World Media Watch for June 3, 2002

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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//The Sydney Morning Herald, Australia--AL-QAEDA INSURGENTS MOVE ON KASHMIR (Al-Qaeda fighters who fled Afghanistan to Pakistan are poised to enter Kashmir, Indian Defence Minister George Fernandes said in an interview published yesterday.)

//Pakistan News Service, Pakistan--EDITORIAL: AL-QAIDA & INDIA - STRANGE BED PARTNERS (In its zest to destroy Pakistan, India has embarked on a very dangerous road of supporting and helping Al-Qaida, a known terrorist organization. Next time there is a terrorism attack on US by Al-Qaida, India for one will be directly responsible for it and must be ready to bear the consequences.)

//The Philippine Daily Inquirer, Philippines--MORE ACTIVE US ROLE, EXTENDED STAY SEEN (Before flying to Manila, Wolfowitz said in Singapore that American troops were likely to remain in the Philippines to continue helping the Philippine military in its battle against the Moro bandits.)

//Ha'aretz, Israel--BACKGROUND/SIGNS OF IMPATIENCE FROM WASHINGTON (Sharon has his own suspicions regarding the Bush administration's intentions. He is worried that the Americans and Saudis might strike a deal in which Israeli concessions in the territories might be offered as a way of recruiting Arab support for a coalition against Iraq. On Thursday, Sharon told Senator Sam Brownback, conservative Republican from Kansas: "We support the U.S. in the war against terror, but Israel cannot pay for it by making irreversible concessions - ones which are liable to endanger its security - so that Arab states support the U.S. campaign.")

//The Independent, UK--FRANCE FORGETS LESSONS OF LE PEN'S APRIL (Even when Mr Le Pen was crushed in the second round of the presidential election, everyone insisted that nothing would be the same again. The left, especially, swore that it had learned its lesson: no more sterile, internal squabbles; no more scattering of votes; no more failing to vote at all. Four weeks later, that messianic mood has evaporated.... Hence a great paradox: a strong far-right performance next weekend may be the left's best - and last - chance of winning the election. It would create scores of three-way marginal seats and rouse disaffected left-wing voters once again to turn out "against fascism" in the second round.)

//Gulf News Online, United Arab Emirates--CLINTON TO SPEAK AT AUD (Former U.S. President Bill Clinton will be the keynote speaker at the Fifth Commencement Exercises of the American University in Dubai (AUD)...Since leaving office in 2000, Clinton has provided leadership to the activities of the William Jefferson Clinton Presidential Foundation. Recent Foundation activities include co-convening the international conference Islam and America in a Global World with the New York University School of Law and the Georgetown Centre for Muslim-Christian Understanding; helping to establish and guide the activities of the American-Indian Foundation whose mission is to rebuild the communities devastated by the earthquake in Gujarat; and launching, in cooperation with Nelson Mandela and City Year (a service corps organisation) a programme that joins black and white South African youth in service to their communities and country; developing an exploratory initiative with economist Hernando de Soto aimed at replicating de Soto's success in Peru in bringing poor people's businesses and homes into legal property systems.)

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//The Sydney Morning Herald June 3 2002
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/06/02/1022982652033.html

AL-QAEDA INSURGENTS MOVE ON KASHMIR

(AFP) Indian border guards yesterday shot dead top Islamic militant Manzoor Ahmed Ganai in Indian-administered Kashmir, according to officials.

Ganai, who was also called Rafiq, was the deputy chief commander of the pro-Pakistan Tehreek-ul-Mujahideen group.

There was a bounty of 200,000 rupees ($A7,400) on his head, a spokesman for India's Border Security Force (BSF) said.

(SNIP)

Al-Qaeda fighters who fled Afghanistan to Pakistan are poised to enter Kashmir, Indian Defence Minister George Fernandes said in an interview published yesterday.

"We have information that al-Qaeda men were in Pakistan and are now poised to enter Jammu and Kashmir. Pakistan does not want to keep them there to create problems for itself," Fernandes said in the Hindustan Times newspaper interview.

"This is what is worrying us more than anything else. They are all in camps in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir," he added.

He said it was difficult to pinpoint the camps since they are "makeshift" and can easily be moved from one place to another. "The moment you say that they are in this particular spot, they promptly shift them. People can mix with the local population so Pakistan can claim there are no camps," Fernandes said.

A senior Indian military officer said on Friday there was strong evidence that al-Qaeda fighters fleeing Afghanistan have joined up with Islamic militants in Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

"There was a plethora of reports that al-Qaeda had merged with militant camps here," the official said, on condition of anonymity.

(SNIP)

In an interview with CNN television yesterday, Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf said he was concerned by reports that al-Qaeda members had regrouped in Kashmir.

"One has to understand the dynamics of all that is happening there," he said. "It is militancy on the west, there is militancy in the east and it has fallout there inside Pakistan," said Musharraf. "Therefore certainly al-Qaeda has its effects," he said.

"The militancy has been going on for two decades ... No one can blame or cast aspersions on Pakistan on me or my government for whatever happens around."

//Pakistan News Service Updated on 2002-06-02 04:52:27
http://www.paknews.com/editorials.php?id=1&date1=2002-06-02

EDITORIAL: AL-QAIDA & INDIA - STRANGE BED PARTNERS

...The first setback to anti-terrorism coalition was letting go of tens and thousands of Taliban and Al-Qaida fighters by the 'Northern Alliance', the pro-India group of warlords the coalition relied on to topple Taliban. The Taliban quickly dispersed themselves making it impossible to distinguish them from Northern Alliance or ordinary Afghans. However, the small band of hard core Al-Qaida vowed to continue fighting.

The ruthlessness of Al-Qaida is evident from the fact that a band of captured Al-Qaida members over powered and killed 42 Pakistan Army men who were hauling them away after their capture. Pakistan has lost many more of its soldiers in helping fight back Al-Qaida than all the other members of global anti-terrorism coalition. Taliban and Al-Qaida is no friends of United States or Pakistan, although both helped establish Taliban as a unifying and stabilizing force in Afghanistan after the Russian departure.

The plans of Taliban and Al-Qaida for Pakistan were no different than the Indian plans. That is to destabilize and take over Pakistan. India found Al-Qaida a helpful ally in this regard. The increasing number of religiously motivated incidents & killings among others were already taking place in the entire Pakistan long before September 11 terrorist attack on the United States. The Pakistan Government was scrambling with controlling this menace. It was evident that a small developing country constraint with resources will have a difficult time in its efforts to curb terrorism. Hence, it was not a surprise when Pakistan welcomed the coalition to fight against a mutual enemy.

However, when by December 2001 it appeared that Al-Qaida had no place to hide and no place to run, help to Al-Qaida came from a strange corner - India. Rushing its forces to Pakistan border after a foiled attack on its parliament. India was not able to provide any evidence although was quick to blame it on Pakistan. India knew its actions would impede Pakistan's ability to help fight terrorism as well as throw the whole region into nuclear war threat. This Indian created distraction provided vital time for Al-Qaida to regroup.

Pakistan stood fast and refused to move its forces away from Afghanistan border. India continued to build pressure on Pakistan to a point where she was shelling Pakistan's towns and village along the border and killing civilians daily. After two weeks of consecutive cross border shelling and severe threats to its sovereignty Pakistan has finally decided to move it forces away from Afghan border bringing a halt in pursuit of Al-Qaida.

However, this is exactly in accordance with the Indian plans. Moving forces from the border is likely to provide opportunity to the fleeing Al-Qaida to infiltrate into Pakistan and continue with its plans to destabilize Pakistan.

In its zest to destroy Pakistan, India has embarked on a very dangerous road of supporting and helping Al-Qaida, a known terrorist organization. Next time there is a terrorism attack on US by Al-Qaida, India for one will be directly responsible for it and must be ready to bear the consequences.

//The Philippine Daily Inquirer Posted: 0:18 AM (Manila Time) | Jun. 03, 2002
http://www.inq7.net/nat/2002/jun/03/nat_1-1.htm

MORE ACTIVE US ROLE, EXTENDED STAY SEEN
By Martin P. Marfil and Carlito Pablo
Inquirer News Service

Two proposals

AN EXTENDED stay of American troops training Filipino soldiers in counter-terrorism and a more active US role in fighting the Abu Sayyaf bandits. US Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, who arrived in Manila Sunday, was expected to bring up these two proposals in his meeting with President Macapagal-Arroyo at Malacanang Sunday night.

Top Philippine officials, as well as Basilan villagers, appear receptive to the US proposals.

"The government is open to bringing US troops to the company level from the present battalion level to assist, train and advise Filipino troops in Basilan but not for combat or rescue operations," National Security Adviser Roilo Golez told defense reporters Sunday.

(SNIP)

About 1,000 US troops are in the country for the Balikatan exercises. About half of them are in Basilan, an Abu Sayyaf stronghold.

Other troops are providing transportation, engineering and other logistics support for the exercise. The United States has also supplied the Philippine military with arms and other equipment.

Before flying to Manila, Wolfowitz said in Singapore that American troops were likely to remain in the Philippines to continue helping the Philippine military in its battle against the Moro bandits.

Such an extension would have to be approved by the Philippine government, which has expressed desire for a longer stay of US troops. The Macapagal administration, however, faces criticism from leftist and nationalist groups who say the US presence violates Philippine sovereignty.

(MORE)

//Ha'aretz Monday, June 03, 2002 Sivan 23, 5762 Israel Time: 01:09 (GMT+3)
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=171735&
contrassID=2&subContrassID=1&sbSubContrassID=0

BACKGROUND/SIGNS OF IMPATIENCE FROM WASHINGTON
By Aluf Benn

Diplomatic efforts over the weekend in Jerusalem and Ramallah yielded no results. Israel, the Palestinian Authority and the international community have not progressed one inch from where they stood at the end of Operation Defensive Shield.

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon refuses to conduct talks with PA Chairman Yasser Arafat. Sharon has made clear that Israel will "not take chances" in dealings with Arafat, and that it does not regard him as a discussion partner. As opposed to Sharon's view, the Egyptians, the Europeans and some officials in the U.S. government believe that Arafat cannot be replaced, and that any talk of his removal is simply a ruse aimed at putting off resumption of the diplomatic process.

(SNIP)

Wary of Arafat's intentions, Sharon has reservations about an outline presented by U.S. Assistant Secretary of State William Burns, which refers to "simultaneous progress" on three tracks - reform in the PA, the fashioning of new security arrangements, and diplomatic negotiations. Sharon envisions a different outline. He demands, first of all, a total cease-fire; then, he says, there must be comprehensive reform in the PA. Sharon would agree to resuming talks only after these first two conditions are satisfied.

The U.S. government's stance is confused. Burns is telling Sharon and Foreign Minister Shimon Peres that reform cannot be carried out without Arafat; yet he also objects to Arafat's continued control of the Palestinian security services. As Burns takes this position, Assistant Secretary of Defense Doug Feith states that there is "considerable doubt" as to whether Arafat can carry out reforms.

Last week, the Bush administration sent some signals of impatience toward Jerusalem. White House and State Department officials said that though nobody in Washington has any illusions about Arafat, the U.S. cannot wait until he meets his maker, or until the reform is completed. Washington's suspicions regarding Sharon was reflected by U.S. officials' warning that the PA reforms cannot be used as an obstacle to block renewed negotiations, just as the demand for "seven days of quiet," which Prime Minister Sharon wanted in the past, cannot be utilized to block progress.

Sharon has his own suspicions regarding the Bush administration's intentions. He is worried that the Americans and Saudis might strike a deal in which Israeli concessions in the territories might be offered as a way of recruiting Arab support for a coalition against Iraq. On Thursday, Sharon told Senator Sam Brownback, conservative Republican from Kansas: "We support the U.S. in the war against terror, but Israel cannot pay for it by making irreversible concessions - ones which are liable to endanger its security - so that Arab states support the U.S. campaign."

CIA Director George Tenet, who arrives in Jerusalem tomorrow, will have to deal with Sharon's unyielding position. U.S. officials regard the visits of these envoys as preparation for the formulation of U.S. policy toward the Middle East.

A key date for the Americans is Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's visit to the U.S. and meetings with President Bush at Camp David later this week. Bush gives Arab leaders the VIP treatment: The Saudi emir stayed at Bush's ranch at Texas and the Egyptian leader will relax at the presidential retreat in the Maryland mountains.

(MORE)

//The Independent 02 June 2002
http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/story.jsp?story=301469

FRANCE FORGETS LESSONS OF LE PEN'S APRIL

French election: Just weeks ago, the strength of the far right galvanised the country into action - now voters may face fresh shocks

By John Lichfield in Paris

One week from the first round of the French parliamentary elections, the country is experiencing a strange feeling of déjà vu.

The left is squabbling and losing interest. The centre-right is smug and campaigning on illusions rather than policies. The far-right is ominously quiet. Everyone, including the media, seems to be depressed by the campaign. "People are more interested in the state of Zinédine Zidane's thigh than who's going to be Prime Minister," sighed one Socialist campaign chief in Lorraine last week.

The mood strangely resembles the way the country felt a week before the first round of the presidential elections in April. That poll shook the nation from torpor to something approaching panic in the space of a few minutes.

(SNIP)

Even when Mr Le Pen was crushed in the second round of the presidential election, everyone insisted that nothing would be the same again. The left, especially, swore that it had learned its lesson: no more sterile, internal squabbles; no more scattering of votes; no more failing to vote at all.

Four weeks later, that messianic mood has evaporated. No less a figure that Daniel Cohn-Bendit, the leader of the 1968 student revolt in Paris, now a wise, plain-speaking elder statesman of the French Greens, warned last week that the country - and the left in particular - may be heading for another electoral disaster.

That depends what you mean by disaster. A month ago there were many predictions that the left, galvanised by the rise of the far right, might win the parliamentary elections, pushing the re-elected Mr Chirac into another "co-habitation" with a left-wing prime minister. This would, arguably, have been the greatest disaster of them all.

The three power-sharing governments, occupying nine out of the last 16 years, are largely responsible for the decline in popular respect for French mainstream parties and institutions.

The opinion polls, and the divisions and deflation of enthusiasm on the left, now suggest that is unlikely to happen. The new Socialist leader, François Hollande, is already being weakened by sniping from colleagues - such as two former finance ministers, Laurent Fabius and Dominique Strauss-Kahn - who regard themselves, and not him, as the long-term saviours of La Gauche.

The likely outcome is that Mr Chirac's centre-right will win a comfortable majority of seats in the two rounds of voting over the next two weeks, prolonging the four-week-old career of his relatively-unknown centrist Prime Minister, Jean-Pierre Raffarin.

(SNIP)

Meanwhile, the mood of déjà vu obscures several unknowns. Will the grass-roots left - both blue-collar and intellectual - turn out in large numbers to combat the far right? How will the National Front vote stand up, constituency by constituency, when their local candidates are often poor and unknown? The NF is unlikely to win more than a handful of seats, and may get none at all.

But it is expected to poll heavily enough next Sunday to create up to 200 "triangular" contests in the second round of the election the following week. In the parliamentary election, candidates fight again if they come first or second, or win 12.5 per cent of the registered vote in the constituency.

Three-way fights in the second round - between centre-right, far-right and left - tend to favour the left. Hence a great paradox: a strong far-right performance next weekend may be the left's best - and last - chance of winning the election. It would create scores of three-way marginal seats and rouse disaffected left-wing voters once again to turn out "against fascism" in the second round.

//Gulf News Online 02-06-2002
http://www.gulf-news.com/Articles/news.asp?ArticleID=53118

CLINTON TO SPEAK AT AUD
Dubai |By A Staff Reporter | 02-06-2002

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton will be the keynote speaker at the Fifth Commencement Exercises of the American University in Dubai (AUD). The ceremony, to take place on June 11, will be held under the patronage of General Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and UAE Defence Minister.

(SNIP)

Since leaving office in 2000, Clinton has provided leadership to the activities of the William Jefferson Clinton Presidential Foundation.

Recent Foundation activities include co-convening the international conference Islam and America in a Global World with the New York University School of Law and the Georgetown Centre for Muslim-Christian Understanding; helping to establish and guide the activities of the American-Indian Foundation whose mission is to rebuild the communities devastated by the earthquake in Gujarat; and launching, in cooperation with Nelson Mandela and City Year (a service corps organisation) a programme that joins black and white South African youth in service to their communities and country; developing an exploratory initiative with economist Hernando de Soto aimed at replicating de Soto's success in Peru in bringing poor people's businesses and homes into legal property systems.

Dr Lance de Masi, AUD President and Chief Academic Officer, said: "The former president's acceptance of our invitation is an honour for every member of AUD."

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© 2002, Gloria R. Lalumia
insight@zianet.com

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