Iran Hosts Iraqi Official, Eyes Better Relations/Daily Star--New WMW

[Gloria]

Up now at http://www.zianet.com/insightanalytical
Tomorrow at Buzzflash.com


WORLD MEDIA WATCH FOR AUGUST 30, 2004

1//The Daily Star, Lebanon--IRAN HOSTS IRAQI OFFICIAL, EYES BETTER RELATIONS (Iraq's interim deputy prime minister, Barham Saleh, arrived in Tehran Sunday on a mission from his US-backed government to press Iran to stop interfering in its neighbor's affairs. "We have to start building clear and frank relations based on not interfering in the two countries' internal affairs," Prime Minister Iyad Allawi said in an interview broadcast by Iraqi public television late Saturday… The visit comes amid an effort to ease a recent war of words between the two neighbors, after several Iraqi officials joined the Americans in charging that Iran had been involved in a three-week-long Shiite Muslim uprising in the south and center and even armed the rebels.)



2//Asia Times Online, Hong Kong--RUSSIAN BEAR CALLS ON GRAY WOLF (The two-day state visit to Ankara starting next Thursday by Russian President Vladimir Putin, three decades after the last visit by the Soviet Union's president Nikolay Podgorny in 1973, underlines the reshuffling of strategic perceptions by major players in the region…This comes after Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyep Erdogan's recent visit to Tehran, which capped warming relations between Turkey and Iran and their efforts to put aside deep-rooted historical and ideological differences, because of developments in the region. Clearly, Turkey is moving away from its North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) ally the United States, and its good regional friend, Israel… As one expert put it, "Turkish-Russian interactions highlight how the relationship between key regional powers in the post-Cold War context can be characterized by significant cooperation and conflict at the same time." In the short term, the security problems appear to be manageable, but they will always remain a major long-term concern. For the time being, the magnitude of Turkish-Russian trade (based on large-scale energy imports to Turkey) and the need for co-existence at the political level, works against more competitive policies.)



3//Institute for War & Peace Reporting, UK--AFGHAN RECOVERY REPORT: NEWS BRIEFS—WORKERS PROTEST (In the first known demonstration for employees’ rights in Kabul, more than 500 construction workers marched on August 24 from a square in the western part of the capital toward the president’s office and the labour and social affairs ministry office in the centre of the city… Khwaja Najmuddin, a spokesperson for the protesters, warned that the construction workers “will turn to committing theft, fighting and pillage if the government doesn’t find employment for us because our children are dying of hunger”. An IWPR investigation last month discovered widespread dissatisfaction by local labourers and construction companies with the growing presence of foreign workers and companies in the country.)



4//The Telegraph, UK--PUTIN ALLY ‘IS WINNER’ OF CHECHEN ELECTION (A pro-Kremlin former policeman has become president of Chechnya, according to partial results last night of an election held after a week of rebel attacks made a mockery of Moscow's claim to have pacified the republic…Although Russian soldiers and security agents continue to behave brutally in the republic, support for the rebels has fallen away. Many war-weary Chechens are now willing to accept Moscow's rule if it means more security…Many predict that the election will usher in a new, bloody phase of the Chechen war. For Mr Putin, who came to power five years ago promising to bring order to the republic, the attacks of the past week have been highly embarrassing. Renewed fighting would further erode his image as a strongman.)



5//Inter Press Service News Agency, Italy--U.N. REJECTS PRIVATE PEACEKEEPERS(As the United Nations continues to face a shortage of well-equipped, professionally trained soldiers for its growing peacekeeping operations overseas, a proposal to hire private security forces to rectify the shortfall has been greeted with scepticism. ''There is little or no support for the privatisation of U.N. peacekeeping,'' says a senior U.N. official, speaking on condition of anonymity. ''I cannot think of any member state willing to go along with the proposal,'' he told IPS…Last April, U.S. President George W Bush approved a plan to train about 75,000 soldiers, mostly from Africa, over a five-year period for peacekeeping. The Bush administration, which has called the project 'the Global Peace Operations Initiative', has committed some 660 million dollars to build peacekeeping capacity…But Peter W Singer of the Brookings Institution warns the international humanitarian community to be cautious about its dealings with private security forces.)