Analysis - By Jim Lobe

WASHINGTON, May (IPS) - With U.S. President George W. Bush embarked on his first tour of major world capitals since the war in Iraq, his handlers are predictably depicting his stature as something akin to Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar ‘’bestrid(ing) the world like a Colossus'’.

After all, the notion that the new world order most closely resembles Caesar’s Pax Romana has become a commonplace. History, so its advocates argue, is now witnessing a Pax Americana. (more…)

By Julio Godoy

EVIAN, France, May 30 (IPS) Non-governmental organisations are holding
a summit in the surroundings of the French city of Evian through Sunday,
focusing on development, health, and environmental issues.

The NGO conference û under the motto ‘Another world is possible’ û is
a counter-summit to the G8 meeting, June 1-3 in Evian. Participants are
the heads of state and government of Britain, Canada, France, Germany,
Italy, Japan, the United States and the Russian Federation. (more…)

Friends,

MoveOn.org, CTSG, True Majority and other internet organizing
groups will lead important sessions at next week’s Take Back
America conference from June 4 - 6 in Washington, DC at the
Omni Shoreham Hotel.

Wes Boyd of MoveOn.org will headline a kick-off plenary on
Wednesday, June 4 at 2:00 pm. CTSG and MoveOn.org will join
with the AFL-CIO to run a workshop Thursday on Internet
Activism. (more…)

By Jim Lobe

WASHINGTON, May 29 (IPS) - Providing yet more evidence that the ‘’war on terrorism'’ has had deep impacts worldwide, the U.S. Committee for Refugees (USCR) has called on the administration of President George W. Bush to re-open its doors to tens of thousands of people in limbo since the terrorist attacks of Sep. 11, 2001.

“For the sake of refugees everywhere, it is imperative that the United States, which traditionally has set the example that others have followed, restore its leadership in refugee protection,” said USCR executive director Lavinia Limon in the group’s annual report. (more…)

By Frank Rich (NYT)

Saturday, May 24, 2003

The Matrix Reloaded” is so dull, so literally ruled by
Laurence Fishburne’s trance-inducing Morpheus, that I had
to reload the “Matrix” DVD to remember why I had been
taken with all those streaming digits the first time around.
But never mind. You can’t argue with a $135.8 million
four-day opening, which in itself validated the movie’s
premise.

It’s the conceit of the “Matrix” films that most of mankind
is plugged into a virtual-reality program conjured up by
all-powerful machines to tease our brains while they loot
our bodies for bioelectric power. AOL Time Warner, the
powerful machine behind the films, pulled off a comparable
feat by plugging the United States into its merchandising
program for “The Matrix Reloaded” to loot our wallets - and
by enormous promotion of the movie abroad, notably at the
current Cannes film festival. (more…)

Analysis by Julio Godoy

PARIS, May 28 (IPS) The summit of the Group of Eight, to take place
June 1-3 in the French Alpine city of Evian, will not fulfil its own
agenda, independent observers say.

They point out that it will, in fact, fail to address some of the
pressing issues of environment, development and health facing the global
economy.

The meeting, which will bring together the heads of state and
government of Britain, France, Germany, Italy, the United States,
Canada, Japan and Russia, was expected to address all these issues. (more…)

By Arundhati Roy

In these times, when we have to race to keep abreast of the speed at which our freedoms are being snatched from us, and when few can afford the luxury of retreating from the streets for a while in order to return with an exquisite, fully formed political thesis replete with footnotes and references, what profound gift can I offer you tonight?

As we lurch from crisis to crisis, beamed directly into our brains by satellite TV, we have to think on our feet. On the move. We enter histories through the rubble of war. Ruined cities, parched fields, shrinking forests, and dying rivers are our archives. Craters left by daisy cutters, our libraries. (more…)

By Sanjay Suri

LONDON, May 28 (IPS) - Human rights violations were greater last year
than in any period since the Cold War ended, Amnesty International says
in its annual report released Wednesday.

Rights are being violated in the name of security “but we do not see
security and human rights as two different issues,” Amnesty
Secretary-General Irene Khan told media representatives in London.
“People are secure when their rights are secure.” (more…)

By Stefania Bianchi

BRUSSELS, May 26 (IPS) - The European Union adopted a new regulation
Monday, enabling exporters to provide essential medicines at starkly
reduced prices to poor countries.

The European Council, made up of Heads of State or Government of the
15 member states of the EU and Romano Prodi, President of the European
Commission, adopted the regulation which also aims to halt the
re-importation of these medicines. (more…)

ROME, May (IPS) The Global Knowledge Partnership will be a key
participant at the World Summit on the Information Society in
Geneva this December.

Walter Fust, director-general of the Swiss Agency for Development
and Cooperation, and chairman of the Global Knowledge Partnership
GKP) for promotion of information and communication technology for
development, talks to IPS on what the GKP can do, and what it would
like the WSIS to achieve. (more…)

By Nicholas D. Kristof

NEW YORK: Last September, a gloom-and-doomer columnist warned
about Iraq: “If we’re going to invade, we need to prepare for
a worst-case scenario involving street-to-street fighting.”

Ahem. Yes, well, that was my body double while I was on vacation.
Since I complained vigorously about this war before it started,
it’s only fair for me to look back and acknowledge that many of
the things that I - along with other doves - worried about didn’t
happen.

So let’s look back, examine the record and offer some
preliminary accountability. (more…)

By Jim Lobe

WASHINGTON, May (IPS) - The persistent gap between rich and poor
nations, continued environmental decline and higher military
spending are all undermining global stability, according to the
latest annual edition of WorldWatch Institute’s ‘Vital Signs’
report.

Global poverty is directly linked to environmental degradation,
as well as the spread of diseases such as HIV/AIDS and possibly SARS,
according to the report, produced this year in co-operation with the
United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). (more…)

By Stephen F. Cohen * (IHT)

NEW YORK: The Bush administration and its cheerleaders in the
media are saying that the “remarkable success” of the war in
Iraq proves that its opponents were “spectacularly
wrong” - even, some charge, unpatriotic.

Intimidated by these allegations and the demonstration of
overwhelming American military power, many critics of the war
are falling silent.

The chairman of the Democratic National Committee, no doubt
speaking for several of the party’s presidential candidates,
has rushed to urge that the war “not be on the ballot in 2004.” (more…)

By Emad Mekay

WASHINGTON, May 21 (IPS) The Bush administration’s loudly
trumpeted recent announcements of development aid hikes
coupled with more money to fight HIV/AIDS globally do not
match budgetary realities and may translate into far smaller
increases than anticipated, say two economic think tanks.

In a report released on Tuesday, the Center for Global
Development (CGD) and the Center on Budget and Policy
Priorities, both based in Washington, say the promised aid
increases will be far more modest than announced and that
U.S. aid remains well below historical standards and far
below other donor countries. (more…)

By David Roche (IHT)

HONG KONG: Even as the United States displays its military might
in Iraq, American power shows significant signs of cresting.

As a result of what is widely perceived as U.S. unilateralism,
international mistrust of America is deepening, key alliances are
weakening and terrorism will intensify.

The policy of the neoconservatives in the Bush administration is to
project the U.S. model abroad, if necessary through regime change
and preemptive military action. Syria is under pressure but North
Korea may be next in the firing line. (more…)

By Stefania Bianchi

BRUSSELS, May 20 (IPS) - The enlargement of the European Union next year
will overstretch already limited resources for developing countries, say
members of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) group of states.

Ministers from 79 ACP countries, mainly-African, say that resources
from the European Union (EU) are already being distributed to developing
countries too slowly to be used effectively. They fear that under an
enlarged EU the situation would deteriorate. (more…)

Hard-earned Lessons on Nation-Building
Seven Ways to Rebuild Iraq

By Carl Bildt* (IHT)

May , 2003

STOCKHOLM: In the wake of the war in Iraq, the world is learning once
again that is far easier to destroy a regime with military might than
to build a new state out of the bomb craters. We have tried before,
and there is much to be learned from the successes and failures of
nation-building in the past few decades - from Haiti to Kosovo and
East Timor. No two situations are identical, but seven lessons stand out.

Lesson 1: It is imperative to establish a secure environment very fast.
In Bosnia, we failed in the critical transfer of territories in Sarajevo.
In Kosovo, the mandate for the troops was clearer, but we still failed to
protect minorities. In both cases, we still suffer from the consequences
of these initial failures. (more…)

By Jim Lobe

WASHINGTON, May 20 (IPS) - Major church groups from around the world
Tuesday launched a global corporate code of conduct that will be used
to help determine whether their investment arms should buy or shun
shares in corporations working in developing countries.

Ten years in the making, ‘Principles for Global Corporate Responsibility:
Bench Marks for Measuring Business Performance’ addresses a wide range of
issues faced by the corporate social-responsibility movement, including
sweatshop labour, pollution control and access to affordable drugs,
including anti-AIDS medication for employees of multi-national companies. (more…)

A book by Robert Altman, of the Standard weekly,
has been publshed few days ago, in which there is
a documented study on how the right wing has taken
over american media.

Here goes the opposite view point, which is not a study,
but a request for action. We find this initiative very
interesting, and we thought it could be interesting for you….

May 12, 2003: Editorial, Center of Media Studies(Centro de
Estudios sobre la Información), Buenos Aires-Santiago de Chile
(translated from original in Spanish) (more…)

By ELISABETH BUMILLER

WASHINGTON, May 15 - George W. Bush’s “Top Gun” landing on
the deck of the carrier Abraham Lincoln will be remembered
as one of the most audacious moments of presidential
theater in American history. But it was only the latest
example of how the Bush administration, going far beyond
the foundations in stagecraft set by the Reagan White
House, is using the powers of television and technology to
promote a presidency like never before. (more…)

Dear Readers -

Following is Inter Press Service news agency’s weekly
bulletin on the aftermath of war in Iraq, updated May 2, 2003. These IPS
news stories are received by journalists, diplomats, government officials,
political leaders, and by NGOs and civil society leaders, helping them
track the key issues of this critical conflict.

http://other-newsnet.c.tclk.net/maaa5HmaaX4mGb3Vvegb/

Click on the latest stories below:

POLITICS-MIDEAST:Saudi Blasts Spell More Unrest, Violence Ahead
By N Janardhan

DUBAI, May 15 (IPS) - This week’s suicide blasts in Saudi Arabia are not
only the first backlash after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, but a
probable precursor to more violent and restive times ahead in the Middle
East, analysts say.
http://other-newsnet.c.tclk.net/maaa5HmaaX4mHb3Vvegb/

*** (more…)

By Jim Lobe

WASHINGTON, May 16 (IPS) - In a move that has provoked outrage from human rights groups here, Attorney General John Ashcroft has asked a federal appeals court to effectively nullify a 214-year-old law that has provided foreign victims of serious abuses access to U.S. courts for redress.

Ashcroft’s Justice Department has filed a ‘’friend of the court'’ (amicus curiae) on behalf of California-based oil giant Unocal in a civil case brought by Burmese villagers who claimed that the company was responsible for serious abuses committed by army troops who provided security for a company project. (more…)

Media and government

By Paul Krugman (IHT)

Wednesday, May 14, 2003

PRINCETON, New Jersey: A funny thing happened during the Iraq war: Many
Americans turned to the BBC for their television news. They were looking for
an alternative point of view - something they couldn’t find on domestic
networks, which, in the words of the BBC’s director-general, “wrapped
themselves in the American flag and substituted patriotism for impartiality.”
Leave aside the rights and wrongs of the war itself, and consider the
paradox.

The BBC is owned by the British government, and one might have
expected it to support that government’s policies. In fact, however, it
tried hard - too hard, its critics say - to stay impartial. America’s
television networks are privately owned, yet they behaved like state-run media. (more…)

by Thalif Deen

UNITED NATIONS, May 11 (IPS) - The mainstream American
newsmedia, currently under fire for being pliant cheerleaders
for U.S. military forces in Iraq, are traditionally known to go
along with buzzwords defined by successive U.S. administrations
to suit their own sinister political motives. When American
newspapers describe a foreign head of state as ‘’a military
strongman'’, he is invariably a ‘’dictator'’ who is on a White
House political hit-list. Cuba’s Fidel Castro and Iraq’s Saddam
Hussein were two military strongmen virtually every U.S.
administration loved to hate. And when a head of state is
labelled ‘’a military ruler'’, he is obviously a White House
favourite - no matter how politically repressive he is at home. (more…)

By Jim Lobe

WASHINGTON, May 11 (IPS) - Neo-conservative hawks have
scored a new victory in the administration of President George
W. Bush with the hiring by Vice President Richard Cheney of a
prominent hawk on China policy. China specialist and Princeton
University professor Aaron Friedberg has been named deputy
national security adviser and director of policy planning on
Cheney’s high-powered, foreign-policy staff headed by I. Lewis
‘’Scooter'’ Libby, one of the most influential foreign-policy
strategists in the administration. Both Friedberg and Libby, as
well as Cheney, Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and 21 other
prominent right-wingers, signed the 1997 founding charter of
the Project for the New American Century (PNAC), which
called for the adoption of a ‘'’Reaganite’ policy of military
strength and moral clarity'’. (more…)