EU Arms Embargo/China Slides into Chaos (Blair again....)

[Gloria]

From the new World Media Watch, up now at http://www.zianet.com/insightanalytical

Full excerpts and links to stories at the site.....



WORLD MEDIA WATCH FOR MARCH 23, 2005



1//The Daily Star, Lebanon--NORWAY READY TO TAKE EXTENSIVE OILFIELD EXPERIENCE TO IRAQ (Norway, a major oil exporter, is ready to help Iraq's oil industry by sharing experience, training, and technology, a deputy minister said Tuesday. "There is real interest in doing this and getting it going this year," Norwegian Deputy Minister of International Development Leiv Lunde said. . … Lunde said Norwegian aid could include training and education for Iraqi oil officials, setting up regulations for oil field operations and accounting. "Openness in accounting for money coming in and going out from the oil industry is very important," he said, adding that developing countries often have problems with accounting, sometimes due to corruption. . … Lunde said other countries, the World Bank and the UN are also likely to become involved in efforts to help rebuild the Iraqi oil industry.)



2//The Chosun Ilbo, South Korea--ROH HINTS AT NEW EAST ASIAN ORDER (President Roh Moo-hyun said Tuesday the power structure in East Asia will shift depending on what choices Korea makes. At a graduation ceremony of the Korea Third Military Academy on Tuesday, Roh said Korea's new role was of a stabilizer for peace and prosperity not just on the Korean Peninsula, but in East Asia as a whole. "Korea will calculate and cooperate if need be, and move forward with its proper authority and responsibility," he said. His comments were being read as a pointed reference to the country's alliances with the U.S. and Japan rather than a mere statement of principle. Among core figures in the administration, there is growing dissatisfaction with U.S. and Japanese policies in East Asia, including North Korea. . … President Roh’s address today can be seen as a warning that Seoul cannot be counted on if the U.S. and Japan insist on a strategy of pressure on China and North Korea.)



3//The Telegraph, UK-- EU ARMS EMBARGO AGAINST CHINA SLIDES INTO CHAOS (The European Union's fragile consensus on lifting its arms embargo on China was crumbling last night as Tony Blair arrived for a summit in Brussels. Lifting the ban, an initiative spearheaded by France and Germany, appeared certain only weeks ago. However, the proposal to end the arms freeze provoked a furious reaction from America and warnings from the US secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, that allies "should do nothing" to alter the balance of power in Asia. American anger, and apparent British second thoughts, were stoked still further by China's passing of an "anti-secession law" last week, authorising military force against Taiwan if it declared formal independence from Beijing.)



4//The Moscow Times, Russia--THREAT OF A KYRGYZ CIVIL WAR LOOMS (The Kyrgyz opposition might have hoped to start a velvet revolution by protesting parliamentary elections, but President Askar Akayev's decision to use force appears to have brought the country to the verge of civil war. Moscow, wary of sparking instability in Central Asia, is taking a more cautious role in Kyrgyzstan than it did in Georgia's Rose Revolution and Ukraine's Orange Revolution…"The fierce confrontation may threaten the unity of the country," said Alexei Malashenko, an analyst with the Carnegie Moscow Center. "It may tear apart the country and set off a war between the north and south.")



5//Inter Press Service New Agency, Italy--PRIVATE SECTOR STILL EYEING TO OWN EVERY DROP (Selling water rights to private institutions and then having people buy them back again is an issue that keeps rearing its ugly head at every World Water Day, which falls on Mar. 22. Goaded by international financial institutions and corporate interests, regional governments are pressing ahead with plans for more private participation in water services. And yet all across Asia, water privatisation schemes are failing to deliver clean and safe drinking water to communities, despite forcing consumers to pay for a basic human right. ''If you look for a water privatisation arrangement that works ... I cannot think of any,'' Manila-based Mary Ann Manahan, a researcher with Focus on the Global South, told IPS in a telephone interview.)

[Wilms]

1. Wow. That's some interesting stuff.

But what's it got to do with a feeding tube. :shrug: