June Seen As N. Korean Trigger Point--A Times

[Gloria]

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



WORLD MEDIA WATCH FOR MAY 2, 2005



1//The Sydney Morning Herald, Australia--NEW IRAQ COULD BECOME A NEST OF CORRUPTION (Over lunch of chicken and kebabs on a sultry Baghdad day, the Iraqi businessman Mohammed Jawad talks camels and corruption. "Iraq is like a sick camel," he says. "If it is healthy, no one can kill it. But when it is sick on the ground, the camel dies by a thousand knives." The knives are wielded by corrupt ministers and their cronies - tribal and family - who force local and foreign contractors to inflate tender bids for contracts worth billions of dollars so that they can gouge millions for themselves. . … . Like so many other Iraqis, businessmen invariably make then-and-now comparisons with the days of Saddam Hussein. The deposed leader ran his own massive corruption of the United Nations' oil-for-food program and he and his cronies regularly demanded a cut of any new business or contract. But Mr Jawad, a Shiite with no brief for his former leader, says: "I'd say that about 10 per cent of business was corrupt under Saddam." That's probably an underestimation, but Mr Jawad is making a point: "Now it's about 95 per cent - we used to have one Saddam, now we have 25 of them.")



2//Islam Online, Qatar--GROWING FRUSTRATION BEHIND CAIRO BLASTS: EXPERTS (Growing frustration, piecemeal reforms and the current political turmoil in the region are the main culprit behind the series of blasts that rocked Egypt recently, disturbing eight years of tranquility, Egyptian experts have said. “The suicidal nature of the two Cairo blasts yesterday is unprecedented and reflect the multiplying sense of desperation and frustration among many Arab youths,” Diaa Rashwan, an expert in Islamist groups, told IslamOnline.net Sunday, May 1. “It is almost the first time to hear about Egyptian suicide bombers, whether acting alone or along with umbrella organizations.” . … . Hassan agreed that the crackdown raids by Egyptian police will be part of the problem not the solution. “This (attacks) is the work of embryonic groups influenced by the Jihad group and a grim reminder of dozens of extremist groups that surfaced in 1980s. “They all lack a specific agenda but are focused on one goal, which is to carry out such bombings,” he told IOL. Rashwan, meanwhile, ruled out the possible involvement of the Islamic Jihad or Al-Jama Al-Islamiya, which both eschewed violence after a string of deadly attacks on tourists. “Such incidents are very much connected with the current chaos in the region, and growing hatred for foreigners in particular and the Americans in general following the US-led invasion of Iraq,” he said.)



3//Asia Times Online, Hong Kong--JUNE SEEN AS NORTH KOREAN TRIGGER POINT (The United States and North Korea appear to be on a collision course and June could well be the month of impact. North Korea says it plans to remove and reprocess plutonium rods to produce weapons-grade material in three months unless the US shows flexibility. The US says it is fed up and wants nuclear disarmament of the North. North Korea's renewed nuclear threats and US comments that it would take the nuclear dispute to the United Nations Security Council will energize regional efforts for a last-ditch effort to save the moribund six-way talks. Chinese and South Korean diplomatic entreaties, however, are increasingly unlikely to achieve a fourth round of the multilateral negotiations, placing the participating nations on a path to confrontation. Pyongyang's shutdown of the Yongbyon nuclear reactor and threats to augment its nuclear arsenal will affirm regional perceptions that the US policy has failed.)



4//The Moscow Times, Russia--REPORT: KREMLIN FOLLOWING CHINA’S LEAD (The Kremlin is moving toward a Chinese-style model of "directed capitalism," where the state controls key sectors while letting the market run loose in the rest of the economy, HSBC said in a report presented Thursday. Yet the vastly different structures of the two economies, as well as Russia's failure to enforce its own laws, means that Moscow might be making a mistake by mimicking Beijing, the bank said. . … . Poole's thesis met mixed reviews. Yevgeny Nadorshin, an economist at Trust investment bank, said the scale of the control exercised by Beijing was incomparable to what Moscow was trying to finagle for itself. "The government in China occupies all the most important industries, keeps its eye on all the key corporations," Nadorshin said. The Kremlin, on the other hand, "would like to control only the best industries in terms of cash flows, and the only two sectors generating important cash flows are oil and gas." Even in those sectors, Moscow has a long way to go to reach the level of control in China. "So far the economic policy of the government has been far more liberal" than in China, said Vladimir Mau, head of the state Academy of the National Economy.)



5//Inter Press Service News Agency, Italy--INTERNATIONAL LABOUR DAY – ITALY: FORGET UNIONS, TRY THIS SAINT (. … . About half of all jobs offered in 2002 and 2003 were 'precarious', the independent Italian social research agency Eurispes reports. This has huge social consequences, it says. ”No mortgage, no family, no possibility to 'grow up'.” This ”precarity” (precariousness), as the activists call it, is a European trend. On May Day 'precarious' workers will march in several cities all over Europe, including Helsinki, Barcelona, Hamburg, Liege, Ljubjana, Sevilla, Milan, Copenhagen, Maribor, Paris, Amsterdam, L'Aquila, Marseille, Wien, London, Stockholm, Napoli and Palermo. The 'Euro May Day parades' originated in Italy four years back, and have got bigger ever since. Temporary workers, part-timers, those doing shifts at McDonald's and other such stores will join the march to demand new social rights.. … . The protests take creative forms. In Italy, the precarious appointed a saint to look after them -- San Precario (St. Precarious). ”San Precario, give us today our paid maternal leave, protect all employees of commercial chains, and the angels of the call centres,” they pray.)