US Troops Face Hellish Fight in Sadr City/Jordan Times--New WMW

[Gloria]

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


WORLD MEDIA WATCH FOR SEPTEMBER 24, 2004

1//The Jordan Times, Jordan--US TROOPS FACE HELLISH FIGHT IN SADR CITY CONCRETE JUNGLE (Most likely, the First Cavalry Division will seize back the remaining Mehdi Army territory in Sadr City sometime between mid-October and early November, Curtis said. The planned offensive would bring an end to a half-year of intense street fighting that has made the First Cavalry Division's 2 – 5 battalion all too accustomed to bloodshed in Sadr City's 48 square-kilometre concrete jungle. The failure not to win back the sprawling slum risks shutting off the community's 2.5 million people — almost half of Baghdad's population — from voting in January's national elections. Success for the US army ultimately hinges on whether the population will break with Sadr, whose father was revered as a defender of the persecuted Shiites under President Saddam Hussein.)



2//Asia Times Online, Hong Kong--IRAN ASKS THE WORLD TO A NUCLEAR PARTY (As it becomes increasingly cornered over its nuclear program, Iran has come out fighting, issuing an open invitation to countries to participate in the construction of its nuclear-powered plants. "Not only do we invite you, we also welcome whole-heartedly countries to invest in our nuclear program for civilian purposes," Mohammad Hossein Mousavian, the secretary of the political department of Iran's Supreme Council on National Security (SCNS), told Asia Times Online… Iran's call for countries to invest in huge, multibillion-dollar nuclear projects goes first to France and Germany because these two nations are already familiar with Iran's nuclear market, as Germany was almost finished building Iran's first nuclear-powered plant and France had started building two others in the oil-rich province of Khouzistan when the Islamic Revolution of 1979 halted them.)



3//The Moscow Times, Russia--FIVE MINISTRIES ASKED TO SIGN OFF ON KYOTO (The government has asked five ministries to approve ratification of the controversial Kyoto Protocol, officials said Thursday…The Natural Resources Ministry has already put its stamp of approval on the ratification documents, Rinat Gizatulin, head of the ministry's press service, said Thursday…"I'm very glad Putin has assessed it as positive for his economy and for the people. He's shown he's not thinking just about cold figures but the lives of his people," Alexei Kokorin, head of the WWF's Climate Program in Russia, said Thursday. He added, however, that the process of preparing accompanying documentation for submission to the Duma could be "dragged out" due to the staunch opposition of Putin's top economic adviser, Andrei Illarionov.)



4//The Daily Star, Lebanon--SCHEME TO EXPAND KUWAIT’S OIL PRODUCTION LIKELY TO CAUSE STIR (One of the most heated debates is likely to be on the fate of a scheme proposed by the government to expand production from oilfields in the far north of the country, close to the Iraqi border. On the face of it, this does not seem to be high on the list of controversial subjects that have tend to raise the blood pressure of certain Kuwaiti MPs (like demands that women should be given the vote, for example). But when one points out that the scheme has been on the drawing board since 1998, it becomes clear right away that the proposals are far from straightforward… A more common objection to Project Kuwait relates to the involvement of international oil companies…Also in contention is what a number of MPs say is a lack of transparency about the nature of the discussions that have been held with the foreign firms - and about the role of Kuwaiti agents and in the formation of the consortia that hope to bid for the project, and the commission paid to them…In the meantime, the three consortia chasing the elusive Project Kuwait prize (led by BP, ChevronTexaco and ExxonMobil) have no choice but to sit tight and await developments.)



5//The Independent, UK--KERRY AND BUSH SEND THEIR RELATIVES ABROAD TO COURT EXPATRIATE VOTERS (While there are no official records of who these expatriate voters support, it has always been assumed that absentee ballots from overseas were predominantly in support of Republicans, given the high number of military personnel and retirees. But Democrats believe that this time around the Republicans may not hold the advantage. They argue that because of the international opposition to the war in Iraq it will be easier to attract votes in support of Senator Kerry.)

[Eye and Monkey]

1. I'm sure it'll be worse for the Iraqi civilians.

[frylock]

2. maybe the afghani troops can save the day like they did in najaf..

at least according to junior.