Gloria R. Lalumia's World Media Watch for January 2, 2008

WORLD MEDIA WATCH

Summaries are excerpted from the source articles; the featured article follows the summary section.

1//Gulfnews.com, United Arab Emirates
NEW ALLIANCE BRINGS KURDISH ROLE UNDER INTENSE SCRUTINY

Many questions over the Kurdish role have risen in Baghdad after the emergence of a new political coalition that includes the Kurdistan Democratic Party led by Masoud Barazani, the Patriotic union of Kurdistan led by Iraqi president Jalal Talabani and the Sunni Islamic Party led by Tarek Al Hashemi. The questions at the forefront are: Have the Kurds abandoned their alliance which was based on the concept of the Shiite and Kurdish suffering during Saddam Hussain's era? Will the new Talabani-Barazani-Hashemi alliance overthrow Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki's government? Will former Prime Minister Iyad Alawi join the new Kurdish Sunni alliance? Abdul Qader Kamal, a Kurdish political researcher told Gulf News, "Despite President Talabani's reassurances during the tripartite agreement signing ceremony ... the Kurds deliberately send political messages to Prime Minister Al Maliki and the Shiite coalitions' leader Abdul Aziz Al Hakeem which reveal that the coalition government is at the Kurds mercy," he said.

AN EXPANDED EXCERPT OF THIS FEATURED ARTICLE FOLLOWS THE SUMMARIES

2//Reuters, US
LOCKHEED TO SUPPLY 18 F-16s TO PAKISTAN

Lockheed Martin Corporation was awarded a $498.2 million contract to supply F-16 aircraft to Pakistan, the US Pentagon said on Monday, as government officials mulled whether to go ahead with a January 8 election after the assassination of former Pakistan People's Party (PPP) chairwoman Benazir Bhutto. Lockheed will sell 12 F-16C plus 6 F-16D planes to Pakistan under the contract, the Pentagon said in its daily list of defence contract awards. The US Defence Department, which oversees sales of military weapons to foreign governments, did not say how soon the fighter jets would be delivered. Pakistan has received around $10 billion in US funding since 2001 because Washington views Pakistan as a key ally in US President George Bush's campaign against terrorism. ... The US has agreed to sell Pakistan up to 36 new F-16 jets together with refurbished F-16s. Last month, two senior Democratic US lawmakers urged the suspension of some US military sales, including the sale of F-16 fighter jets, if Musharraf did not revoke emergency rule.

3//The Australian, Australia
SCRAPPING HORNETS COULD HARM US TIES

Cancellation of the controversial $6.6 billion contract to buy 24 F/A-18F Super Hornet fighter-bombers could hurt Australia's diplomatic and commercial relationship with the US, a national security think tank has warned. The Australian Strategic Policy Institute's Andrew Davies said the Super Hornet purchase could also end up being the "right plane (for the RAAF) for the wrong reasons". His comments came as Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon yesterday reaffirmed his Government's pre-election pledge to review the purchase announced without warning in March by then defence minister Brendan Nelson. At the time, Dr Nelson said the deal was made after advice from the Defence Department and RAAF that the US-built Super Hornet offered the best solution to a looming air combat capability gap. In a statement released yesterday, Mr Fitzgibbon stopped short of saying the purchase would be cancelled, a decision experts say would cost taxpayers several hundred million dollars. The acquisition of the Boeing-built Super Hornet is designed to fill a gap stemming from the retirement in 2010 of the F-111 strike fleet. Deliveries of its intended replacement, the state-of-the-art but unproven F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) are not expected until 2013 and, at a starting price of $15.6 billion, the project is running over budget and embroiled in production delays. Mr Davies warned yesterday that any decision to axe the Super Hornet contract would carry "precipitous" consequences. It would require "careful management in Washington", he said, and would result in fraught commercial ties with Boeing, one of Australia's biggest defence contractors. Mr Davies said the Super Hornet purchase might not be the right plane for the RAAF. The RAAF needed to review what was the best way to ensure its regional air combat superiority but also whether it needed the sort of high-end capabilities that came with expensive so-called "fifth generation" stealth war planes.

4//The Globe and Mail, Canada
TAIWAN SEES JUMP IN CHINA MISSILE BUILD-UP

Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian said on Tuesday China had 1,328 ballistic missiles aimed at the self-ruled island, up by more than a third from a previous estimate, further threatening stability in the Taiwan Strait. In his final New Year's Day address before stepping down in May, Mr. Chen said the number of short-range ballistic missiles deployed against Taiwan had gone from 200 in 2000, when he took office, and now exceeded his most recent estimate of 988. Taiwan has been ruled separately from China since 1949 when Mao Zedong's Communists won a civil war on the mainland. Beijing claims sovereignty over the democratically-ruled island of 23 million people and has threatened war if it formally moves towards independence. Mr. Chen railed against China's growing military threat, saying its People's Liberation Army had finalized plans for an invasion and planned to push out the bounds of its airspace. "In addition to setting in motion a three-stage plan for its People's Liberation Army to invade Taiwan, Beijing is poised to designate an "air defence identification zone" in the Taiwan Strait and open a new civil air route along the median of the Taiwan Strait," said Mr. Chen. "In doing so, China is once again challenging and attempting to unilaterally change the status quo in the Taiwan Strait." Mr. Chen has previously said the three-stage plan includes establishing combat preparedness for contingencies in the Strait by 2007, ensuring capabilities for large-scale engagements by 2010 and being ready to ensure a decisive victory over Taiwan by 2015. Chinese President Hu Jintao, in a New Year's speech, repeated that China wanted peaceful reunification with Taiwan, but warned the island against seeking formal independence.

5//RIA Novosti (Russian News & Information Agency), Russia
TWO SIBERIAN REGIONS MERGE TO FORM NEW TERRITORY IN RUSSIA

A new constituent member of the Russian Federation, the enlarged Irkutsk Region, came into existence on January 1, following the merger of two Siberian regions. Urged by the necessity to solve local social and economic tasks and improve living standards in East Siberia, legislators in the energy-rich Irkutsk Region and the largely agrarian Ust-Ordyn Buryat Autonomous Area submitted a merger proposal to the Russian president in October 2005. ... The enlarged Irkutsk Region will form its government within a year, starting from January 1, 2008. Local parliamentary elections are expected to be held October 12, 2008, and the Russian president will nominate a new governor within 35 days after the elections. Russian President Vladimir Putin supported the merger as part of the Kremlin's ongoing campaign to simplify the country's administrative-territorial divisions, and to further tighten federal control over budget spending and efficient governance in the regions.

FEATURED ARTICLE

1//Gulfnews.com, United Arab Emirates January 1, 2008 20:58

NEW ALLIANCE BRINGS KURDISH ROLE UNDER INTENSE SCRUTINY

By Basil Adas, Correspondent

Baghdad: Many questions over the Kurdish role have risen in Baghdad after the emergence of a new political coalition that includes the Kurdistan Democratic Party led by Masoud Barazani, the Patriotic union of Kurdistan led by Iraqi president Jalal Talabani and the Sunni Islamic Party led by Tarek Al Hashemi.

The questions at the forefront are: Have the Kurds abandoned their alliance which was based on the concept of the Shiite and Kurdish suffering during Saddam Hussain's era? Will the new Talabani-Barazani-Hashemi alliance overthrow Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki's government? Will former Prime Minister Iyad Alawi join the new Kurdish Sunni alliance?

Abdul Qader Kamal, a Kurdish political researcher told Gulf News, "Despite President Talabani's reassurances during the tripartite agreement signing ceremony ... the Kurds deliberately send political messages to Prime Minister Al Maliki and the Shiite coalitions' leader Abdul Aziz Al Hakeem which reveal that the coalition government is at the Kurds mercy," he said.

At the same time he added, "Al Maliki took a strict position towards the Kurdistan region especially concerning the oil contracts signed by the regional government with foreign companies. Also, Al Maliki evaded his former promises to normalise the situation in Kirkuk and to implement the 140 articles in the permanent Iraqi Constitution. This led Kurd leaders to reevaluate their attitudes and their political alliances."

(SNIP)

Alternative

The Kurdish-Shiite crisis may seem less intense than the Shiite-Sunni disaccord specifically the dispute between Al Maliki and Al Hashemi, because Al Maliki refused the national political project submitted by Al Hashemi, which contains political and security reformatory steps.

Al Maliki did not only ignore that project but urged Al Hashemi to support the Sunni awakening councils politically as an alternative to Al Hashemi's party.

In this context, Shaker Al Samarraei, a writer and political analyst, said to Gulf News: "With Al Maliki delaying the general amnesty law and refusing to speed up the awakening members integration in the Iraqi Security forces and his guards continuous control and sectarian management of the security agencies and institutions, perhaps this led Al Hashemi to change his attitude towards the Kurds."

Have the Kurds abandoned their alliance ... based on the concept of the ... Kurdish suffering during Saddam's era?

Copyright 2007, Gloria R. Lalumia

WORLD MEDIA WATCH