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 Independent, UK--KREMLIN TO IMPOSE ITS PEACE PLAN ON CHECHNYA (A Kremlin peace plan to be imposed on Chechnya will exclude separatist rebels from any role in the process and will legally bind the tiny territory to Russia forever, President Vladimir Putin said yesterday.)
2//Yemen Times, Yemen--EDITORIAL: A MOMENT OF TRUTH FOR OUR NATIONAL SOVEREIGNTY (In my opinion, Yemenis should not worry too much about their sovereignty and national pride simply because all the Arab world is lacking complete sovereignty because of the Israeli occupation and the US influence. We have become weak, defenseless, and unable to react to any sovereignty violation.)
3//The Khaleej Times, United Arab Emirates--PHILIPPINES RULES OUT US MISSILE STRIKE AGAINST SUSPECTED TERRORISTS (Tiglao's remarks came in response to US State Department coordinator for counterrorism Francis Taylor's statement the Yemen strike was legal, necessary and may be emulated in Southeast Asia, hit by a wave of terrorist bombings...Any US missile attack here without permission "would be an intrusion into our sovereignty," the presidential spokesman said.)
4//Asia Times Online, Hong Kong--BUSH OUT-HAWKED ON NORTH KOREA? (...on the issue of North Korea and its recent admission that it has embarked on a uranium-enrichment program, there are signs that Congress could be even more hawkish than Bush. That could spell trouble for Japan, South Korea and China as they seek to defuse the nuclear crisis that is slowly reaching a boiling point on the Korean Peninsula.)
5//Janes Intelligence Digest, UK--KUCHMA NOT WELCOME AT NATO (JID has discovered that the real purpose of the visit of the international team of experts to Ukraine was to collect intelligence on technical aspects of the Kolchuga radar system. With the USA gearing up for possible war with Iraq in early 2003, Washington needs to ensure it possesses air superiority. The highly mobile and easily concealed Kolchugas are believed to be responsible for the downing of an unmanned US drone over Iraq in 2001, the first to be shot down since the 'no fly zone' was created following the Gulf war. In return for providing technical specifications of the Kolchuga radar the US has agreed to not conclude in the report that it had definite proof that the Kolchugas are now in Iraq.)
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1//The
Independent 11 November 2002 00:30 BDT
http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/story.jsp?story=350973
KREMLIN
TO IMPOSE ITS PEACE PLAN ON CHECHNYA
By Fred Weir in Moscow
A Kremlin peace plan to be imposed on Chechnya will exclude separatist rebels from any role in the process and will legally bind the tiny territory to Russia forever, President Vladimir Putin said yesterday.
In his toughest rejection of any contact with the elected Chechen President, Aslan Maskhadov, Mr Putin told a meeting in the Kremlin of pro-Moscow Chechen businessmen that last month's theatre siege proved there could be no dialogue with "scum".
(SNIP)
The Kremlin plan for Chechnya involves holding a referendum on a new constitution for the mainly Muslim Caucasus republic of about one million, followed by elections to a regional parliament.
Under federal law, ethnic republics are forbidden to secede and their constitutions merely spell out the division of powers with central authority. Mr Putin said: "Citizens must understand what a Chechen settlement means. The issue here is maintaining the integrity of the Russian state."
(MORE)
2//Yemen Times 46 - November 11 thru November 17, 2002, Vol XII
http://www.yementimes.com/02/iss46/view.htm#1
EDITORIAL:
A MOMENT OF TRUTH FOR OUR NATIONAL SOVEREIGNTY
Many Yemenis have spoken out that Yemen's sovereignty was undermined by
the US strike of Nov. 3 killing six Yemeni in a car near Marib.
Indeed, we launched a small survey asking average Yemeni citizens if they thought that our sovereignty was affected by this action, and most respondents replied that our country's sovereignty was undermined, regardless if the Yemeni government agreed or did not agree on this action.
What is even more pathetic in my opinion is the way the Yemeni government has dealt with this issue. Even though there seems to have been coordination between the US and Yemen in the attack, it also seems that there has been no coordination between them in terms of how to deal with the aftermath of the incident.
The Yemeni government continued to insist for some time that the most probable result of the explosion were the explosives within the car. However, the US confession that the attack was preplanned and implemented by the CIA with the knowledge of the Yemeni government has put the Yemeni government in a difficult situation.
(SNIP)
Today, we see that the Yemeni government was put again in the corner. More than four different US sources say that Nov. 3 was a CIA attack and it was confirmed by even more sources. Just today, I was browsing the Internet for more news and I found the Pentagon officials saying that this act was normal and it serves the war against terrorism.
What will the government say? Is the US lying about it? Is this a conspiracy? Why doesn't the government just say the truth, which will be known sooner or later? I guess the government fears public reaction.
I want to comfort the government that there would be no public reaction. People - as can be concluded from the survey in this issue - are in such desperate economic hardships that they can barely raise an objection. They want to get on with their daily lives regardless of what happens. They have other priorities to deal with, especially in the holy month of Ramadan, when Yemenis tend to have a time to relax and sleep until noon.
In my opinion, Yemenis should not worry too much about their sovereignty and national pride simply because all the Arab world is lacking complete sovereignty because of the Israeli occupation and the US influence. We have become weak, defenseless, and unable to react to any sovereignty violation.
Why should the government try to hide those facts any more? We all know they are true. And continuing to hide them will only damage the trust of Yemenis in their government further. Our government must have a moment of truth for our national sovereignty. We already know that it was undermined, and there's nothing more to hide.
3//The Khaleej Times 10 November 2002. 5 Ramadan, 1423.
http://www.khaleejtimes.co.ae/theworld.htm#storyg
PHILIPPINES RULES OUT US MISSILE STRIKE AGAINST SUSPECTED TERRORISTS
MANILA - AFP - The Philippines on Sunday ruled out a US missile strike against suspected terrorists here similar to a controversial CIA mission that killed six suspected Al Qaeda members in Yemen. President Gloria Arroyo's spokesman Rigoberto Tiglao stressed the differences between the Philippines and Yemen, where there apparently was a strong indication that Al Qaeda was present.
(SNIP)
Tiglao's remarks came in response to US State Department coordinator for counterrorism Francis Taylor's statement the Yemen strike was legal, necessary and may be emulated in Southeast Asia, hit by a wave of terrorist bombings. The US government has not extended an "official request" to conduct such an operation in the Philippines, Tiglao noted, stressing that what was most needed by Philippine armed forces was military equipment.
Any
US missile attack here without permission "would be an intrusion
into our sovereignty," the presidential spokesman said. The government
could, however, employ US spy planes in its own campaign to crush militants
in the troubled south, Tiglao hinted. "Spy planes are classified
as technical assistance. A missile is a combat weapon obviously,"
Tiglao said without elaborating.
4//Asia
Times Online November 9, 2002
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Korea/DK09Dg01.html
BUSH
OUT-HAWKED ON NORTH KOREA?
By Tim Shorrock
WASHINGTON - With the Republicans now in control of both the House and Senate in the aftermath of Tuesday's mid-term elections in the United States, it's a foregone conclusion that President George W Bush will have a much easier time pushing his foreign policy agenda through Congress, particularly his military budgets for the coming war against Iraq.
But on the issue of North Korea and its recent admission that it has embarked on a uranium-enrichment program, there are signs that Congress could be even more hawkish than Bush. That could spell trouble for Japan, South Korea and China as they seek to defuse the nuclear crisis that is slowly reaching a boiling point on the Korean Peninsula.
In particular, Bush is likely to come under strong pressure from lawmakers to suspend the shipments of heavy fuel oil to North Korea that are a key part of the US contribution to the 1994 Agreed Framework under which Pyongyang agreed to dismantle its weapons program.
Although officials in both Washington and Pyongyang have indicated that the framework is dead, neither side has formally moved to end it. On Wednesday, after a brief trip to North Korea, former US ambassador to Seoul Donald Gregg said the framework "is hanging by a thread", but added that "North Korea is still supporting it".
Meanwhile, a tanker carrying 42,500 tons of fuel purchased by the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization (KEDO) is scheduled to depart on Sunday from Singapore carrying this month's promised shipment. If many in Congress - and a few officials in the Bush administration - had their way, that tanker would never leave port, and no more would follow.
(MORE)
5//Janes Intelligence Digest 7 November 2002
http://www.janes.com/security/international_security/news/jid/jid021107_1_n.shtml
KUCHMA NOT WELCOME AT NATO
JID has learned that a report by the British-US led international team of experts who visited Ukraine last month to investigate the alleged sale of four Kolchuga radars systems to Iraq in the summer of 2000 will not openly accuse Ukraine of breaching UN sanctions. Instead, the report - to be issued this week - claims it was given 'insufficient evidence' to fully exonerate President Kuchma of breaching UN sanctions.
The report concludes that the Ukrainian authorities have failed to persuade the team that Ukraine did not export Kolchuga systems to Iraq. Both the West and Ukraine agree that a July 2000 meeting did take place at which Kuchma approved the sale. An illicitly made tape recording of the meeting has been authenticated by the FBI. However, the Ukrainian authorities and Western governments disagree on whether the Kolchugas were actually sent to Iraq.
The Ukrainian government insists that it has only sold three Kolchuga radar systems to Ethiopia, but none to Iraq. Western intelligence agencies are currently investigating whether Ethiopia is still in possession of these Kolchugas or if they have been shipped to another final destination.
(SNIP)
JID has also learned that US intelligence operatives already had evidence that the Kolchugas were in Iraq before the international team visited Ukraine. This intelligence, together with the FBI authenticated tape recording of the July 2000 meeting, constituted the evidence on which the US publicly accused Ukraine at the end of September of violating UN sanctions against Iraq.
JID has discovered that the real purpose of the visit of the international team of experts to Ukraine was to collect intelligence on technical aspects of the Kolchuga radar system. With the USA gearing up for possible war with Iraq in early 2003, Washington needs to ensure it possesses air superiority. The highly mobile and easily concealed Kolchugas are believed to be responsible for the downing of an unmanned US drone over Iraq in 2001, the first to be shot down since the 'no fly zone' was created following the Gulf war. In return for providing technical specifications of the Kolchuga radar the US has agreed to not conclude in the report that it had definite proof that the Kolchugas are now in Iraq.
[End of non-subscriber extract.]
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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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