Gloria R. Lalumia
WORLD MEDIA WATCH FOR JANUARY 21, 2004
Wed Jan 21 18:26:00 2004
64.140.158.66

WORLD MEDIA WATCH FOR JANUARY 21, 2004
http://www.buzzflash.com/mediawatch/04/01/wmw04008.html

1/Inter Press Service, Italy--BUSH PUSHES PLAN TO PERMIT INTERNET SURVEILLANCE (The Bush administration is pushing to ratify an international convention that civil libertarians say would pose serious threats to privacy rights at home and abroad. After delaying for about two years, U.S. President George W. Bush recently asked the U.S. Senate to ratify the Council of Europe Cybercrime Convention, a global agreement apparently created to help police worldwide cooperate to fight Internet crimes.)

2/The Independent, UK--KURDS TURN AGAINST US AFTER LOSING CONTROL OVER OIL-RIGH LAND (Iraqi Kurds, the one Iraqi community that has broadly supported the American occupation, are expressing growing anger at the failure of the United States and its allies to give them full control of their own affairs and allow the Kurds to expel Arabs placed in Kurdistan by Saddam Hussein. Massoud Barzani, the leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, told The Independent in an interview that the Kurds had been offered less autonomy "than we had agreed in 1974 with the regime of Saddam Hussein".)

3/The Globe and Mail, Canada--SPY PLANE CRASH LEAVES AFGHAN MISSION BLIND (One of Canada's spy planes has crashed and gone missing in Afghanistan, almost two months to the day after another crash that temporarily halted the unmanned surveillance aircraft, or UAV, program. "We don't know what happened," Major Dyrald Cross said. "All we know is that it crashed." That leaves the Canadian Forces in Kabul with no more spy planes. They had four of them, but two others were damaged in "hard landings.")

4/Arab News, Saudi Arabia--SMEAR CAMPAIGN WILL NOT WEAKEN SAUDI-US TIES, SAYS ABDULLAH (Addressing the Association of Friends of Saudi Arabia including visiting former US President Bill Clinton and former Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo at Al-Yamamah Palace here, Prince Abdullah said he has full confidence in the "great American people" who appreciate sincere friendship...In his reply, Clinton said he had brought with him a group of Americans in order to strengthen friendship and understanding between the two nations. "This delegation represents different religions and social classes who are all concerned with peace," the former president said.)

5/The Moscow Times, Russia--A GROUP OF LIBERALS TAKES ON PUTIN (A group of liberals including chess champion Garry Kasparov, Union of Right Forces leader Boris Nemtsov and journalist Yevgeny Kiselyov said Monday that they see no hope of challenging President Vladimir Putin in the March election and have formed a movement to find a "democratic alternative" in 2008...Political analysts expressed doubt that the group would be able to meet its goal.)

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1/Inter Press Service January 20, 2004
http://www.ipsnews.net/interna.asp?idnews=22023

BUSH PUSHES PLAN TO PERMIT INTERNET SURVEILLANCE
Haider Rizvi

NEW YORK, Jan 20 (IPS) - The Bush administration is pushing to ratify an international convention that civil libertarians say would pose serious threats to privacy rights at home and abroad.

After delaying for about two years, U.S. President George W. Bush recently asked the U.S. Senate to ratify the Council of Europe Cybercrime Convention, a global agreement apparently created to help police worldwide cooperate to fight Internet crimes.

"It's the only international treaty to address the problems of computer-related crime and electronic evidence gathering," Bush said in his November letter asking the Senate to confirm U.S. adherence to the treaty.

"It promises to be an effective tool in the global effort to combat computer-related crime," added the president.

But independent legal experts and right activists on both sides of the Atlantic are sceptical about such claims.

"This is a bad treaty that not only threatens core liberties, but will obligate the United States to use extraordinary powers to do the dirty work of other nations," says Barry Steinhardt of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the oldest civil rights group in the country.

(MORE)


2/The Independent 21 January 2004
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=483202

KURDS TURN AGAINST US AFTER LOSING CONTROL OVER OIL-RIGH LAND
Kurdish community claims it had more autonomy under Saddam

By Patrick Cockburn in Baghdad

Iraqi Kurds, the one Iraqi community that has broadly supported the American occupation, are expressing growing anger at the failure of the United States and its allies to give them full control of their own affairs and allow the Kurds to expel Arabs placed in Kurdistan by Saddam Hussein.

Massoud Barzani, the leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, told The Independent in an interview that the Kurds had been offered less autonomy "than we had agreed in 1974 with the regime of Saddam Hussein".

The Kurds, the main Iraqi victors of the war last year, want, in effect, to keep the mini-state in northern Iraq they ruled after Saddam withdrew his army in 1991. They also want the US and the Iraqi Governing Council to recognise the Kurdish identity of the oil-rich province of Kirkuk and other districts from which Kurds were forced to flee by the deposed dictator and his predecessors.

Mr Barzani, a neatly dressed, rather intense man who fought for decades against the old regime, was in Baghdad to seek to persuade the US-appointed governing council, of which he is a member, to recognise the federal autonomy of Iraqi Kurdistan.

Sitting in a gloomy house in Saddam's old palace complex, Mr Barzani said it was important for the Kurdish right to home rule to be enshrined in the Iraqi Basic Law that is now being drawn up.

But he is caustic about the governing council. "Their main priority seems to be travelling abroad," he said, and added that many members of the council were formerly part of the Iraqi opposition who had committed themselves again and again over the years to a federal solution for the Iraqi Kurds and should not now abandon their old promises.

(MORE)


3/The Globe and Mail Posted at 2:31 PM EST Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2004
Theglobeandmail.com

SPY PLANE CRASH LEAVES AFGHAN MISSION BLIND
Canadian Press

Kabul - One of Canada's spy planes has crashed and gone missing in Afghanistan, almost two months to the day after another crash that temporarily halted the unmanned surveillance aircraft, or UAV, program.

"We don't know what happened," Major Dyrald Cross said. "All we know is that it crashed."

That leaves the Canadian Forces in Kabul with no more spy planes. They had four of them, but two others were damaged in "hard landings."

(SNIP)

The spy planes had been used by the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force since mid-December, when testing of the $33-million, high-reconnaissance system was completed.

The UAVs are launched by catapult from the back of a truck, and travel at almost 150 kilometres an hour, capturing video through cameras mounted in a ball on the underside of the aircraft. There is also a forward-looking, wide-angle camera mounted in the UAV's nose from which ground "pilots" can fly the aircraft by sight.

Built by Sagem of France, a subsidiary of Orlicon Canada, the planes were able to peer down on Kabul and the city's surrounding mountains to provide surveillance information to soldiers on the ground. In fact, it was used to aid Canadian soldiers as they raided a compound in the Afghan capital Sunday in search of drug smugglers with possible connections to a terrorist organization.

(MORE)


4/Arab News Wednesday 21, January, 2004 (29, Dhul Qa`dah,1424 )
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=1§ion=0&article=38344&d=21&m=1&y=2004

SMEAR CAMPAIGN WILL NOT WEAKEN SAUDI-US TIES, SAYS ABDULLAH
Staff Writer

RIYADH, 21January 2004 - Crown Prince Abdullah, deputy premier and commander of the National Guard, yesterday said that any anti-Saudi media campaign in the US and elsewhere would not weaken the long-standing strong ties between Saudi Arabia and the United States.

Addressing the Association of Friends of Saudi Arabia including visiting former US President Bill Clinton and former Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo at Al-Yamamah Palace here, Prince Abdullah said he has full confidence in the "great American people" who appreciate sincere friendship.

Referring to international oil market, Prince Abdullah said the Kingdom favored "moderate" prices without causing any harm to world economies. He also noted the country's efforts to ensure adequate supply of oil and gas. He said the Kingdom would go ahead with its development programs without discarding its noble values and traditions.

In his reply, Clinton said he had brought with him a group of Americans in order to strengthen friendship and understanding between the two nations. "This delegation represents different religions and social classes who are all concerned with peace," the former president said.

(MORE)


5/The Moscow Times Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2004. Page 3
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2004/01/21/011.html

A GROUP OF LIBERALS TAKES ON PUTIN
By Francesca Mereu
Staff Writer

A group of liberals including chess champion Garry Kasparov, Union of Right Forces leader Boris Nemtsov and journalist Yevgeny Kiselyov said Monday that they see no hope of challenging President Vladimir Putin in the March election and have formed a movement to find a "democratic alternative" in 2008.

"We must have guarantees that the elections are a fight between different forces," said Kasparov, the head of the Committee 2008: Free Choice group.

He said the president elected in 2008 should be a "representative of people" and not Putin's heir, as the Kremlin is believed to be planning.

"2004 is an era that is coming to an end. We will fight to have the opportunity for a choice [in 2008]," he said.

Kasparov, flanked by Nemtsov and journalist Sergei Parkhomenko, stressed that the group is not a party or a bloc planning to back a candidate for president but is only working to create a more democratic society.

Political analysts expressed doubt that the group would be able to meet its goal.

(MORE)


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©2003, Gloria R. Lalumia, insight@zianet.com

Radio for the Left at http://www.zianet.com/insightanalytical/radio.htm