Gloria R. Lalumia's World Media Watch for February 15, 2008

WORLD MEDIA WATCH

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

1//International Herald Tribune, France
PUTIN VOWS TO KEEP POWER IN RUSSIA

President Vladimir Putin, in the last weeks of an eight-year administration that has secured his place as Russia's most popular politician, said Thursday that he intended to wield substantial and long-running power in the Kremlin after leaving office next month and becoming prime minister. In a confident and forceful public performance in which he described many of Russia's continuing policy choices, Putin spoke bitingly of his international critics and defied intense criticism from Washington by refusing to back down from threats to aim strategic missiles at the Czech Republic, Poland and Ukraine. He accused NATO of further encroaching on Russian borders by courting Ukraine, and accused the United States of developing a missile shield for deployment in Europe - two actions, he said, that would force the Kremlin to assume a reinvigorated nuclear defense. ... Putin appeared in public for more than four hours in what the Kremlin billed as his final news conference as president. Under the Constitution he cannot seek a third consecutive term, and a new president will be selected on March 2 in an election by popular vote. But the event was not a president's farewell and did little to suggest that he was yielding his position as the country's unrivaled leader. Putin reiterated his intention to become prime minister and lead the government of his presumptive successor, Dmitri Medvedev, a politician whose career he has sponsored. He also implied that Medvedev would follow the course that he had set. "The president is the guarantor of the Constitution," Putin said. "He sets the main directions for internal and external policies. But the highest executive power in the country is the Russian government, led by the premier." He added that he planned to be the prime minister throughout Medvedev's administration, as long as "I am meeting goals that I myself have fixed."

AN EXPANDED EXCERPT OF THIS FEATURED ARTICLE FOLLOWS THE SUMMARIES

2//RIA Novosti (Russian News & Information Agency), Russia
RUSSIA, IRAN MAY WET UP JV TO OPERATE BUSHEHR NPP IN 3 MONTHS

Russia and Iran could set up a joint venture to operate the Bushehr nuclear power plant in southern Iran in three months, the chief executive of Atomstroyexport said Thursday. "We have almost agreed to establish a JV to operate the Bushehr NPP, both as part of the contract and later, during maintenance," Sergei Shmatko, the president of the Russian nuclear power equipment and service export monopoly, told journalists. "I have set myself an optimistic timeframe - three months." Shmatko also said Atomstroyexport, which is building Bushehr, plans to almost double the 1,300 Russian personnel employed in the NPP construction. ... Russia delivered the final fuel shipment to Bushehr on January 28. With the eighth delivery of five metric tons, Russia has supplied a total of 82 metric tons of low-enriched uranium to the light-water nuclear power plant, which has been the focus of international attention over fears Iran is developing nuclear weapons. ... Western nations fear Iran seeks to produce nuclear weapons, but Tehran insists it needs nuclear technology to generate electricity. Two sets of UN Security Council sanctions are currently in place against Tehran over its refusal to halt uranium enrichment. The five permanent UN Security Council members and Germany have agreed a draft for new measures against the Islamic Republic, strengthening two previous rounds of sanctions but falling short of the punitive steps proposed by Washington. Tehran plans to hold tenders for the construction of 19 new nuclear reactors and to generate 20,000 megawatts of electricity at its NPPs in the next two decades.

3//Asia Times Online, Hong Kong
DEATH OF HEZBOLLAH KINGPIN: A WAR AWAITS

Those who live by the sword must die by the sword. Imad Mughniyeh must have known the adage, and now he, like all of his alleged victims, has met a violent death, of all places, in Syria, where he was hiding because that was perceived to be the safest place for him. The 45-year-old Mughniyeh was said to be one of Hezbollah's top security strategists and high on America's list of wanted "terrorists". His last reported public appearance was at his brother Fuad's funeral in 1994 in Beirut. Mughniyeh was killed by a car bomb in Damascus on Tuesday in an up-market district that houses an Iranian school, a police station and a Syrian intelligence office, Hezbollah announced on Wednesday. Hezbollah immediately accused Israel of assassinating Mughniyeh, who led the group's security network during the 1975-90 civil war in Lebanon. He was reportedly targeted by the Israelis for many years, while the Americans had a US$5 million award for information leading to his arrest. ... The world may be a better place, but the chances of another outbreak of violence between Hezbollah and Israel have escalated by more than a few notches. ... What is important is that, even though the Hezbollah-Israeli hot war of July-August 2006 is officially over, that war continues. Israel cannot get over the fact that its conventional deterrence - that pretty much established to the Arab world, through the 1967 and 1973 wars, that the Israeli armed forces were invincible - was seriously jeopardized in 2006. The best-equipped forces in the Middle East could not eradicate Hezbollah. After the ceasefire, neither Hezbollah nor the Israelis has ceased preparations for the next skirmish, except that the next round is likely to be bloodier and more destructive than the one in 2006. ... Unfortunately, the death of one violent man, more often than not, leads to even more violence. The streets of Damascus - where Mughniyeh was killed - and Beirut - where he had lived - are already abuzz with talk of vengeance. Translated into the language of high politics, this means that the chances of an outbreak of violence between Hezbollah and Israel are high. Syria and Iran - the real players in this fight - are not about to take on the Israel. But Damascus knows that Israel is itching to get even with Hezbollah. Similarly, Tehran knows that both the US and Israel are eagerly looking for an opportunity to neutralize its nuclear option.

4//The Daily Star, Lebanon
SULEIMAN PROMISES MILITARY WILL PREVENT OUTBREAK OF CIVIL WAR

The commander of the Lebanese Armed Forces vowed Wednesday that civil war will not take place in Lebanon, adding that while the LAF was working to keep the situation under control, "politicians manage to stir tensions." "There will be no returning back to the 1975-1990 Civil War because the LAF will not remain passive," General Michel Suleiman told An-Nahar Youth weekly supplement in an interview to be fully published on Thursday. Meanwhile, Lebanon braced on Wednesday for a mass rally by supporters of the Western-backed government to commemorate the third anniversary of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri's 2005 assassination. Pro-government leaders have called on hundreds of thousands of demonstrators to converge Thursday on Martyrs Square in central Beirut, near the seafront site of the car bombing that killed Hariri and 22 others on February 14, 2005. Premier Fouad Siniora, in a televised speech on Wednesday, urged the Lebanese to take part in Thursday's mass rally, "to pay tribute for a man who fought for Lebanon's democracy." "We ask our fellow Lebanese to join us tomorrow so as to vanquish hegemony and promote democracy and sovereignty," Siniora added. Also Wednesday, Hariri's son Saad leader of the parliamentary majority, urged the Lebanese to "participate massively in tomorrow's gathering." "Lebanon's sovereignty and democracy are targeted, therefore all Lebanese groups - including [opposition] MP Michel Aoun's Free Patriotic Movement - ought to join us," Hariri told LBCI television in an interview. The rally is to be held on the same day that Hizbullah is to bury one of its top commanders, Imad Mughniyeh, who was assassinated by a bomb late Tuesday in Damascus. The resistance has accused Israel of the killing.

5//Inquirer.net, Philippines
ASSASSINATION PLOT AGAINST ARROYO BARED

An assassination plot against President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo allegedly by the al-Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) and Abu Sayyaf was revealed Thursday by her security group, which it said, was the reason why the President cancelled her trip to Baguio City over the weekend.

Brigadier General Romeo Prestoza, head of the Presidential Security Group, told a press conference that the cancellation of another out of town trip was being studied. Prestoza also said the threat, discovered last week, also included attacks on embassies. The reported JI plot is different from a standing plan by communist rebels to kill the President. It is being verified by the Philippine National Police (PNP), Prestoza told reporters at the Palace. "There are reports, and according to the reports, the President is among the targets, but she is not the only target," Prestoza said, "I understand there are also embassies." ... Armed forces chief General Hermogenes Esperon Jr. said the plot "had become the basis of our action for putting the Armed Forces of the Philippines in full state of preparedness." ... Philippine National Police (PNP) Director General Avelino Razon Jr. said they were still verifying the reported assassination plot but had nevertheless intensified their intelligence gathering and taken precautionary measures to thwart any attempt on the President's life. ... Razon echoed this, saying reports of the assassination plot were not meant to divert public attention from the scandal triggered by allegations of corruption surrounding the scrapped national broadband network deal. Earlier on Thursday, Razon said police were on high alert ahead of the protest actions. Also on Thursday, Army spokesman Captain Carlo Ferrer said they had separately received intelligence reports that elements from the NPA might infiltrate the ranks of protesters Friday and instigate violence. The NPA is the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines, which has been waging a Maoist rebellion since 1969. Arroyo's critics have been holding daily protests around Manila calling on her to resign over fresh claims that her husband and a political ally tried to get millions of dollars in kickbacks from a telecoms agreement with a Chinese firm. The $329-million deal with China's ZTE Corp. has since been cancelled by Arroyo. Some business groups have warned that the scandal could plunge the country into a new round of political instability and dampen investor confidence.

FEATURED ARTICLE

1//International Herald Tribune, France Published: February 14, 2008

PUTIN VOWS TO KEEP POWER IN RUSSIA

By C.J. Chivers

MOSCOW: President Vladimir Putin, in the last weeks of an eight-year administration that has secured his place as Russia's most popular politician, said Thursday that he intended to wield substantial and long-running power in the Kremlin after leaving office next month and becoming prime minister.

In a confident and forceful public performance in which he described many of Russia's continuing policy choices, Putin spoke bitingly of his international critics and defied intense criticism from Washington by refusing to back down from threats to aim strategic missiles at the Czech Republic, Poland and Ukraine.

He accused NATO of further encroaching on Russian borders by courting Ukraine, and accused the United States of developing a missile shield for deployment in Europe - two actions, he said, that would force the Kremlin to assume a reinvigorated nuclear defense.

"We will have to re-target our missiles on the objects that we think threaten our national security," he said. "I have to speak about this directly and honestly, so that there would be no attempts to shift the responsibility for such developments on those who should not be blamed."

Putin appeared in public for more than four hours in what the Kremlin billed as his final news conference as president. Under the Constitution he cannot seek a third consecutive term, and a new president will be selected on March 2 in an election by popular vote. But the event was not a president's farewell and did little to suggest that he was yielding his position as the country's unrivaled leader.

Putin reiterated his intention to become prime minister and lead the government of his presumptive successor, Dmitri Medvedev, a politician whose career he has sponsored. He also implied that Medvedev would follow the course that he had set.

"The president is the guarantor of the Constitution," Putin said. "He sets the main directions for internal and external policies. But the highest executive power in the country is the Russian government, led by the premier." He added that he planned to be the prime minister throughout Medvedev's administration, as long as "I am meeting goals that I myself have fixed."

The conference also underscored the degree to which Putin has continued to eclipse Medvedev, the successor he selected himself. Although Russia is in the midst of the official one-month presidential campaign, there is little sign of competing ideas or public involvement in choosing Russia's next president.

And Putin is not fading from view.

Last week, he addressed Russian lawmakers, laying out his vision for the country through the year 2020. On Thursday, he threatened to escalate a dispute with Europe and the United States over the future of Kosovo, which is expected to declare its independence next week from Serbia, with support from the West. Russia has backed Serbia and opposed Kosovo's independence, and has threatened to protest the move at the UN Security Council and perhaps to recognize breakaway regions it supports in Moldova and Georgia.

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Copyright 2008, Gloria R. Lalumia

WORLD MEDIA WATCH