Gunrunning Out of Iraq/IWR--New World Media Watch

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


WORLD MEDIA WATCH FOR AUGUST 4, 2004

1//Inter Press Service News Agency, Italy--LAND DISPUTES IN KURDISTAN COULD BOIL OVER INTO VIOLENCE (Unresolved land claims between Kurds, Turkomans and Arabs in northern Iraq could erupt into violent conflict if they are not addressed fast enough, warns a leading international human rights organisation. The warning was given by the U.S.-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) in its 78-page report 'Claims in Conflict: Reversing Ethnic Cleansing in Northern Iraq' released Tuesday. The HRW report says simmering tensions over conflicting land claims between Kurds, Turkomans, and Arabs living in the region that could burst into armed conflict at any time due to the failure of the authorities - either the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) or the new Iraqi government headed by Interim President Iyad Allawi - to begin resolving those disputes.)



2//Institute for War and Peace Reporting, UK--GUNRUNNING OUT OF IRAQ (Weapons bought cheap in Iraq are sold for double the price in neighbouring Saudi Arabia. Iraqi arms dealers have no shortage of domestic clients, but their latest and most lucrative market is Saudi Arabia, where increased demand for small arms has caused a spike in prices inside Iraq…"I make a lot of money easily," said Abu Ahmed, talking to an IWPR reporter posing as a buyer. He attributes the booming Saudi market to recent attacks by Islamic militants there, which he said have undermined confidence in the Kingdom's ability to provide security or prevent even ordinary crimes such as kidnappings.)



3//Asia Times Online, Hong Kong--PAKISTAN PRODUCES THE GOODS, AGAIN (When US Central Command commander General John Abizaid visited Islamabad last week, his first priority was not Pakistan sending troops to Iraq, but the arrest of high-value al-Qaeda targets. Almost magically, just days later, a Tanzanian al-Qaeda operative, Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, was arrested in the Punjab provincial city of Gujrat…Security experts close to the corridors of power in Pakistan tell Asia Times Online that as the November presidential elections in the US draw closer, more such dramatic - and timely - arrests can be expected. The announcement of Ghailani's arrest coincided with the Democratic Party's convention in Boston during which John Kerry was confirmed as challenger to President George W Bush. According to the experts, Abizaid met with all top Pakistani officials and discussed plans to broaden the net for the arrest of foreigners in Pakistan from South Waziristan to all of the other six tribal agencies, as well as to the southwestern province of Balochistan.)



4//The Guardian, UK--HOME OFFICE DRAWS UP TIGHTER TERRORISM LAWS (David Blunkett, the home secretary, is believed to be close to backing a specific criminal offence of "acts preparatory to terrorism" as part of his extension of anti-terror legislation planned for this autumn… Mr Blunkett is expected to introduce the new "broadly drawn" offence of acts preparatory to terrorism alongside the renewal of his emergency powers to detain foreign nationals who are certified as suspected international terrorists - known as executive detention powers. He is also considering introducing new civil orders to restrict the activities of people linked to terrorism but who are not themselves considered serious terrorist suspects… The review of the anti-terrorism laws, which are to form a major plank of the government's legislative programme this autumn, is likely to suffer a fresh setback today when a cross-party group of MPs and peers is expected to publish a highly critical report. The report from the joint parliamentary committee on human rights is likely to give its strong backing to alternatives to the renewal of the emergency powers of detention without trial of suspected international terrorists.



5//The Moscow Times, Russia--BENEFITS BILL STEAMROLLERED THROUGH (Federation Council senators will be forced to give their approval Sunday to the controversial Kremlin-backed bill replacing benefits for socially vulnerable groups with cash payments or risk losing their seats, a senior Federation Council adviser said Tuesday. The adviser, who asked not to be identified for fear of reprisal, also said that regional governors have been warned not to speak out against the bill if they want to be re-elected…The bill, approved by the Duma in a first reading on July 2, annuls 55 laws and amends 196 more to end Soviet-era benefits to millions of retirees, military veterans, the disabled, Chernobyl cleanup workers and other socially vulnerable groups. The Kremlin has argued that cash payments, which will be divided between the federal and regional governments, will give recipients more money in their pockets -- and ease the strain on the federal budget.)



Related: OPINION: ERRORS COULD COME BACK TO HAUNT PUTIN (Mistakes, not acts of cruelty, bring down regimes. The mistakes made by rulers normally contain an element of brutality, but not always. Josef Stalin was cruel but he never blundered. Nicholas II wasn't brutal, but he was forever making mistakes, by which I mean not contempt for the good of the people but mistakes in the exercise of power. Such mistakes have come fast and furious in the last six months.)