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| August 13, 2003 |
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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. * * * 1//The New Democrat, Liberia (Published in The Netherlands)-- ANALYSIS: "GOD WILLING, I WILL BE BACK": TAYLOR LEAVES IN STYLE (With no electricity, Taylor's TV speeches and CNN transmissions were for foreign audiences. Many in Monrovia who can afford a radio got glimpse from the BBC African programs. Thus the grand departure show was for foreign viewers, not Liberians, too hungry, too afraid and without communications means to know that their monster has left in such a staged style...But he has not yet given up on his orgy of death and destruction, and his departing words, "God willing, I will be back", should serve notice to the new leaders-to-be what to expect. From a penniless exile in the 1980s, Taylor organised a force that would lead the region's destruction. Now far wealthier, better connected, "God willing I will be back" could the beginning of round two. From West African states in the 1990s, he dispatched operatives into Liberia to lay the ground for his war. From Nigeria, where money can do anything as in most countries, Liberia is not out of the woods.) 2//The
Sydney Morning Herald, Australia--AL-QAEDA GLOATS: AUSTRALIANS
ARE NEXT (The new threat came as the director general of ASIO,
Dennis
Richardson, said that Australia's "close alliance" with
the US has contributed to it being a target for terrorists...The
US deputy secretary of state, Richard Armitage, who began a visit
to Australia yesterday, skirted the issue of Australia's close ties
with the US, saying Australia was a target because it was "a
greater threat to what [al-Qaeda] want to bring about". He was
not surprised the alleged al-Qaeda claim mentioned Australia.) 4//The Moscow Times, Russia--300 OBSERVERS AT CHECHEN VOTE ("There is forgery in elections in all Russian regions, and Chechnya is such a complex region that it would be naive to think everything will go all right there," Moscow Helsinki Group head Lyudmila Alexeyeva said at a news conference Tuesday...The Kremlin's favored candidate, acting Chechen President Akhmat Kadyrov, was trailing in the most recent opinion poll released from the region. A Validata survey released at the end of June showed that 61 percent of respondents would not support him. Allegations are mounting that Kadyrov is unfairly using his administrative resources to ensure his election, Politkovskaya, who covers Chechnya for Novaya Gazeta, told the same news conference.) 5//The Guardian, UK--NEW TIGERS BARE THEIR TEETH (However, while Europe's traditional economic powerhouses are barely ticking over, the continent is not entirely without its success stories. To find them, you need to look east, to the three Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) in the north, through Slovakia in central Europe, to the Balkans in south-east Europe (Bulgaria, Croatia and Romania). In a report by HSBC, released last week, the seven countries are given a catchy name: new Europe's new tigers.) * * * 1//The
New Democrat 11 August 03 It is difficult to imagine a similar media and television coverage for any president of Charles Taylor's calibre. The show of grief at the airport as Taylor, diminutive amongst security men shielding him, convinced some journalists Liberians were losing their angel, with the conclusion, according to CNN, that he has immense support in Monrovia. Tearful supporters carried the day, again convincing the media a man who sustained the most horrific destruction of lives and property, leaving the country in total ruins and at the mercy of the international community, was in fact loved. As the Nigerian plane taxied, his supporters were seen heads down, as if they know it will be a different life, perhaps the end of the impunity they enjoyed for many years under Taylor's protection. One Monrovia resident, on a mobile phone, was shocked over the departure. With no electricity, Taylor's TV speeches and CNN transmissions were for foreign audiences. Many in Monrovia who can afford a radio got glimpse from the BBC African programs. Thus the grand departure show was for foreign viewers, not Liberians, too hungry, too afraid and without communications means to know that their monster has left in such a staged style. (SNIP) It all seemed a horror film it is. Taylor had pledged before the war got closer to Monrovia he wanted to be the one Liberian president alive, since all his predecessors have been killed violently in recent years, one, his former boss Samuel Doe, by his Libyan trained rebels. But he has not yet given up on his orgy of death and destruction, and his departing words, "God willing, I will be back", should serve notice to the new leaders-to-be what to expect. From a penniless exile in the 1980s, Taylor organised a force that would lead the region's destruction. Now far wealthier, better connected, "God willing I will be back" could the beginning of round two. From West African states in the 1990s, he dispatched operatives into Liberia to lay the ground for his war. From Nigeria, where money can do anything as in most countries, Liberia is not out of the woods. He planned his exit for the cameras, with a number of African rulers descending on a capital he shares with the rebels to witness the transfer of power. Here is a typical African theatre. Where else, in today's world, would regional leaders actually take the trouble of seeing one of Africa's most violent, most corrupt tyrants leave power in such style, as if a decent, respectable man? But that his neighbours-Guinea, Sierra Leone and Cote d'Ivoire ---ignored the sham tells what kind of man Liberia offered this sub region. This is Africa, indeed. In Iraq, the sons of another dictator, the man UNHCR chief says has more stature than the Liberian pariah, are hunted down and killed with international applause. Their bullet-riddled corpses are proudly shown on television, justified with stories they were evil and therefore deserve to die in such manner. In Liberia, another tyrant is given a hero's exit despite the trail of death and destruction he is leaving behind. (MORE)
AL-QAEDA GLOATS: AUSTRALIANS ARE NEXT Al-Qaeda has claimed responsibility for last week's bombing of the Marriott Hotel in Jakarta, singling out Australians as particular targets. The Prime Minister, John Howard, said the claim "could well be authentic". (SNIP) Mr Howard noted that Australia had been mentioned by al-Qaeda in a hostile way before, including before the September 11 attacks in the United States. "This most recent statement does not on our advice of itself change the threat level facing Australia. It does, however, point to the strong links between al-Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiah, the latter of which is most probably responsible for carrying out the Marriott bombing." The new threat came as the director general of ASIO, Dennis Richardson, said that Australia's "close alliance" with the US has contributed to it being a target for terrorists. And it was "only a matter of time" before there was a "catastrophic" - chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear - terrorist attack in Australia. Mr Richardson made the comments at an off-the-record briefing to the annual conference of the Pacific Area Newspaper Publisher's Association last week, but decided to make his remarks public yesterday. (SNIP) "The fact that we are in close alliance with the US and the fact that we were early and actively engaged in the war on terrorism does contribute to us being a target," he said. The US deputy secretary of state, Richard Armitage, who began a visit to Australia yesterday, skirted the issue of Australia's close ties with the US, saying Australia was a target because it was "a greater threat to what [al-Qaeda] want to bring about". He was not surprised the alleged al-Qaeda claim mentioned Australia. Indonesian police yesterday hinted at the likely involvement of a Malaysian, Dr Azahari bin Husin, and Indonesian Dulmatin in the Marriott bombing. They are believed to have built the Bali bombs.
IRAN'S RICH AND WELL-CONNECTED FAVOR ECONOMIC STATUS QUO Nicholas Birch TEHRAN: Two years ago, Hossein Yazdi was looking forward to a quiet retirement. Now he's back at work as one of Tehran's countless unofficial taxi drivers, trying to supplement a monthly pension of $65. "A kilo of meat costs $5 these days; most weeks my wife and I go without," he says angrily. "If things carry on like this, people like us will soon be dying of starvation." Strong words, but by no means unusual in a city where people's conversation turns with alarming speed to their daily struggle to make ends meet. But what makes such talk baffling is that most economists insist the country is relatively well-managed. "Iran has huge resources of oil and gas, and the rise in oil prices since 1999 from $10 a barrel to over $26 today has given the economy an immense boost," says Yves Cadilhon, head of the French economic mission in Tehran. "Quite frankly, they've used the money well: roads have been improved throughout Iran, and their electricity infrastructure is now as good as Turkey's." "Our sales have more than quadrupled since 1996," says Saeed Laylaz, assistant manager of sales and marketing for the country's biggest car maker, Iran Khodro. "Somebody must have money to buy them." So why are Iranians complaining? For Laylaz, a supporter of moderate President Mohammad Khatami, popular gripes are a side effect of political reforms. "People are no longer afraid to speak out. They're not ... angrier, just more vocal," he argues. Jahangir Amuzegar, Iran's finance minister in the 1970s, disagrees: "It's the envy factor," he says. "I doubt anybody is getting poorer, but the trouble is that a tiny minority is getting richer very quickly." It has been a bitter pill to swallow given that "the covenant of the meek," or social justice, was a favorite catch-phrase of the leaders of Iran's 1979 revolution. It has been made far worse, though, by the fact that the principal beneficiaries of wealth redistribution have been regime clerics and their closest allies. (SNIP) "The regime knows it has no choice but to liberalize," argues Saeed Laylaz. "They may use anti-Western rhetoric as their political trump card, but they can only save themselves by opening up the country." Jahangir Amuzegar is more pessimistic: "It's not Islamic ideology that's holding the system up; it's the clerics' and bazaaris' hold on the economy," he says.
300 OBSERVERS AT CHECHEN VOTE The respected Moscow Helsinki human rights group said Tuesday that it will send more than 300 observers to Chechnya to prevent fraud at the Oct. 5 presidential election. Award-winning journalist Anna Politkovskaya warned that dirty games were already going on and that some presidential candidates have received threats. "There is forgery in elections in all Russian regions, and Chechnya is such a complex region that it would be naive to think everything will go all right there," Moscow Helsinki Group head Lyudmila Alexeyeva said at a news conference Tuesday. "We believe that with our observers we will at least reduce the level of forgery so that a second round takes place," she said. At least one observer will spend the full day at most of Chechnya's 420 polling stations, and a list of the participants will be ready in three weeks, she said. The presidential human rights commission has given its blessing to the project, she said. (SNIP) Fourteen candidates have been registered to run in the election. To win in the first round, a candidate needs to get more than 50 percent of the vote. The Kremlin's favored candidate, acting Chechen President Akhmat Kadyrov, was trailing in the most recent opinion poll released from the region. A Validata survey released at the end of June showed that 61 percent of respondents would not support him. Allegations are mounting that Kadyrov is unfairly using his administrative resources to ensure his election, Politkovskaya, who covers Chechnya for Novaya Gazeta, told the same news conference. (MORE) 5//The
Guardian Tuesday August 12, 2003 NEW TIGERS BARE THEIR TEETH As Europe's traditional economic success stories struggle, seven countries in the east of the continent are forging ahead. Mark Tran explains The first estimates of economic growth in Germany and euroland for the second quarter, due this week, are likely to make bleak reading. Both are expected to show very subdued activity, in line with the weak survey numbers and industrial production figures that have already appeared. With Italy also in recession, countries that account for 60% of eurozone gross domestic product (GDP) were probably stagnant in the second quarter. So euroland is doing a poor job of picking up the slack at a time when the world's traditional economic locomotive, the US, is having difficulty picking up steam. However, while Europe's traditional economic powerhouses are barely ticking over, the continent is not entirely without its success stories. To find them, you need to look east, to the three Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) in the north, through Slovakia in central Europe, to the Balkans in south-east Europe (Bulgaria, Croatia and Romania). In a report by HSBC, released last week, the seven countries are given a catchy name: new Europe's new tigers. The new tigers should all record growth of more than 4% in 2003, according to economic experts. To put that into perspective, the UK, western Europe's fastest-growing economy, will be lucky to grow by 1.7% this year. The figure is well short of the chancellor, Gordon Brown's, forecast of between 2% and 2.5%. Latvia and Lithuania are likely to match or outstrip even China's impressive growth this year. Admittedly, the new tigers started from a low base, emerging from inefficient, centrally-planned systems, so there was plenty of untapped potential. Still, their success should not be underestimated. The Baltic states, after breaking away from the former Soviet Union, had to set up public institutions from scratch, while having to overcome the collapse of Russian markets. Meanwhile, Croatia was coping with the aftermath of the bloody Bosnian conflict of 1991-1995, and Bulgaria and Romania were weak states. HSBC attributes the success of the new tigers to their zeal for economic reform. While central European countries such as Poland showed a diminishing appetite for reform, a byword for austerity programmes, the new tigers have yet to hit the wall. The prospect of EU membership also acted as a spur to whip their economies into shape. Only Estonia received an invitation to open negotiations for EU accession in 1997, giving the others had plenty of incentive to put their economic houses in order to prepare the ground for entry into the EU club. (MORE) | |||||
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