U.S. - North Korea

The United States shot itself in the foot when it rushed into military action in Iraq on what is widely perceived as false pretenses. The fallout of its questionable campaign has hit as far afield as the Korean Peninsula. It has made Pyongyang as defiant as ever in keeping its nuclear ambitions.

In the aftermath of the Iraqi war, the North Korean's fears have deepened that they may be among the next targets on the United States' alleged hit list. Iraq was attacked and occupied without the assailants being able to produce substantial evidence that it had developed proscribed weaponry.

Several U.S. officials, notably President George W. Bush, have made clear on different occasions that they are interested in resolving the Korean crisis diplomatically rather than militarily.

Washington's global stature has been dented by its unilateralism in Iraq, which it invaded without making a potent case. So it would be wary of making miscalculations in handling the nuclear-powered North Korea.

-- The Egyptian Gazette, Cairo, Egypt

John Ashcroft, the attorney genneral

Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik and Foreign Minister Jan Petersen (met with) an extremist when they (met) U.S. Attorney Gen. John Ashcroft (on Monday). They (met) a man whose ideas and position of power are a threat to the rule of law and our liberal, democratic traditions.

As attorney general, John Ashcroft got the Patriot Act passed, giving police and prosecution dramatically increased powers. Under him, the U.S. has created secret military tribunals. Ashcroft even tried to recruit millions of Americans for a national system for reporting suspicious and potentially terror related activities. ...

The terror attacks of Sept. 11 allowed Ashcroft to play on fear, making it possible to cross freedoms and rights that have been fought for centuries. It is that fear that resulted in just one member of Congress voting against the Patriot Act. Fear is Ashcroft and the Bush administration's ultimate argument ...

That fear undermines the strongest weapon we have in the battle against international terrorism and its ideas: the rule of law and the liberal democracy.

-- Dagbladet, Oslo, Norway

U.S. Congress and air standards

The Bush Administration has made things much easier on America's industrial air polluters. New, relaxed Environmental Protection Agency rules allow companies to massively update power plants, refineries and other facilities without installing the costly but readily available modern pollution-control equipment, as formerly required.

The rules, if allowed to stand, will make it possible for polluting equipment to stay in use for decades. This change would mark a huge, if short-sighted, victory for industry, and a sad defeat for public health and the environment.

It also would be a retreat from an important principle upheld more than 30 years by Republican and Democratic administrations alike: It may be economically impossible to require existing industrial units, even ones that pollute hideously, to retrofit to new clean-air standards. But when those units are to be substantially replaced, as opposed to merely maintained, they should be brought up to par.

Otherwise, immense amounts of unacceptable pollution will continue indefinitely which is what will happen if these new standards are not reversed. ...

-- The News-Press, Fort Myers, Florida

On Iraq

Most Iraqis aren't racking their brains over whether Saddam loyalists or al-Qaeda was responsible for the attacks on the Jordanian embassy, the U.N. mission and Shiite leader Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim. The fact is they see themselves confronted with a kind of force previously unknown in Mesopotamia.

In addition there has been an unprecedented wave of criminality, ranging from murder to larceny and kidnapping. Fear has become a constant companion. And worst: It won't get better, but just the opposite.

Regardless of religion or political or social position there is agreement: The American occupiers, still unable to guarantee security almost five months after the fall of Baghdad, are responsible for the precarious situation.

Loud criticism of the coalition is even coming from people who have been working closely with the United States. The list of mistakes held up to the coalition is long.

Why were the police and the military dissolved? Why are the borders open, so that anyone who wants to can walk in? After five months of "freedom," the Iraqis want to see their police back on the streets and their own soldiers on the borders. They think they are capable of doing what the American army has failed to do.....

Maybe soldiers from Poland, Mongolia or Nicaragua can help defuse the strained relationship between occupying power and population, but they are not the solution. Only the Iraqis themselves can fill the security vacuum.

In Najaf and Karbala - the hallowed cities of the Shiites - a special U.S. police unit is supposed to take up duty in coming days. Suddenly this is going very fast. But this method of casting Iraqi warnings to the wind and correcting one's own mistakes is proving to be fatal and expensive.

-- Tages-Anzeiger, Zurich, Switzerland

The U.S. mission in Iraq

After this week's pessimistic economic forecast, it may seem like a poor time to propose a spending increase by the federal government.

But that is exactly what is needed - for the U.S. mission in Iraq.

We need to invest more money and more people in Iraq. That much has become apparent over the past few weeks.

This is a mission in which we cannot afford to fail. If we blow it in Iraq, U.S. credibility will be shot over the entire world. If we cave, as many Democrats are urging us to do, and hand over the mission to the United Nations, the world will know that we bit off more than we were willing to chew and will never trust us again. Our moral weakness and lack of commitment will be apparent and our enemies will rejoice.

-- The Courier, Findlay, Ohio

Was al-Qaeda behind Shiite mosque bombing

If it turns out that al-Qaida was behind last week's bombing of the Shiite mosque in Najaf that killed more than 100 people, including Shiite cleric Ayatollah Mohammad Baqir al Hakim, then it becomes obvious that the conflict in Iraq is spreading all the time. It is no longer Saddam Hussein supporters or the die-hard Baathists who are wreaking havoc on Iraq, but there are other forces taking part in the fight against not only U.S. occupation of the country, but also in order to destabilize the entire region.

By targeting U.S. and all others suspected of aiding the interim Governing Council in Baghdad would indicate that the perpetrators are either members of al-Qaida or a group closely associated with it.

If terrorism, as opposed to the struggle for liberation, wins in Iraq, then it may extend its tentacles to other countries in the region and lay waste everything that stands in its way. If the Middle East and the Gulf region are allowed to burn, then Europe and the rest of the world would be threatened and become destabilized as well.

That's why the world's major powers must put their differences behind them and concentrate for once on what is good for the international community.

-- The Jordan Times, Amman, Jordan

Schwarzenegger and debates

Arnold Schwarzenegger campaigns for governor as an outsider, but he's acting like just another business-as-usual poll by refusing to enter more than one debate or candidate forum before the Oct. 7 election to recall Gov. Gray Davis.

It's an old front-runner's tactic: Don't expose yourself to attacks by your opponents when you get all the attention you want through celebrity and media attention. ...

Only live, unrehearsed questions can take the measure of the candidates. Office-seekers should have to spontaneously demonstrate their familiarity with big issues like the state's chronic budget troubles and at least outline how they would address them. But Schwarzenegger is following another old political dictum: The less specific you are, the less you give your opponents to criticize.

Debates are particularly necessary in a short campaign like this one. Schwarzenegger says voters are tired of the old politics and old ideas. One round of rehearsed answers would be a slam-dunk for actor Schwarzenegger. But that won't give voters any new politics or better ideas - or any good reasons to vote for a candidate who refuses to do more.

-- Los Angeles Times

The Denver Post, Denver, Colorado, on a role for the U.N. in Iraq

It's encouraging that the Bush administration now indicates it's amenable to some sort of international peacekeeping force in Iraq under United Nations sponsorship.

However, there are conditions to the idea that Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage aired at the United Nations recently. Chief among them is that the U.N. contingent be commanded by an American. The American military establishment long has been reluctant to have U.S. troops under foreign operational command.

It may not be clear to Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, but it's obvious to us and to other observers that the 138,000 U.S. troops and smaller contingents of British and other allied forces aren't sufficient to keep order and quell guerrilla attacks by die-hard Saddam Hussein partisans and fundamentalist Islamic terrorists.

Also, because Iraq's oil production hasn't resumed as quickly as expected, the petroleum revenues that the White House was counting on to help pay to rebuild the country haven't been forthcoming. Iraqis (rightly) complain that such basics as electric power and water are lacking, and each passing day adds to the discontent.

The repeated guerrilla attacks, including the devastating truck bombing of U.N. headquarters, have caused some international humanitarian organizations to withdraw from Iraq because their personnel don't feel safe. That is a major setback for the United States.

Although the United States and Britain essentially "went it alone" to topple Hussein, there is no way that these two powers can stabilize the country and rebuild it without substantial international cooperation. ...

GetAP 1.00 -- SEP 5, 2003 00:28:23 ;AP; ANPA ..r.. NA-GEN--Editorial Roundup By The Associated Press= JP/

By The Associated Press= Here are excerpts from editorials in newspapers in the United States and abroad: --- Dagens Nyheter, Stockholm, Sweden, on North Korea: Despite continued North Korean threats, the reactions to last week's meeting in Beijing were mainly positive. Assistant U.S. Secretary of State James Kelly talked about "a productive start," that all six participating countries agreed on meeting again was seen as a step forward. Evidently, the talks on North Korea's possession of nuclear weapons must continue. Pyongyang is a threat to peace that must be disarmed. The question is, however, if the policy that is pursued is the right policy. It has - to put it mildly - not resulted in anything. And the alternatives are few. The use of violence can trigger a major war and economic sanctions have limited effect against a country that is already isolated and miserably poor. Pyongyang must - besides disarm - continue to refrain from terrorism, return all kidnapped Japanese citizens, stop smuggling narcotics and adopt the convention on chemical and biological weapons. In return, the United States should give a binding promise about not being first to use nuclear weapons, delete North Korea from the list of states that support terrorism and open diplomatic relations with Pyongyang. --- The Guardian, London, on the plight of Aung San Suu Kyi: There should be little doubt that the plight of Aung San Suu Kyi grows more desperate by the day. The only national leader in Burma worthy of the name has been held under some form of detention for more than half the 13 years since her National League for Democracy's landslide election victory was annulled. ... There is no doubt about Ms Suu Kyi's courage. But the strain on her must be close to insupportable. The US government reported at the weekend that she has begun a hunger strike. Its expression of "deep concern for her safety and well-being" is well-founded. Many hundreds, perhaps thousands of pro-democracy activists also languish in Burma's gulag. They must not be forgotten, either, no more than must the ordinary Burmese whose lives are blighted by avoidable poverty and repression. But it is Ms. Suu Kyi who has become a unique symbol of her benighted country's struggle for justice. The junta's denial of the hunger strike report, like its disingenuous plan for a "road map to democracy," should be dismissed with contempt. The new prime minister who peddles this deception, Khin Nyunt, is just another jumped-up general who has never fought a battle in his life but is a veritable Napoleon when it comes to oppressing defenseless civilians. Tougher U.S. sanctions came into effect last week; U.K. campaigners' efforts to cut western business, investment and tourism links are gaining ground. But how long before Burma's neighbors show similar determination to end this regional disgrace and, perhaps, save Ms. Suu Kyi? --- The Daily Telegraph, London, on the incoming French ambassador to Damascus: There can be few more inauspicious starts to an embassy abroad than that of Gerard Araud, the incoming French envoy to Israel. M. Araud is reported as telling two colleagues that the Israeli prime minister, Ariel Sharon, is a "lout" and that the Israelis are "paranoid." The Quai d'Orsay has vigorously denied these comments, but there is no doubt that such attitudes are not uncommon in the French diplomatic corps. ... It is a measure of how deep-rooted these attitudes are that M Araud had been viewed as one of France's more pro-Israel officials, after serving in the cabinet of the pro-Zionist former defense minister, Francois Leotard. How are such attitudes to be explained? There is certainly much "clientitis," in the sense that there are many Arab countries and only one Jewish state. Indeed, France's ambassador to Israel during the first Gulf war, Alain Pierret, wrote a book describing how difficult it was to obtain a hearing for the Israeli case within his own government. The size of France's burgeoning Muslim population plays a part, too. Consequently, it is hard to imagine the incoming French ambassador to Damascus dismissing Bashar Assad of Syria, the head of totalitarian state, in the same fashion. And then there is the ideological component. Many Europeans suffer from post-colonial guilt, France's elite particularly so because of Algeria. It is not so much influenced by Marx or Jesus, but rather by Frantz Fanon, the apostle of decolonisation. His book The Wretched of the Earth has conditioned several generations into accepting the notion that the natives must liberate themselves from white oppression through violence. ... ---- Frankfurter Rundschau, Frankfurt, Germany, on the sinking of a derelict Russian nuclear submarine: (President Vladimir) Putin reacted faster than he did almost exactly three years ago when the nuclear submarine Kursk sank in the Barents Sea. But the accident, with nine deaths, shows that the heirs of the glorious Soviet fleet have not learned very much. The K-159, a nuclear submarine from the 50-year-old November class, had been lying rusting for decades at the Gremikha naval base. The death trap was not seaworthy. In order to take it more than 200 nautical miles to Polarnye to have its nuclear reactor removed, it was attached to four pontoons, and the contraption was towed by a sea-going tug. That is a bargain-basement method. ... Yes, there must be an investigation, as Putin said - on board a Russia missile cruiser off Sardinia. Three years ago, the death of 118 sailors wasn't reason enough for Putin to break off his vacation. This time, he is seeing through his state visit to Italy. Putin is staying true to himself. --- Asahi Shimbun, Tokyo, on U.S. and Iraq: We believe the time is right for the United States and Britain to recognize the failure of the occupation strategy to date, and speed up the process of forming a new government run by the Iraqis themselves. Hand in hand with this process, it will also be wise to fully reorganize the Iraqi police, military and other forces by and for Iraqis, in moving to restore order to the troubled country. For its part, the U.S. government is taking an extremely cautious stand on the issue of transferring the authority for the governing of Iraq. We believe that the time is right to retool the occupation policy in a way that respects the aspirations of the Iraqi side. Under our favored scenario, the United Nations would provide key support in creating the interim government and, once that administration is up and running, would become involved in the rebuilding of Iraq on a full-scale basis. Up until then, the U.S. and British forces should handle the job of restoring and maintaining security in the country. This, we feel, is an indisputable duty under the tenets of international law. --- Corriere della Sera, Milan, Italy, on European Union enlargement: After the sickness known as "Europessimism" of some time ago, we are now facing an excess of "Euro fever". Applications and invitations for entrance to the European Union are multiplying, at times ignoring the objective limits of the federation. First of all, yes or no to Erdogan's Turkey? And why not welcome Israel into the European Union as well, as has been suggested, with the intention of offering protection to those six million Jews? To affiliate Israel into the EU now, however, could amplify the Middle Eastern conflict, instead of favoring the peace plan road map. Can we really imagine the European Union extending as far as the explosive Gaza Strip? Lastly, the hypothesis has been proposed of a co-option of Russia into the EU. Putin and his government appreciate the intentions and kind words, since they already consider themselves European, but ... they know well, from direct experience of that world extending from St. Petersburg to Magadan, that it is not possible to convert Europe into Eurasia. [ Volkskrant, Amsterdam, Netherlands, on the Dutch Foreign Minister and NATO: Dutch Foreign Minister Jaap de Hoop Scheffer's visit with U.S. President George W. Bush Wednesday can be viewed as a test of his suitability for the post of NATO secretary general. De Hoop Scheffer denies having the ambition, but that's all part of the game. Having a shot at the job begins and ends with the Americans, who will carefully weigh the stance of each country in the Iraq war in making their choice. The Germans and Belgians can forget it, and France isn't a member. Spain and Portugal have a chance, but Spain already provides the European Union's foreign secretary, and Portugal's foreign minister is too Europe-focused. The British just had the job and the Danish don't have a good candidate. De Hoop Scheffer is very Atlantic-focused: he went so far as to support the war without a U.N. resolution. All that counts in his favor as a candidate, despite the Dutch government's decision not to send fighting troops to Iraq. But NATO isn't what it once was since the turbulence of last year. The Americans have made the distinction between "new" and "old" Europe, and they may want to reward one of the new members, such as Poland, who directly supported the U.S. war effort. [ Le Figaro, Paris, on U.S. President Bush: Victorious in Iraq in 1991, George Bush Senior lost the 1992 elections because of the economy... In foreign policy as in state budget management, a lot separates the father and son. But Bush junior, just like his dad, hasn't yet seemed to have succeeded in making the economy his best asset... The Clinton era's glorious decade is no more than a memory. Unemployment has reached its highest in nine years. In three years, 2.7 million jobs have been lost in the United States... Are things near changing? In Iraq, the situation is worsening from day to day, and in August the number of American soldiers killed since the end of the conflict surpassed the 138 killed during the war. In Afghanistan, the Taliban are still active. Israelis and Palestinians are still on the verge of war... To be re-elected, he can do nothing but pray that the growth is still evident on the eve of November 2004, and, whatever happens, sort out his politics in Iraq. --- MORE[

GetAP 1.00 -- SEP 5, 2003 00:28:08