening firearm laws.)
3//The Khaleej Times, United Arab Emirates--ARAB NATIONS WILL NOT SUPPORT ATTACK ON IRAQ: LEAGUE (Arab nations will not support a US military strike against Iraq, as they did during the Gulf war in 1991, since there is no justification for an attack today, the general secretary of the Arab League said in an interview published on Thursday... Saudi Arabia, Washington's main ally in the Gulf, said on Monday it would not take part in any military intervention in Iraq, whether it was launched solely by the United States or had the backing of the United Nations.)
4//Gulf
News Online, United Arab Emirates--GCC AGREES ON EMERGENCY OIL OUTPUT
STRATEGY (The GCC has decided to help out each other if - due to any contingency
- a country is forced to stop production of oil. The decision was taken
at the meeting of the oil and gas undersecretaries of GCC states yesterday.)
5//TheNewsMexico.com, Mexico--UNSTOPPABLE LULA READIES TO TAKE OVER LEADERSHIP
OF BRAZIL (Lula has accepted an offer by Cardoso to form a transition
team that would include 50 people from the current government and 50 picked
by the future president...This was seen as a crucial move that could go
a long way toward easing the nerves of investors, jarred by the likelihood
a leftist could soon become the leader of the world's 11th largest economy,
even though Lula has dramatically toned down his leftist rhetoric and
moved closer to the political center.)
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1//Asia
Times Online October 25, 2002
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/DJ25Ak03.html
COMMENTARY
PRAIRIE FIRE OF TERROR SPREADS TO MOSCOW
By B Raman
B Raman is Additional Secretary (ret), Cabinet Secretariat, Government of India, and presently director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai; member of the National Security Advisory Board of the Government of India. He was also head of the counter-terrorism division of the Research & Analysis Wing, India's external intelligence agency, from 1988 to August, 1994.
Is there a prairie fire of jihadi terrorism spreading across the world?
New Delhi, Kolkata, Karachi, Tunisia, Yemen, Kuwait, Bali and now Moscow - one year after the start of Operation Enduring Freedom, are the US and the rest of the world even dimly aware of the nature of Osama bin Laden's International Islamic Front and the seriousness of the threat posed to millions of innocents? Is the international community anywhere near finding an effective response to the scourge of religious terrorism?
Have countries such as India, China, Russia, the Central Asian Republics, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines been wise in their uncritical acceptance of US perceptions of the threat? Have they been wise in identifying themselves closely with US, which has been carrying out its international war on terrorism, in the name of the international community, without consulting the members of that community?
These questions ought to come to mind as one analyzes reports of the Chechen terrorist strike in a Moscow theater on October 23.
(SNIP)
Before commenting on the developments in Moscow, it would be in order to draw attention to some of my past observations on Operation Enduring Freedom as they have relevance to the questions posed above.
In an article titled "Will terrorists have the last laugh?" published on September 27, 2001, I wrote, "Will the terrorists of the world have the last laugh? That should be the disturbing question in everyone's mind as Mr George W Bush, the US president, and his aides mishandle their much-trumpeted 'war' against terrorism, which seems to have lost its direction, momentum and credibility even before it began. Counter-terrorism strikes should be felt and not seen. They are delivered in stealth and not before TV cameras.
"One doesn't go to a 'war' against terrorism with bagpipers playing Colonel Bogey's March and thousands of patriotic citizens waving the US flag as an armada sets sail. In an effective counter-terrorism campaign, one thinks unconventionally, plans unconventionally and strikes unconventionally - while all the time having one's feet firmly on the ground. One avoids bombast and rhetoric and focuses on action based on ground realities. Lack of professionalism has been the defining characteristic of the war so far."
(SNIP)
The anger against the US and Israel is a common thread uniting all these organizations, but there are also other influences on them arising from purely domestic factors. A new aggravating factor is their anger at their governments for cooperating with the US in its global war on terrorism.
Religious terrorists tend to be extremely irrational. In the way counter-terrorism operations are conducted by governments and projected to the public, one has to be careful not to add to their irrationality. The campaign and the multilateral cooperation have to be more covert than overt, avoiding the high profile, the spectacular and the bombastic. The ill-advised rhetoric and bombast from Washington and the reliance more on spectacular military operations than on unpublicized covert actions have acted as a red rag to the terrorist bull, adding to the irrationality.
In fighting against this fire, each affected country has to take into account the local circumstances and sensitivities and avoid being bulldozed by the US, as it has been trying to do in Indonesia, into adopting a counter-terrorism response that may suit the US interests, but not those of the countries of the region.
All countries facing the scourge of jihadi terrorism have to fight the evil according to their own genius, with the help of intelligence and legal assistance from the other members of the international community, including the US. The US cannot win this war for them. They have to win it by their own thinking and action. Unfortunately, since the so-called war on terrorism started, all countries affected by this cancer - whether India, Russia, China or those of Southeast Asia - have been hoping that they can ride to victory on the shoulders of the US. They cannot. On the contrary, domestic perceptions of an undue dependence on the US and undue deference to the US-dictated counter-terrorism requirements could aggravate the problem.
That's the message loud and clear from Moscow.
2//The Australian October 25, 2002
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common
/story_page/0,5744,5355307%255E601,00.html
HANDGUNS
SHOULD BE BANNED BY CHRISTMAS
By Sophie Morris
A NATIONAL ban on almost all handguns could be in place by the end of this year following agreement between the Prime Minister and premiers on tightening firearm laws.
At a meeting with state leaders in Canberra yesterday, John Howard proposed a buyback of all handguns, except those used for Commonwealth or Olympic Games and similar events or for police, security and military purposes.
The Labor premiers emerged from the meeting voicing in-principle support and expressing optimism about a federal-state accord to strengthen firearm legislation.
The campaign to reduce the number of handguns in the community and increase the regulation of those few that remain follows Monday's shooting rampage at Monash University in which 36-year-old Huan Yun Xiang, who had licences for seven handguns, allegedly killed two students and wounded five others.
"The public demands that more be done to control the proliferation of handguns," Mr Howard said.
"We have won very significant dividends from the controls enacted after the Port Arthur disaster (in 1996, when 35 people were massacred) and I believe over time if we have the determination and the unity to act together, that we can achieve similar dividends in relation to handgun control."
(SNIP)
The buyback of 643,000 longarm rifles after Port Arthur cost the commonwealth $320 million but Mr Howard said yesterday he did not see the need for another levy to finance a handgun buyback and amnesty.
There remains some confusion about which weapons would be blacklisted, with Greens senator Bob Brown warning yesterday that the Sporting Shooters Council, which is to advise the Government about which guns are used in competition, could erode the effect of the ban.
And Opposition community security spokesman Mark Latham claimed the ban would only affect 10,000 weapons because 95 per cent of handguns in Australia were used in competitions.
(MORE)
3//The Khaleej Times 24 October 2002. 18 Shaaban, 1423.
http://www.khaleejtimes.co.ae/middleeast.htm#storyf
ARAB NATIONS WILL NOT SUPPORT ATTACK ON IRAQ: LEAGUE
LISBON (AFP) - Arab nations will not support a US military strike against Iraq, as they did during the Gulf war in 1991, since there is no justification for an attack today, the general secretary of the Arab League said in an interview published on Thursday. "The situation was totally different (in 1991). At that time there was a justification. There had been an invasion of an Arab nation that needed to be immediately stopped," Amr Moussa told Portuguese daily Diario de Noticias.
"Today there is no invasion, we don't feel any threat in the region coming from Iraq, there is no justification for military intervention," he added. The former Egyptian Foreign Minister was in Portugal to take part in a conference on relations between Portugal and Arab nations. Saudi Arabia, Washington's main ally in the Gulf, said on Monday it would not take part in any military intervention in Iraq, whether it was launched solely by the United States or had the backing of the United Nations.
(MORE)
4//Gulf
News Online 24-10-2002
http://www.gulf-news.com/Articles/news.asp?ArticleID=66537
GCC
AGREES ON EMERGENCY OIL OUTPUT STRATEGY
Oman |By Sunil K. Vaidya
The GCC has decided to help out each other if - due to any contingency - a country is forced to stop production of oil. The decision was taken at the meeting of the oil and gas undersecretaries of GCC states yesterday.
"If any member state has a production problem due to an adverse situation in the region, the other members will compensate by producing extra oil for the affected member," Oman's Oil and Gas undersecretary, Salim bin Mohammed Shaaban, told newsmen after a two-hour meeting.
The meeting was held as a prelude to the GCC oil ministers meet to be held in Muscat on Saturday to discuss the oil market and emergency situations that may arise.
(MORE)
5//TheNewsMexico.com Thursday, October 24, 20
http://www.thenewsmexico.com/noticia.asp?id=38235
UNSTOPPABLE
LULA READIES TO TAKE OVER LEADERSHIP OF BRAZIL
Patrick Moser, AFP
SAO PAULO - Seeming unstoppable in his bid for Brazil's presidency, leftist leader Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is reaching out to nervous investors and preparing to get to work as soon as Sunday's election is over.
The latest opinion poll projects that the former trade union leader would garner 65 percent of the ballots in the upcoming second round of voting, and take a 30-point lead over Jose Serra of the ruling Brazilian Social Democratic Party.
(SNIP)
Lula, 57, has made it clear he would get down to work immediately, rather than wait until President Fernando Henrique Cardoso hands over on January 1.
"We will not wait until January 1 to start work," said Lula, a former factory worker with little formal education.
Lula has accepted an offer by Cardoso to form a transition team that would include 50 people from the current government and 50 picked by the future president.
The candidate's aides have said he would announce the make-up of the team as soon as the vote count is completed on Monday.
This was seen as a crucial move that could go a long way toward easing the nerves of investors, jarred by the likelihood a leftist could soon become the leader of the world's 11th largest economy, even though Lula has dramatically toned down his leftist rhetoric and moved closer to the political center.
It was widely expected that Lula's choice of future central bank chief and finance ministers would play a key role in the transition. Lula has indicated the two may come from outside the Workers Party (PT) and there is widespread speculation they would be close to financial markets.
(MORE)
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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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