Gloria R. Lalumia's World Media Watch for January 14, 2008

WORLD MEDIA WATCH

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

1//The Times, UK
ANGRY PAKISTANIS TURN AGAINST ARMY

It is the most expensive - and talked about - property development in Pakistan, but few can get near it. Hidden behind barbed wire, the new state-of-the-art army headquarter to replace a garrison in Rawalpindi is costing a reputed £1 billion and will cover 2,400 acres of prime land in Islamabad, including lakes, a residential complex, schools and clinics. Originally intended to represent the best of Pakistan, the new army HQ is now being seen as a symbol of all that is wrong with the country. Amid nationwide anger over the killing of the opposition leader Benazir Bhutto and a widespread belief that the country's military or intelligence may have been involved, the population is turning against the army for the first time. From the wailing rice-pickers at Bhutto's grave in the dusty village of Garhi Khuda Bakhsh in the southern province of Sindh to the western-educated elite sipping whisky and soda in the drawing rooms of Lahore, the message is the same: General Pervez Musharraf, the president, must go and the army must return to its barracks. Feelings are running so high that officers have been advised not to venture into the bazaar in uniform for fear of reprisals. ... Resentment against the men in khaki is particularly acute in Bhutto's home province of Sindh. To Sindhis, she was killed not because of her stand for democracy and against terrorism but because of where she came from. After her death many Sindhis went on the rampage, burning lorries, trains and banks. They have been reined in by Bhutto's husband, Asif Zardari, who has taken over running her Pakistan People's party. But he warns: "If elections are rigged or don't go ahead, this may be impossible to contain." Those close to Musharraf say he still believes he is the only person able to sort out Pakistan, even though under his rule suicide bombs have become an almost daily occurrence.

AN EXPANDED EXCERPT OF THIS FEATURED ARTICLE FOLLOWS THE SUMMARIES

2//Azzaman in English, Iraq
IRAQ'S NATIONAL GRID GRINDS TO A HALT

The Iraqi capital Baghdad and other major cities are plunged into darkness due to prolonged disruptions of power supplies from the national grid, a source at the Ministry of Electricity said.

The stoppage is the severest to hit Iraq and comes amid reports of further fuel shortages and more acts of sabotage directed at electricity towers and stations. Nearly four years after U.S. invasion, the country's power generating capacity has plummeting to levels unseen before despite investments estimated at billions of dollars. The shortages follow a halt in the export of gas oil from Turkey used in driving major power stations in the country. Both Turkey and Kuwait have also unexpectedly halted exports of electricity to the country. Aziz Sultan of the Electricity Ministry said neither the Turks nor the Kuwaitis have given any reason for their latest actions. However, Sultan, who heads the ministry's information department, said violence and sabotage were the main reason for the poor performance of the grid. ... The other crucial problem was related to fuel, he added. Natural gas-driven plants were not working because of lack of fuel. Natural gas output has plunged recently, he said without elaborating. "Available capacity in the range of 600 megawatts is out of reach now because we have no more fuel to run the plants," he said.

3//EUObserver.com, Belgium
PUBLIC BROADCASTERS UNDER THE EU COMPETITION MICROSCOPE

The European Commission has public television and radio stations within its targets once again, this time with the launch of a public consultation on the future of state broadcasters. The commission announced the consultation process on Thursday (10 January). It marks the start of a comprehensive review of the state of the sector since the adoption of its 2001 broadcasting communication. The commission said in a statement that it hopes the review will build on the fundamental principles of the financing of public service broadcasting as laid down in European Community law, but also be able to clearly define what a public service mission is and limit state aid to "what is necessary for the fulfilment of this mission." Competition commissioner Neelie Kroes said: "There are many ways the present broadcasting communication can usefully be improved to increase transparency and legal certainty." Brussels hopes to explore the role of public broadcasters in the new media environment. Specifically, it would like the process to investigate what it terms "overcompensation" and "cross-subsidies for commercial activities" by public broadcasters. This is not the first time the commission has put public funding of broadcasters under its competition microscope. In 2005, EU regulators warned German public broadcasters ARD and ZDF that the receipt of monies from the German government was not in line with EU law forbidding subsidies that damage competitors.

4//The Independent, UK
SECRET NUCLEAR TALKS HELD AT NO. 10

The Government held at least nine secret meetings at Downing Street with the bosses of nuclear energy companies while it formulated controversial plans for a new generation of the power plants, The Independent on Sunday can reveal. No official records were kept of the discussions with the companies, which stand to profit from Gordon Brown's announcement last Thursday that he was approving a new generation of nuclear power plants. The Government initially tried to block details of the meetings requested under the Freedom of Information Act. However, last week it revealed that Geoffrey Norris, Gordon Brown's energy adviser, met bosses from EDF, British Nuclear Fuels (BNFL), E.ON and British Energy at a crucial phase in the Government's deliberations. Confirmation that there are no official records of the meetings adds to concern that certain advisers can operate outside the rules of government accountability. ... The meetings took place during the Government's first public consultation on a new nuclear programme. However, that consultation was criticised by the High Court last year as "flawed" and "inadequate" after a challenge by Greenpeace. Ben Ayliffe, a Greenpeace spokesman, said: "This just shows the extraordinary level of collusion between the Government and the nuclear industry." A BNFL spokesman said: "BNFL has no commercial interest in new nuclear build." An E.ON spokesman said: "E.ON meets with the Government all the time and no one would remember what was said at any such meeting." None of the other companies involved had commented by the time we went to press.

5//The Guardian, UK
FRANCE BEGINS TO GROW WEARY WITH THE SARKOZY SOAP OPERA

Smooching their way through a five-course lunch yesterday at an exclusive Paris restaurant, President Nicolas Sarkozy and Carla Bruni made it clear that they care nothing for what anyone thinks, including their gooseberry guest of honour, Tony Blair. The former PM was invited to the five-star Hotel Bristol after addressing a rally of Sarkozy's Union for a Popular Movement party. But all eyes were on the 40-year-old Bruni, who every now and again lifted her sunglasses to lean in and nuzzle the presidential cheek. Sarkozy reciprocated with kisses and cuddles, oblivious of any uncomfortable fidgeting from those around them. ... Now he gives every appearance of being very high - in cabinet meetings the President has giggling fits - after advertising executive Séguéla introduced Sarkozy, 52, to Bruni. A nation that had never so much as seen one of its Presidents wearing a T-shirt has been confronted with a whirlwind romance and the shock of seeing the photographers of even their more serious publications with lenses firmly trained on his ring finger and her tummy. Ex-second-wife Cécilia has a role in this Gallic soap opera, too. The President who promised a 'rupture' with the past has delivered an earth-shattering shift in France's relationship with power. But with six Paris-Match covers to his credit since his election in May, Sarkozy is winning the nickname 'President Bling-Bling', as suspicions grow he may be more style than substance. ... The French media are now divided between supporters of Nicolas and Cécilia. Glossing over the nine-point collapse in Sarkozy's confidence rating since June, Friday's Le Figaro produced a poll showing 60 per cent of respondents welcomed Sarkozy's openness over Bruni. But a survey in Le Parisien, for which Cécilia is 'a heroine', had only 39 per cent feeling confident in Sarkozy. The enduring effect of the Bruni-Sarkozy saga will be to wipe out the French media's silence over politicians' private lives. The love child of President Mitterrand was first seen at his funeral. Journalists kept quiet on President Chirac's numerous affairs. But it has taken just a few weeks for the country's privacy laws to seem a distant memory. The shift has come not from the media, but from an image-hungry Sarkozy, who is accused of using his private life to obscure political failures.

FEATURED ARTICLE

1//The Times, UK January 13, 2008

ANGRY PAKISTANIS TURN AGAINST ARMY

Christina Lamb in Islamabad

It is the most expensive - and talked about - property development in Pakistan, but few can get near it. Hidden behind barbed wire, the new state-of-the-art army headquarter to replace a garrison in Rawalpindi is costing a reputed £1 billion and will cover 2,400 acres of prime land in Islamabad, including lakes, a residential complex, schools and clinics.

Originally intended to represent the best of Pakistan, the new army HQ is now being seen as a symbol of all that is wrong with the country.

Amid nationwide anger over the killing of the opposition leader Benazir Bhutto and a widespread belief that the country's military or intelligence may have been involved, the population is turning against the army for the first time.

From the wailing rice-pickers at Bhutto's grave in the dusty village of Garhi Khuda Bakhsh in the southern province of Sindh to the western-educated elite sipping whisky and soda in the drawing rooms of Lahore, the message is the same: General Pervez Musharraf, the president, must go and the army must return to its barracks.

Feelings are running so high that officers have been advised not to venture into the bazaar in uniform for fear of reprisals.

"The interests of the people of Pakistan are now totally at odds with those of the army," said Asma Jahangir, the head of Pakistan's Human Rights Commission, who was one of hundreds of lawyers placed under house arrest in November.

"If a civilian president had done what Musharraf has done, he would have been dragged by his hair to the sea."

(SNIP)

For decades children in Pakistan have grown up on text-books glorifying the Pakistani army and glossing over its defeat in three wars and loss of half the country in 1971 (to become Bangladesh). When army chiefs have seized power they have generally been welcomed. The news of Musharraf's takeover in 1999 was greeted with people handing out sweets. But none of Pakistan's military rulers have stepped down voluntarily and Musharraf, it seems, is no different, picking an unpopular fight with the country's judiciary when they tried to take him on.

(SNIP)

Bhutto's death has left her one-time rival Nawaz Sharif, leader of the Pakistan Muslim League, as the main opposition figure. Although he emerged on the political scene in the 1980s under the patronage of Pakistan's last military ruler, General Zia ul-Haq, he now insists the army must stop interfering in politics. "The only way to move forward is for people to defy the army and to realise that these generals who keep staging coups are our real enemies," he told The Sunday Times in an interview at his heavily guarded farmhouse outside Lahore.

"It is not the job of generals to hold the prime minister, cabinet or parliament accountable," he added. "They are accountable to the people. The army has to go back to barracks or we'll never have a functioning state."

Resentment against the men in khaki is particularly acute in Bhutto's home province of Sindh. To Sindhis, she was killed not because of her stand for democracy and against terrorism but because of where she came from. After her death many Sindhis went on the rampage, burning lorries, trains and banks.

They have been reined in by Bhutto's husband, Asif Zardari, who has taken over running her Pakistan People's party. But he warns: "If elections are rigged or don't go ahead, this may be impossible to contain."

Those close to Musharraf say he still believes he is the only person able to sort out Pakistan, even though under his rule suicide bombs have become an almost daily occurrence.

"The problem is that 9/11 went to his head," said Durrani. "After that I found him a changed man. He went from being a pariah to applause, saviour of Pakistan and the West."

Washington and London are clinging to Musharraf for want of other options and the belief that he represents the best hope of preventing Pakistan's 50 or so nuclear warheads falling into militant hands. The West had hoped that Bhutto would be brought in as prime minister to provide his regime with a democratic face, but are now working on co-opting Sharif or Zardari.

(SNIP)

Hope rests on General Ashfaq Kayani, who took command of the army in late November when Musharraf succumbed to pressure to take off his uniform and become a civilian president.

Little is known about Kayani apart from his love of golf and his professionalism as a soldier. He is said to be unhappy about the army's involvement in politics and might pull back if elections proceed smoothly.

"Nobody is anyone's man once he becomes commander-in-chief with 700,000 soldiers under his command," says Imran Khan, the former cricketer turned politician.

Copyright 2008, Gloria R. Lalumia

WORLD MEDIA WATCH