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May 24, 2001, Chandigarh, India    |
Israel asks army to hold fire
Bush raises $ 20 m at Republican gala |
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China to send Commander to India
USA’s first woman envoy to Pak |
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Russia opposes UK proposals on Iraq
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Israel asks army to hold fire Jerusalem, May 23 Responding to international panel’s report in a televised news conference last night, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon called for a total ceasefire with the Palestinians, while his Defence Minister Benjamin Ben Eliezer ordered the army to halt shooting “except in cases of genuine danger to human life.” Mr Sharon urged the Palestinian Authority (PA) to agree to an immediate ceasefire, saying ,”I call for a total truce in the area, and I say again here that if the Palestinians accept this proposal to stop the fire, we will immediately stop the fire.” He said “The first thing that has to happen is an end to the terror” and called on Egypt and Jordan to assist in restoring calm in the region, while expressing the hope that Israel’s neighbours Syria and Lebanon would “opt for the path of peace.” However, the PA reacted angrily to Mr Sharon’s remarks saying that it “regrets this rejection” of the Mitchell report and Mr Sharon’s “stubbornness in clinging to his previous views with respect to expansion of the settlements.” Alleging that Mr Sharon was “picking and choosing” the Mitchell report recommendations, the PA, in a statement, demanded the immediate implementation of the entire report, “without either side being able to choose the recommendations that suit it.” “It seems that Mr Sharon wants to propose a new proposal, instead of the Mitchell report,” a Palestinian was quoted as saying. The PA also called for an international conference to formulate “a practical mechanism” for implementing the report. While making the announcement about ordering the army to stop all firing except “when life is in danger,” Eliezer called on the Palestinians to “immediately stop violence and terrorism as a first step toward a return to the negotiating table” to end nearly eight months of clashes in the trouble-torn West Asia. On the Mitchell report’s call for a freeze on settlement activity, Mr Sharon said while no new settlements would be built, existing communities must be allowed to grow. Stressing that his coalition government’s guidelines required providing for the settlements’ ongoing needs, he said, “There is no need to expropriate land for the purpose of settlement construction. The settlements already had sufficient land for their needs.” Mr Sharon dismissed fears of a regional war, saying that Israel was “committed to avoiding escalation” and alleged that “the PA was acting like a terrorist organisation and that Israel “must relate to it as a terror group” until it stops carrying terrorist attacks against Israel.
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Bush raises $ 20 m at Republican gala Washington, May 23 The Republican National Committee’s black-tie dinner at the National Guard Armory yesterday attracted more than 2,000 GOP donors at ticket prices ranging from $ 1,500 per person to $ 20,000 dollars for a corporate table. On the menu: vegetable Napoleon, horseradish-crusted tenderloin with shallot merlot sauce, asparagus, five-onion risotto cake and key lime pie. The sponsors included AT&T, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Pepsico, Philip Morris, the National Beer Wholesalers Association, the Capitol One credit card company and the Wine and Spirits Wholesalers of America. “It’s a good way to participate in the process,” said Peggy England, spokeswoman for the wine wholesalers association, part of the RNC’s “team 100” group of 100,000 dollars-plus donors. “It gives us the ability to meet with and to talk with individuals who are serving the Congress and in the administration.” The GOP fund-raiser followed a Monday evening reception at Vice-President Dick Cheney’s mansion for about 400 top donors, most of whom previously gave or pledged to give $ 100,000 or more. Campaign finance watchdog groups and Democrats criticised the use of the government property, saying it was no different from former President Bill Clinton’s use of the White House or the use of the vice presidential home for events during the 1996 presidential campaign. The Clinton-Gore coffees had became the focus of Republican-led Congressional inquiries.
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News
analysis Recently quite important and far-reaching changes have taken place in the Russian political life, which will certainly increase President Putin’s hold in the Kremlin. Unity as a political party was hurriedly formed in 1999 to support and whole-heartedly back those state Duma or Russian parliament’s lower house candidates who were later expected to work hard for the victory of Putin in the presidential elections of March 2000. The Fartherland-All Russia political movement, headed by the former Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov and Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov, provided the strongest challenge to Unity. In the parliamentary elections of 1999, Unity gained an upper hand. The Fartherland-All Russia party’s defeat disheartened Primakov and Luzhkov to such an extent that they decided not to participate in the presidential election, complaining that the upcoming vote would not be democratic. Many one-time allies of Primakov and Luzhkov started joining the Unity after the Fartherland-All Russia’s defeat in the parliamentary elections. Such is the logic of victory and defeat. Although pro-Kremlin Unity party and Fartherland-All Russia political movement opposed each other bitterly at the time of the parliamentary elections, yet ideologically both were quite close to each other. Both the parties were centrist with Fartherland-All Russia slightly leaning towards the Left. But after the Fartherland-All Russia’s defeat in the parliamentary or the Duma elections, both parties started coming closer to each other and in most cases voted on the same lines, i.e. pro-Kremlin proposals or bills in the Duma. Therefore, it was not a big surprise for many political experts when it was announced recently that they will merge together and thus become the largest faction in the state Duma. This merger will give them 132 seats in the 450-member Parliament and exceed the 127 seats of the Communists and their allies Agrarians at present dominating in Duma. To give a concrete shape to this merger process, which will be completed in November of this year, a co-ordination group has been formed which will work out the details. Mayor Luzhkov is quite enthusiastic and optimistic about the merger, as also the Unity party leader and Emergency Situations Minister Sergey Shoigu, a close Putin’s ally Luzhkov said at a news conference: “Our basic principles and political goals are similar and this provides an opportunity for us to talk about deeper consolidation”. However, Yevgeny Primakov was more restrained and cautious about the merger. He pointed out that for the present the Fartherland-All Russia intends to keep some independence of its own in the new block but after the merger congress, “we will have to see how the merger is going to affect the balance of power in the state Duma”. He further added that “if the rights of the merging parties are safeguarded, we all will win”. Inspired by the merger plans of the two major centrist parties, two other small centrist factions — Russia’s Regions and People’s Deputy — also decided to join hands with them. All these four Duma factions have formed a coordinating council with the object of cooperating in the lower house or the state Duma and later move towards a coalition. One of the main goals of the council will be to “counteract attempts to use Duma in the interests of individual political or industrial-finance groups”, declared a statement signed by the four faction leaders. Referring to council’s one more priority, it emphasises to form a coalition of factions that would create a stable majority in Parliament”. It may be pointed out that Mr Putin already enjoys wide support in Parliament and the assured cooperation and support of the four factions will give him a clear-cut majority of about 235 seats in a 450-member Duma. Thus Mr Putin’s position has been strengthened considerably in these recent political developments. In this context, some analysts rightly indicate that Mr Putin has already stripped regional governors of most of their powers to influence nation-wide political life by appointing his own representatives to supervise their activities in the regions and he is actively backing the laws which will put big restrictions on the growth and functioning of the regional parties. This could lead to the creation of two or three-party state and make easier for the Russian President to control the political situation in the country. Increased support and backing for Mr Putin in Parliament would also boost his ability to make some fundamental and far-reaching changes in the Russian Constitution for which a favourable vote of 330 Parliament members is required. Such changes may become necessary to implement some important economic reforms, such as land reforms, which still await long and short-term actions and policy decisions. So far, Mr Putin has primarily concentrated on political changes and consolidation of his own power base. Some of these developments have created fears in the minds of liberals and democrats that Russia might be moving in the direction of authoritarian rule. Such fears have been heightened by the transfer of the only Independent Television Channel i.e. NTV to state-controlled gas monopoly company that is Gasprom.However, Mr Putin’s supporters and critics of NTV’s programme-policy don’t justify any such fears and believe that Mr Putin is trying to bring about stability and discipline in the uncertain and shaky conditions of the past few years. Let us hope that time will justify such conclusions and Mr Putin’s increasing political strength will also strengthen the democratic process and newly achieved liberal tradition. |
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China to send Commander to India Beijing, May 23 The Air Chief, who is on a week-long tour of China, said the acceptance of his invitation by the PLAAF could be the beginning of a new relationship between the Air Force of the two countries. He said cooperative programmes between the two sides would be chalked out “at the earliest possible opportunity.” Under the proposed plan, Commander of the PLAAF Gen Iiu Shunyao, is expected to visit india in October, leading a chinese delegation to the three major events, which had to be postponed earlier in the wake of the Gujarat earthquake. The first event would be the presidential review of the IAF in Chandigarh in which the President, who is Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces, would be the chief guest. The second programme would be an international seminar on air power in Delhi that would be inaugurated by the Defence Minister and the third event would be a major air-to-ground exercise by the IAF in the Pokhran range, he said, adding that the Prime Minister had agreed to be present on the occasion. Air Force officers from foreign countries would also be attending all these events, he added. PTI
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USA’s first woman envoy to Pak Washington, May 23 President George W. Bush on Tuesday announced his intention to nominate Wendy J. Chamberlain as Ambassador to Pakistan to replace William Milam, a career foreign service officer, who has completed his term. If confirmed, she would be only the fourth woman Ambassador to serve in South Asia. The first woman U.S. Ambassador to serve in the region was Carol Laise, who was envoy to Nepal during the former President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s regime, when her husband Ellsworth Bunker was U.S. Ambassador to India. But it was not until the late 1980s that another woman U.S. envoy appeared on the scene in South Asia, when Teresita Schaffer was sent as U.S. Ambassador to Sri Lanka. Currently the U.S. Ambassador to Bangladesh is also a woman, Mary Ann Peters, also a career foreign service officer who was on the Pakistan-Afghanistan-Bangladesh desk at the State Department, before she went out to Dhaka. At present Pakistan is represented by a woman envoy, Maleeha Lodhi, who had served earlier as Islamabad’s envoy to Washington when former Prime Minister and friend Benazir Bhutto was in power. But Lodhi is not the only woman envoy that Pakistan has sent to Washington. Abida Hussain served as Islamabad’s top diplomat to the U.S.A. during the tenure of now exiled former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. Although Chamberlain’s nomination throws up a first as far as Pakistan is concerned, it should be remembered that the first-ever Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian Affairs, was a woman — the controversial Robin Raphel, who was despised in New Delhi, particularly by the Ministry of External Affairs and the then foreign secretary J.N. Dixit, who regarded her an intellectual midget. Once again, the South Asia bureau will be headed by a woman — Christina Rocca, who is expected to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate on Thursday. And of course, one of the most powerful women in the Bush Administration is National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice.
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Russia opposes UK proposals on Iraq United Nations, May 23 The draft, distributed to Security Council members yesterday, would allow civilian goods to flow freely into Iraq, from bicycles to whisky, but ban military material outright, including high-powered computers and some telecommunications systems. The aim is to get a Security Council vote on the resolution by May 31, before the next phase of the UN-Iraq humanitarian oil-for-food programme begins on June 4. That programme was designed to ease the impact on ordinary Iraqis of council sanctions, imposed when Baghdad invaded Kuwait in August, 1990. But Russia immediately raised objections to most points in the US-British resolution and presented its own alternative draft, nearly identical to one the council rejected last year. Instead Russian Ambassador Sergei Lavrov said the council should extend the current phase of the oil-for-food plan and then discuss new concepts sometime in the future, a position similar to that of Iraq. China, too, thought the vote should be delayed while France appeared more amenable to the proposals, but said it would submit amendments. The British document keeps intact a UN escrow account into which the bulk of Iraq’s oil revenues flow. The UN pays suppliers of imports out of the fund as well as reparations to Kuwait and other Gulf War victims.
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13 die in Lanka bus blast Colombo, May 23 The incident took place when a bus carrying the naval personnel, who were returning home on leave, hit a landmine hidden in a culvert at Thambalakamam, 40 km from
Trincomalee. |
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