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//The Moscow Times, Russia-- OPINION: IS THIS THE BEGINNING OF THE END FOR PUTIN? (In the Kremlin, it has long been understood that the Chechen war cannot be won -- however it could be forgotten. One could pretend that the problem was not being dealt with because it did not exist and then convince everyone else that was the case. But reality always gets its own back. The Kremlin won the information battle, by silencing its critics and forcing the mass media to keep quiet about what was actually going on in Chechnya. However, having won that battle, it lost the war. The belief in the omnipotence of propaganda resulted in political impotence.)
2//Sydney Morning Herald, Australia--KEEP TROOPS HOME: SPLIT ON WAR ROLE (But Australia's united political front since the Bali bombing is fracturing, with the Opposition saying special forces already operating in the Middle East should be sent home rather than be redeployed against Saddam Hussein.)
3//Arabia.com,
United Arab Emirates-- ILLEGAL BOSNIAN ARMS SALES TO IRAQ MAY BECOME REGIONAL
SCANDAL: ASHDOWN ("It is emerging that the military complexes of
the (former) Yugoslav Peoples' Army (JNA) carried on operating irrespectively
of the break-up of (the former) Yugoslavia," the diplomat told AFP.
"The whole thing is a network ... and it is outside any effective
political control," he added.)
4//Asia Times Online, Hong Kong--DOCTOR, ALL'S NOT WELL IN PAKISTAN (As
widely expected, the strong showing by an alliance of Muslim religious
parties at Pakistan's national elections two weeks ago has already had
an impact on the country, even though the new parliament has yet to be
formed. This is illustrated by the furor surrounding the detention in
Lahore of renowned Dr Amir Aziz on Monday by Pakistani and Federal Bureau
of Investigation (FBI) officials.)
5//The Independent, UK--CONSERVATIVES PULL THE PLUG ON NUCLEAR POWER (The
shift in policy is designed to put Tony Blair and his energy ministers
on the spot by isolating them in their support for nuclear power as they
put the final touches to a White Paper, to be published around the turn
of the year.)
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1//The
Moscow Times Saturday, Oct. 26, 2002. Page 10
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2002/10/26/008.html
OPINION:
IS THIS THE BEGINNING OF THE END FOR PUTIN?
By Boris Kagarlitsky
Boris Kagarlitsky is a Moscow-based sociologist.
President Vladimir Putin's rule started with the Moscow apartment bombings in 1999 and with his promises to establish order in the country. Many Russian citizens saw in Putin the embodiment of their dream of a trustworthy state and a firm hand. Order and security were to be attained no matter what the cost, while human rights and freedom of speech were put on the back burner or completely forgotten.
Today, Putin is up against the most serious crisis of his presidency. The group of gunmen who seized the "Nord Ost" theater in Moscow have dealt the Kremlin regime a blow straight to the heart. Putin promised security, but three years after he came to power, fully armed gunmen in Chechen uniform were able to ride unhindered around the capital in jeeps and seize hundreds of hostages. He promised order, but his law enforcement agencies and military demonstrate total powerlessness.
One could state that the "counter-terrorist operation" conducted in Chechnya over the past three years has been a complete flop. But that would be untrue, because there was never any attempt to conduct a counter-terrorist operation in Chechnya. It hasn't even been a war, but rather a brutal and senseless pogrom.
In the Kremlin, it has long been understood that the Chechen war cannot be won -- however it could be forgotten. One could pretend that the problem was not being dealt with because it did not exist and then convince everyone else that was the case. But reality always gets its own back. The Kremlin won the information battle, by silencing its critics and forcing the mass media to keep quiet about what was actually going on in Chechnya. However, having won that battle, it lost the war. The belief in the omnipotence of propaganda resulted in political impotence.
The
reality of the Chechen tragedy burst into the political life of the country
in the most brutal manner: The war came to Moscow, ripping through all
information barriers and Impediments. I mean war and not terrorism. You
can condemn the gunmen as much as you like, but it would be bare-faced
hypocrisy to omit that the federal army in Chechnya behaves itself considerably
worse than the Chechens who seized the theater.
(SNIP)
With this new terrorist act in Moscow, the sun is starting to set on Putin's rule. Let's leave analysis of the various versions of this event to the conspiracy theorists. However, its consequences will be no less dramatic than those in 1999.
2//Sydney Morning Herald Monday, October 28, 2002
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/10/27/1035683305914.html
KEEP
TROOPS HOME: SPLIT ON WAR ROLE
By Tom Allard, Mike Seccombe and Michael Millett
The Prime Minister will renew talks with the United States President,
George Bush, today with his Government under pressure to commit Australian
troops - including SAS soldiers - to the regional war on terrorism rather
than a conflict with Iraq.
In an address to the terrorism-dominated APEC leaders' summit in Mexico, Mr Howard yesterday maintained strong Australian support for Washington's brinkmanship on Baghdad, warning the Iraq "problem" would not disappear.
But Australia's united political front since the Bali bombing is fracturing, with the Opposition saying special forces already operating in the Middle East should be sent home rather than be redeployed against Saddam Hussein.
"Australia is at threat at home and it has to be secure in its base in its region," the Opposition Leader, Simon Crean, told the Nine network's Sunday program. "If it is a choice between those two, then it has to be security in our region."
(MORE)
3//Arabia.com October 27, 2002, 04:48 PM http://www.arabia.com/afp/news/mideast/article/english/0,10846,319750,00.html?IE=H2
ILLEGAL BOSNIAN ARMS SALES TO IRAQ MAY BECOME REGIONAL SCANDAL: ASHDOWN
SARAJEVO (AFP) - The recent discovery that a Bosnian Serb defence firm made secret military sales to Iraq in breach of UN sanctions on Baghdad may have lifted the curtain on a more extensive regional scandal, Bosnia's top international envoy said.
"We do not know the extent of this matter but my guess is it's going to be very wide-ranging. It's going to be regional and it's going to extend into areas which will surprise us," envoy Paddy Ashdown told reporters.
Ashdown
refused to elaborate other than to say: "The extent of the network
here may well turn to be quite widespread."
After initial denials, Bosnian Serbs admitted on Thursday that the Orao
defence company had secretly sold spare weapons parts to Iraq through
an import-export company run by the Yugoslav federal state, Jugoimport.
A Western diplomat who asked not to be named, echoed Ashdown's words, saying that the evidence collected in the probe into Orao indicated "wider breaches by all military industrial complexes of the former Yugoslavia".
"It is emerging that the military complexes of the (former) Yugoslav Peoples' Army (JNA) carried on operating irrespectively of the break-up of (the former) Yugoslavia," the diplomat told AFP. "The whole thing is a network ... and it is outside any effective political control," he added.
(MORE)
4//Asia Times Online October 26, 2002
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/DJ26Df05.html
DOCTOR,
ALL'S NOT WELL IN PAKISTAN
By Syed Saleem Shahzad
KARACHI - As widely expected, the strong showing by an alliance of Muslim religious parties at Pakistan's national elections two weeks ago has already had an impact on the country, even though the new parliament has yet to be formed.
This is illustrated by the furor surrounding the detention in Lahore of renowned Dr Amir Aziz on Monday by Pakistani and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) officials. Amir is said to be wanted by the US in connection with allegations that he supplied anthrax spores and biochemical weapons formulae to Islamist terrorists. He has also openly admitted to treating Osama bin Laden, as well as wounded Taliban, al-Qaeda and militant fighters in Kashmir.
Over the past few days since Amir's arrest, the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), the alliance, has been at the forefront of a campaign to have Amir released, and to block moves to transfer him to the US. The MMA's nominee for the slot of Speaker in the national assembly (which has yet to be constituted), Liaquat Baloch, warned in a statement that if Amir was not released in a short period of time, the government "would have to face serious consequences". The MMA is fiercely opposed to the presence of US troops on Pakistan's soil, and has called for their withdrawal.
Even moderate voices, including that of cricketer-turned-politician and newly elected member of the national assembly Imran Khan, have demanded the release of Amir and warned the government of trouble otherwise. Khan said that he would raise the surgeon's arrest with the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan. "If there are charges, he should be brought before our own courts of law," Khan said.
The detention of Amir has also irked top army officials, who have independently contacted President General Pervez Musharraf to convey their displeasure and strongly call for his release.
This pressure contrasts with the situation at the end of last year when Sultan Bashir, a prominent Pakistani atomic scientist, was picked up by Pakistani intelligence agencies and handed over to the FBI for interrogation. This happened as the Taliban were in the process of being routed, and at a time when the religious elements were so much on the back foot that they hardly raised a protest. Similarly, even hardliners in the army dared not protest.
But in the face of the current pressure, the interior ministry has been moved to say that Amir will not be shifted to the US, and that he will be released if there is no case against him. There have also been illegal protests in Lahore, where medical staff went on strike on Friday.
(SNIP)
After September 11, Amir ran afoul of the country's intelligence agencies on several occasions. He was interrogated over his relations with bin Laden, but all along he claimed that the al-Qaeda leader was simply his patient, and he maintained that as a doctor he would go anywhere to treat anybody, whether a common Afghan or an Osama bin Laden. Each time, Amir was released as there were no substantiated grounds for his detention.
However, on Monday he was taken again, and told to take his passport with him, and he remains in detention. For how long could well depend on just how strongly the MMA can flex its new-found muscles.
Already, in North West Frontier Province, where the MMA gained control of the provincial assembly in the recent elections, the MMA has put its foot down to any FBI action in tracking down Taliban or al-Qaeda elements. It has also warned that even a crackdown by Pakistani intelligence forces could set off serious unrest, with the result that all such operations have effectively, for the time being at least, been halted.
5//The Independent 27 October 2002
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/story.jsp?story=346244
CONSERVATIVES
PULL THE PLUG ON NUCLEAR POWER
By Geoffrey Lean and Andy McSmith
Nuclear power has lost its oldest and most loyal political champion after a dramatic U-turn by the Conservative Party.
The Opposition has in effect abandoned the controversial energy source by taking up a new position under which no more reactors could be built in Britain.
The shift in policy is designed to put Tony Blair and his energy ministers on the spot by isolating them in their support for nuclear power as they put the final touches to a White Paper, to be published around the turn of the year.
Now both opposition parties and many Labour MPs believe that no nuclear power stations should be built for the foreseeable future. But Mr Blair still wants to press ahead and construct new reactors.
The new Conservative policy is the result of months of argument and negotiation between pro- and anti-nuclear members of the Shadow Cabinet. The compromise is a victory for the sceptics, buried under a layer of obfuscation.
(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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