UN Warned of Death Trap in Iraq/IPS---New World Media Watch

[Gloria]

Full excerpts, links up now at http://www.zianet.com/insightanalytical
Tomorrow at Buzzflash.com


WORLD MEDIA WATCH FOR MAY 12, 2004

1//Inter Press Service News Agency, Italy--U.N. WARNED OF DEATH TRAP IN IRAQ(As the United Nations prepares to organise elections and help create a new interim government in Iraq starting in July, scepticism is growing about the wisdom of risking U.N. lives in a country swirling in violence and chaos. The U.N. mission in Iraq is bound to fail, predict many Middle East analysts and U.N. staffers, because the world body is being increasingly viewed ''not as an independent broker but as a glorified sub-contractor to the United States''. ''Keep off Iraq,'' warns the 5,500-strong U.N. Staff Union, which has just adopted a unanimous resolution urging the world body to take immediate additional steps to address ''the serious flaws in the security management system''.)



2//The Guardian, UK--CONSUMERS SEND ‘WARNING SIGN’ TO US BRANDS (Declining respect for American cultural values exacerbated by the crisis in Iraq is having a potentially disastrous effect on the image of US brands such as McDonald's, Coca-Cola, Nike and Microsoft, a new worldwide study of consumer attitudes has found…According to NOP World, which carried out the survey, a mixture of America's controversial involvement in Iraq, its handling of the "war against terrorism", corporate scandals such as WorldCom and its failure to sign up to the Kyoto environmental agreement, have all had a profoundly negative affect on the perception of US culture and its major brands. Tom Miller, the managing director of NOP World, said worsening attitudes to the county's products could damage US business.)



3//The Philippine Daily Inquirer, Philippines--BLOODIEST ELECTIONS IN 2 DECADES (It was the country's bloodiest election campaign in over two decades and there was no sign of a let-up in the bloodletting. The Armed Forces and the national police remained on high alert Tuesday, saying the critical phase of Monday's polls was just beginning with the start of the canvass of votes around the country…The latest figures from the Armed Forces showed a total of 117 people had died in election-related incidents all over the country since the campaign season started on Dec. 15…Most of the violence this year has been blamed on private armed groups employed by local politicians. These groups allegedly included communist guerrillas hired to protect some politicians in Masbate province, the military said…The military warned against violence or massive protests linked to the elections and said it would use "necessary force" to maintain order if losing parties tried to stir up trouble.)



4//The Sydney Morning Herald, Australia--ELECTION ‘BETWEEN JULY AND NOVEMBER’(Prime Minister John Howard today identified a five-month window between July and November when he would hold the federal election. But he said he was yet to make up his mind, despite last night's Budget being focussed on helping families and giving tax cuts ahead of the election…Mr Howard said the election would be a tight battle for the coalition. "Nobody should be imagining that we're not still very much the underdog," he said.)



5//The Moscow Times, Russia--EDITORIAL: CHECHNYA IS LITMUS TEST FOR KREMLIN(President Vladimir Putin has spared no energy in elevating Akhmad Kadyrov after his death and anointing his son as his spiritual successor. Within hours of the assassination, Putin had brought Ramzan Kadyrov to the Kremlin, where he told him and the entire nation that his late father was a "heroic man" who was leading Chechnya toward peace…Yet if he has hopes of installing Ramzan as president, the new Chechen Constitution would seem to rule this out. He is only 27, while the Constitution states that the president must be at least 30…The election to find a replacement for Kadyrov Sr. -- scheduled for September -- will be the first major test of Putin's newfound commitment to strengthening democracy. Since re-election, Putin has gone out of his way to emphasize the importance he attaches to bolstering democracy, civil society and the multi-party system -- not least in his inauguration speech.)

[Voltaire99]

1. Not worth risking a single UN life

No UN personnel should risk their lives in the Hell that Halliburton built.

[saigon68]

2. UN= a glorified sub-contractor to the United States

only when it fits in the pnac vision of the future