Gloria R. Lalumia's World Media Watch for January 9, 2008

WORLD MEDIA WATCH

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

1//Today's Zaman, Turkey
ERDOGAN TO TALK TO AHMADINEJAD OVER GAS CRISIS

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan stated on Tuesday that he will ask Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to restore the flow of natural gas to Turkey after it was cut off earlier this week. Iran, one of Ankara's main gas suppliers, halted its supply to Turkey this week, state-owned Turkish Pipeline Company (BOTAS,) officials said on Monday. Iran later blamed the disruption on cold weather and a cut in Turkmen gas supplies to Iran. "We have been in contact [with Iranian officials]. I will speak to Iranian authorities, especially Ahmadinejad, and call on him to speedily restore the flow," Erdogan told reporters at Parliament when asked whether he has had any contact with Tehran on the issue. Despite criticism from the United States, Ankara is trying to deepen energy ties with Iran and plans to invest billions in Iranian energy projects. ... So far, the Turkish Energy Ministry's contacts with Russian officials for allocating additional supplies have apparently yielded no positive results as it had been reported on Tuesday that Turkey has only 2.7 billion cubic meters of natural gas, which will only be enough to cover the country's needs for 28 days. ... The most common question was over whether Tehran aimed at putting political pressure on Turkey via these actions at a time when Ankara has been improving its ties with Iran's rival, the United States, with increased cooperation against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) based in northern Iraq. Intensified cooperation in the energy field, particularly in Central Asian countries, was a top item in talks between Turkey's President Abdullah Gül and US President George W. Bush at the White House. Prominent columnist Ferai Tinç, speaking on NTV yesterday, said the Turkish and US presidents would also discuss the global dependence on Russian energy resources and ways of eliminating this dependence as well.

AN EXPANDED EXCERPT OF THIS FEATURED ARTICLE FOLLOWS THE SUMMARIES

2//The Telegraph, UK
CHINA ‘PLANS TO SEND TROOPS INTO NORTH KOREA'

China is planning to send troops into North Korea to restore order and secure its nuclear arsenal in the event of the regime's collapse. According to a new report, Beijing would send in the People's Liberation Army if it felt threatened by a rapid breakdown in Kim Jong-il's rule over the country. China would seek to win the backing of the United Nations first, but would be prepared to act unilaterally if necessary. "If the international community did not react in a timely manner as the internal order in North Korea deteriorated rapidly, China would seek to take the initiative in restoring stability," said the report by two Washington think-tanks. Based on extensive interviews conducted in China, including with PLA academics, the report's findings back up previous indications of China's major change in attitude to Kim Jong-il after the North Korean nuclear test of October 2006, and also demonstrate its willingness to assert itself in international affairs.

Separately, Beijing today announced its ambitions in space for the coming year, including the launch of 15 rockets and 17 satellites as well as its first space walk. According to PLA academics quoted by the report, which was written by the Centre for Strategic and International Studies and the US Institute of Peace, the army has three "missions" in a failing North Korea.

3//The Chosun Ilbo, South Korea
LEE GOV'T TO POSTPONE SOME INTER-KOREAN MEGA PROJECTS

President-elect Lee Myung-bak's Transition Committee said Monday it will postpone some costly inter-Korean economic cooperation projects including a "peace zone" in the West Sea, a shipyard complex in North Korea and the repair of railways and roads in the North. The decision is in line with Lee's declared intent to link inter-Korean economic projects other than humanitarian aid to progress in North Korea's denuclearization process. The transition team's spokesman Lee Dong-kwan said that the new government will divide inter-Korean cooperation projects into three categories according to their importance and validity. In the first category, humanitarian aid -- rice, fertilizer, medical equipment, forestation and environmental support -- will be provided as in the past. In the second category are projects whose commercial validity has been proven and that will benefit South Korean companies. Those will be carried out within the scope of the Inter-Korean Cooperation Fund. They include agreements on natural resource development, transport and communication with the Kaesong Industrial Complex and customs clearance. However, third-category projects, which will cost an enormous amount of money, will undergo a review. They include infrastructure projects, the shipyard complex and the "peace zone" including a joint fisheries area. These projects are the kernel of President Roh Moo-hyun's summit agreement with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il in October last year. The delay is expected to prompt protest from the North, which in a New Year's editorial published in its three major newspapers called for progress in implementing the agreement.

4//The Daily Star, Lebanon
MOUSSA TO PITCH ARAB LEAGUE PLAN IN BEIRUT

Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa will arrive in Beirut on Wednesday to try to push Lebanon's rival political leaders to accept the Arab foreign ministers' plan aimed at ending the country's constitutional crisis, electing a president and forming a new government. Parliamentary majority leader MP Saad Hariri met Tuesday with French President Nicolas Sarkozy over lunch in a Paris hotel, during which Sarkozy reaffirmed France's commitment to stand by Lebanon in support of the Arab plan. Hariri, speaking to the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation (LBC) Tuesday, said if Syria does not move ahead with the Arab plan, which its Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem accepted, "it would have affirmed that its candidate for president in Lebanon is a vacancy in the presidency." Hariri rejected the idea of equal shares of Cabinet posts going to the his coalition, the opposition and the new president, a 10+10+10 distribution of Cabinet posts, calling it "unrealistic." The Arab foreign ministers' three-point plan paves the way for the election of Lebanese Armed Forces commander General Michel Suleiman as president, the establishment of a national unity government and the passing of a new electoral law. Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Butros Sfeir stressed the need to elect a president before forming a national unity government, as the president plays a pivotal role in Cabinet appointments. Speaking to reporters after meeting visitors in Bkirki Tuesday, Sfeir said the Arab League plan was "new and aimed at creating a balance" between political rivals and to have a government and a president in Lebanon.

5//Kommersant, Russia
CZECH SUPPORT FOR MISSILE DEFENSE DOWN

The number of Czech citizens who feel negatively about the placement of American missile defense facilities in the Czech Republic has risen to 70 percent, according to a survey conducted in December by Czech pollster CVVM. The agency announced the results of its poll on Tuesday. Forty-four percent of the 1056 respondents were strongly opposed to the American plans, 26 percent were negatively inclined toward them. Seven percent of respondents were fully in favor of the missile defense system, and 16 percent were favorably inclined toward it. Seventy-three percent of respondents favored a national referendum on the issue, while 19 percent considered a referendum unnecessary. The number of those opposed to the American system has grown dramatically compared to the findings of earlier surveys.

FEATURED ARTICLE

1//Today's Zaman, Turkey 09.01.2008

ERDOGAN TO TALK TO AHMADINEJAD OVER GAS CRISIS

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan stated on Tuesday that he will ask Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to restore the flow of natural gas to Turkey after it was cut off earlier this week.

Iran, one of Ankara's main gas suppliers, halted its supply to Turkey this week, state-owned Turkish Pipeline Company (BOTAS,) officials said on Monday. Iran later blamed the disruption on cold weather and a cut in Turkmen gas supplies to Iran. "We have been in contact [with Iranian officials]. I will speak to Iranian authorities, especially Ahmadinejad, and call on him to speedily restore the flow," Erdogan told reporters at Parliament when asked whether he has had any contact with Tehran on the issue. Despite criticism from the United States, Ankara is trying to deepen energy ties with Iran and plans to invest billions in Iranian energy projects.

A senior Energy Ministry official told Reuters on Monday that the disruption in supplies would last a "long time" and that Russia, Turkey's other main energy provider, was unable to allocate additional supplies.

(SNIP)

Iran is Turkey's second-largest gas supplier after Russia. Turkey also imports gas from Ukraine, Romania and Bulgaria and supports the natural gas supply system via liquid natural gas (LNG) terminals in Aliag(a and Marmara Ereg(li, imported by special ships. In January 2007 Iran was forced to stop gas exports to Turkey for five days to compensate for a domestic consumption crunch.

So far, the Turkish Energy Ministry's contacts with Russian officials for allocating additional supplies have apparently yielded no positive results as it had been reported on Tuesday that Turkey has only 2.7 billion cubic meters of natural gas, which will only be enough to cover the country's needs for 28 days.

In heating and electricity production, Turkey is 50 percent dependent on natural gas. The country's overall need for natural gas in a year is over 30 billion cubic meters, with 48 percent of this gas used for producing electricity. The amount of natural gas used in cities, meanwhile, is around 10 billion cubic meters. During winter, Turkey uses approximately 140 million cubic meters a day.

(SNIP)

Gas cut linked to US visit?

Although Iran cited cold weather and a cut in Turkmen gas supplies as reasons for cutting the flowing of natural gas to Turkey, the fact that Iran has in the past halted natural gas deliveries to Turkey several times during the winter citing increased domestic demand for the fuel led to question marks in the Turkish media and the public.

The most common question was over whether Tehran aimed at putting political pressure on Turkey via these actions at a time when Ankara has been improving its ties with Iran's rival, the United States, with increased cooperation against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) based in northern Iraq.

Intensified cooperation in the energy field, particularly in Central Asian countries, was a top item in talks between Turkey's President Abdullah Gül and US President George W. Bush at the White House. Prominent columnist Ferai Tinç, speaking on NTV yesterday, said the Turkish and US presidents would also discuss the global dependence on Russian energy resources and ways of eliminating this dependence as well.

Iran wants to send a political message to Turkey by cutting natural gas flow, Tinç stressed.

Veteran energy analyst Necdet Pamir, speaking with Today's Zaman yesterday, agreed, bringing to mind a meeting between Erdogan and Bush in Washington in November, followed by the US move of providing real-time intelligence that the Turkish military could use to strike PKK targets.

(SNIP)

"The possibility of a political message given by Iran to Turkey may stand at 1 percent, but it is still there, and you can easily assume this possibility stands at 49 percent, with 51 percent for technical reasons," he added, noting that Russia's unwillingness to allocate additional supplies could also be meant to send a political message to Turkey.

Copyright 2008, Gloria R. Lalumia

WORLD MEDIA WATCH