January 30, 2006

World Media Watch

by Gloria R. Lalumia

BuzzFlash Note: WMW provides BuzzFlash readers foreign views and perspectives that are not usually available from the media here in the U.S. The presentation of these articles from these international publications is not an endorsement of their viewpoints.

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WORLD MEDIA WATCH FOR JANUARY 30, 2006

1//The Moscow Times, Russia--OPINION: GEORGE AND VLADIMIR YAWN AT DEMOCRACY (… Vladimir Vladimirovich and George Georgevich came to power around the age of 50 and both as exceptions to the rule that modern democratic political leaders typically rise to power through party ranks. Bush and Putin didn't have to pay their dues, and thus failed to learn about compromise and realism -- qualities that make politics, in Bismarck's famous words, "the art of the possible." As a result, the two presidents have introduced something that had been pleasantly absent from great power politics for several decades -- namely, the private vendetta. … More to the point, Putin and Bush have shown with their privately driven policy initiatives that the world's two nuclear superpowers have become bored with the democratic process -- Russia after only a decade, the United States after 230 years. An institutional vacuum has developed in both countries. After what we have seen in recent years, the emergence of a real, far more dangerous dictator or a world-class adventurer can no longer be ruled out either in the Kremlin or -- far more troubling -- in the White House.)

2//The Times, London--HANDOVER OF POWER TO BROWN HAS BEGUN, SAYS BLUNKETT (David Blunkett opened a fresh bout of speculation about Tony Blair’s future yesterday by suggesting that the promised “orderly transition” of power to Gordon Brown was under way. Mr Blunkett, who worked closely with both men while a Cabinet minister, said the process by which the Prime Minister will stand down and endorse his Chancellor to replace him might be complete in a year, or two years at most. … Mr Blunkett’s remarks came in his first major broadcast interview since his second resignation from the Cabinet last November. In it he claimed that there was an “understanding” about the succession between Mr Blair and Mr Brown. … Patricia Hewitt, the Health Secretary, stuck to the official line, saying in a separate interview that Mr Blair would choose his own time to go. But she said that the Prime Minister and the Chancellor had been united at a political session of the Cabinet early this month in telling colleagues that Labour’s response to David Cameron’s election as Tory leader must be to stick to the centre ground.)

3//The Chosun Ilbo, South Korea--U.S. IN SWEEPING PLAN TO STRANGLE N. KOREA’S CASH FLOW (The U.S. is readying fresh sanctions against North Korea over the regime’s alleged financial crimes that will be significantly more severe than the ones already in place. Raphael Perl, a congressional researcher in charge of tracking Pyongyang’s drug dealings and counterfeiting, said Friday authorities completed a rough draft of an executive order that would stop any financial firms involved in transactions with North Korea from conducting business in the U.S. … That will mean all banks, brokerage houses and insurance firms and refers not only to illegal transactions but to any financial deals with the North, Perl told the Chosun Ilbo on the phone. Once the regulations are finalized, “the message to financial institutions operating in the U.S. will be that the time has come for them to choose between the U.S. or North Korea,” he added. … Given that Pyongyang is already boycotting six-party talks aimed at dismantling its nuclear program over the earlier measures, the plan could be the death knell for the negotiations.)

4//Asia Times Online, Hong Kong--INDIA AND SAUDI ARABIA MOVE BEYOND OIL (Oil was expected to feature prominently in this week's visit of King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz of Saudi Arabia to India. But terror and geostrategy figured as much, signifying that Riyadh and New Delhi have worked out common grounds that have taken more than a decade to iron out. … Analysts say that such moves by Saudi Arabia are also calculated to prompt a decisive tilt by New Delhi away from Iran, which is a big competitor in the energy market. Officials accompanying King Abdullah said that Riyadh was uncomfortable with Tehran's nuclear-development program, a stand that goes down well with New Delhi, which has been facing domestic political pressure because of its siding with Western powers on the issue. … Observers also say that New Delhi pushing ties with Riyadh is a result of a well thought out process at a time when New Delhi's relations with Iran are pegged to the way Washington perceives Tehran. India has enjoyed traditional ties with Iran and Iraq for a long time to meet its energy requirements. However, in the context of Tehran's aggressive anti-Western tirades and independent nuclear program, and the problems in Iraq, India has been looking to extend its influence beyond the Persian Gulf to the Saudi peninsula.)

5//The Daily Star, Lebanon--U.S. WARNS INDIA AGAINST INVESTING IN SYRIAN OILFIELD (Washington, which is negotiating a landmark civilian nuclear deal with India, has asked New Delhi to reconsider its decision to buy a Syrian oilfield with China, a report said Saturday. The demand was made earlier this month and a note with Washington's objections was handed over to Indian Foreign Ministry officials, The Hindu newspaper reported. The report came after the U.S. ambassador to India warned earlier this week that the country could lose out on the crucial nuclear deal if it does not vote against Iran's nuclear program at a meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency [IAEA] on February 2. The Indian government told ambassador David Mulford his remarks were "not conducive to building a strong partnership between the two democracies.")

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1//The Moscow Times, Russia Monday, January 30, 2006. Page 9,
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2006/01/30/006.html

OPINION: GEORGE AND VLADIMIR YAWN AT DEMOCRACY
By Alexei Bayer
(Alexei Bayer, a former Muscovite, is a New York-based economist.)

At first blush, there is little similarity between the diligent ex-KGB foreign intelligence officer who rules Russia and the blue-blooded scion of a political family who rules the United States. And yet, when George W. Bush declared in 2001 that he got a sense of Vladimir Putin's soul by looking "the man in the eye," it rang strangely true. There actually are close parallels between the men who, at the start of the new millennium, stumbled upon the presidencies of the two former Cold War rivals.

Both are accidental rulers. Putin was chosen almost at random by a coterie of rich oligarchs and Kremlin insiders. Bush, although born with a silver spoon in his mouth, was so lacking in experience and intellectual depth that even his own family never hoped to see this particular Bush in the White House. In fact, it took a Florida recount and a Supreme Court ruling to make him the leader of the free world.

Vladimir Vladimirovich and George Georgevich came to power around the age of 50 and both as exceptions to the rule that modern democratic political leaders typically rise to power through party ranks.

Bush and Putin didn't have to pay their dues, and thus failed to learn about compromise and realism -- qualities that make politics, in Bismarck's famous words, "the art of the possible." As a result, the two presidents have introduced something that had been pleasantly absent from great power politics for several decades -- namely, the private vendetta.

In Putin's Russia, there has been a strong personal element in the Kremlin's attack on Yukos, with its determined hounding of Mikhail Khodorkovsky and his associates even after their company and freedom have been taken away from them. More recently, we have been treated to an even more blatant display of Putin's vengefulness and spite. The Russian leader clearly felt dissed when his attempt to get Viktor Yanukovych elected Ukrainian president was insolently spurned. He then spent last year brooding over ways to get back at Ukraine, the result of which was the early January gas crisis.

But Russia at least lacks democratic tradition and boasts instead of a long list of willful autocrats. It is far more disconcerting to see American policy governed by the whim of the president. Nearly three years since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, the conclusion seems inescapable. For all the neoconservative geopolitical conceits and the need to control Iraq's oil, the fateful decision to invade was ultimately pivoted on Bush's private vendetta against Saddam Hussein, the guy who "tried to kill my dad."

(SNIP)

More to the point, Putin and Bush have shown with their privately driven policy initiatives that the world's two nuclear superpowers have become bored with the democratic process -- Russia after only a decade, the United States after 230 years. An institutional vacuum has developed in both countries. After what we have seen in recent years, the emergence of a real, far more dangerous dictator or a world-class adventurer can no longer be ruled out either in the Kremlin or -- far more troubling -- in the White House.

2//The Times, London January 30, 2006
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,17129-2016541,00.html

HANDOVER OF POWER TO BROWN HAS BEGUN, SAYS BLUNKETT
By Greg Hurst, Political Correspondent

DAVID BLUNKETT opened a fresh bout of speculation about Tony Blair’s future yesterday by suggesting that the promised “orderly transition” of power to Gordon Brown was under way.

Mr Blunkett, who worked closely with both men while a Cabinet minister, said the process by which the Prime Minister will stand down and endorse his Chancellor to replace him might be complete in a year, or two years at most.

Government insiders quickly sought to scotch the notion of a fixed timetable or a formal deal between the two men and tried to play down his remarks, saying that the recent improvement in relations between Mr Blair and Mr Brown was widely known.

Mr Blunkett’s remarks came in his first major broadcast interview since his second resignation from the Cabinet last November. In it he claimed that there was an “understanding” about the succession between Mr Blair and Mr Brown.

“My sense is that there is a new understanding, yes. And it is good because anybody with any ounce of understanding of politics knows that when Tony Blair and Gordon Brown work together we are a winner and when they are divided our opponents can divide us,” he told Sunday AM on BBC One.

“So good on them. And whether it is a year or two years, it actually will be a sensible process of combining the talents that we have.”

Patricia Hewitt, the Health Secretary, stuck to the official line, saying in a separate interview that Mr Blair would choose his own time to go.

But she said that the Prime Minister and the Chancellor had been united at a political session of the Cabinet early this month in telling colleagues that Labour’s response to David Cameron’s election as Tory leader must be to stick to the centre ground.

(SNIP)

The intervention of Mr Blunkett, and his language, will be seen as unhelpful by allies of both men, conjuring up as it did the infamous pact sealed by the pair over dinner in Granita, an Islington restaurant, in 1994 under which Mr Brown stood aside to give Mr Blair a clear run for the Labour leadership.

One government source told The Times: “David doesn’t know anything about it. He was not sent out there to get that message (across).

(MORE)

3//The Chosun Ilbo, South Korea Updated Jan.27,2006 20:16 KST
http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200601/200601270027.html

U.S. IN SWEEPING PLAN TO STRANGLE N. KOREA’S CASH FLOW

The U.S. is readying fresh sanctions against North Korea over the regime’s alleged financial crimes that will be significantly more severe than the ones already in place. Raphael Perl, a congressional researcher in charge of tracking Pyongyang’s drug dealings and counterfeiting, said Friday authorities completed a rough draft of an executive order that would stop any financial firms involved in transactions with North Korea from conducting business in the U.S.

That will mean all banks, brokerage houses and insurance firms and refers not only to illegal transactions but to any financial deals with the North, Perl told the Chosun Ilbo on the phone. Once the regulations are finalized, “the message to financial institutions operating in the U.S. will be that the time has come for them to choose between the U.S. or North Korea,” he added.

Observers will be watching closely if the draft takes effect since it is far more sweeping than the sanctions already in place. The U.S. in September pinpointed the Macau-based Banco Delta Asia as Pyongyang’s primary money laundering channel and induced China to close North Korea’s transaction account there, while a presidential decree froze the U.S. assets of 11 North Korean trading firms. In December, Washington issued an advisory warning North Korea would probably seek to take advantage of other foreign banks for its illegal transactions.

But under the draft order, almost all finance companies would be effectively prohibited from doing business with North Korea. That would also affect international financial institutions outside the U.S. and thus deal a heavy blow to North Korea’s overseas trade.

(SNIP)

Given that Pyongyang is already boycotting six-party talks aimed at dismantling its nuclear program over the earlier measures, the plan could be the death knell for the negotiations. The news comes in a week when President Roh Moo-hyun warned of friction between Seoul and Washington if the U.S. tries to solve the North Korea problem by strangling the regime, and is unlikely to improve strained relations between the two allies. It is not wholly unexpected, however, since the White House has several times warned of possible “additional measures” against the North.

4//Asia Times Online, Hong Kong Jan 28, 2006
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/HA28Df02.html

INDIA AND SAUDI ARABIA MOVE BEYOND OIL
By Siddharth Srivastava

NEW DELHI - Oil was expected to feature prominently in this week's visit of King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz of Saudi Arabia to India. But terror and geostrategy figured as much, signifying that Riyadh and New Delhi have worked out common grounds that have taken more than a decade to iron out.

The importance that India attached to the visit - the first by a Saudi king since 1955 - was reflected by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who broke protocol to receive the monarch at the airport when he arrived late in the evening. King Abdullah, who headed a 250-member delegation, was also the chief guest at the Republic Day parade in New Delhi on Thursday, an occasion when India's military might is on display, as much as its cultural, social and economic diversity.

Apart from looking at India and China (prior to his India sojourn the king visited Beijing) as a rich market to sell its oil, and thus reduce its dependence on the United States, Riyadh has been trying to engage New Delhi in other spheres. One reflection is that it has moved beyond the traditional definition of looking at India through the Pakistan prism. There have been efforts to dehyphenate the Islamabad-New Delhi link, with Saudi Arabia expressing support to Indian efforts in Kashmir, including the institution of a permanent border along the Line of Control (that separates Indian and Pakistan Kashmir), which is opposed by Islamabad.

Islamabad was further rattled when prior to his New Delhi visit, the king agreed to support India's claim for observer status at the Organization of Islamic Conferences. As per OIC rules, no country that has an ongoing dispute with a member nation (Kashmir in the case of India and Pakistan) can be given observer status.

Analysts say that such moves by Saudi Arabia are also calculated to prompt a decisive tilt by New Delhi away from Iran, which is a big competitor in the energy market. Officials accompanying King Abdullah said that Riyadh was uncomfortable with Tehran's nuclear-development program, a stand that goes down well with New Delhi, which has been facing domestic political pressure because of its siding with Western powers on the issue.

Observers also say that New Delhi pushing ties with Riyadh is a result of a well thought out process at a time when New Delhi's relations with Iran are pegged to the way Washington perceives Tehran. India has enjoyed traditional ties with Iran and Iraq for a long time to meet its energy requirements. However, in the context of Tehran's aggressive anti-Western tirades and independent nuclear program, and the problems in Iraq, India has been looking to extend its influence beyond the Persian Gulf to the Saudi peninsula.

Riyadh is also uncomfortable with India's growing relationship with Israel that has extended beyond defense ties. As part of the engagement between New Delhi and Jerusalem, Israel's national security adviser is scheduled to arrive in New Delhi next month. The visit has been delayed by the ill health of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

(MORE)

5//The Daily Star, Lebanon Monday, January 30, 2006
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp...

U.S. WARNS INDIA AGAINST INVESTING IN SYRIAN OILFIELD
By Agence France Presse (AFP)

NEW DELHI: Washington, which is negotiating a landmark civilian nuclear deal with India, has asked New Delhi to reconsider its decision to buy a Syrian oilfield with China, a report said Saturday.

The demand was made earlier this month and a note with Washington's objections was handed over to Indian Foreign Ministry officials, The Hindu newspaper reported.

The report came after the U.S. ambassador to India warned earlier this week that the country could lose out on the crucial nuclear deal if it does not vote against Iran's nuclear program at a meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on February 2.

The Indian government told ambassador David Mulford his remarks were "not conducive to building a strong partnership between the two democracies."

Washington's objections to the Syrian deal stem from its allegations that Damascus is fostering terrorism and a UN report charging Syria played a leading role in the assassination of Lebanon's former premier, the newspaper said.

"The United States strongly opposes such investments in Syrian resources," The Hindu newspaper quoted the note as saying.

"The Syrian regime will seek to exploit news of any investment at the moment as evidence that it is not isolated and therefore not comply with its UN Security Council obligations," the note reportedly said.

Indian officials were unavailable for comment on the newspaper report. US Embassy officials in New Delhi could not be reached for comment.

(SNIP)

In December, India's Oil and Natural Gas Corporation and the China National Petroleum Corporation teamed up to purchase a 37 percent stake in Syria's al-Furat oil and gas fields from Petro-Canada for $573 million.

The deal was part of a joint strategy forged by energy-hungry China and India to secure global fuel assets to feed their booming economies.

Washington had earlier voiced objections to New Delhi about it buying gas from Iran through a transnational multi-billion dollar gas pipeline.

The objections on the Syrian deal are likely to intensify fears that Washington is leveraging its offer of important civil nuclear cooperation to curb India's attempts to diversify its sources of fuel, the report said.

Late Friday, India urged "further intensive efforts" to reach a consensus on the issue of Iran's nuclear program.

A Foreign Ministry statement said New Delhi had been undertaking "active consultations" with the IAEA and Iran to avoid a confrontation on the issue.