Kingdom (Saudi) Suspends Truck Traffic to Iraq/New World Media Watch

[Gloria]

Up now at http://www.zianet.com/insightanalytical
Tomorrow at Buzzflash.com


WORLD MEDIA WATCH FOR AUGUST 6, 2004

1/The Daily Star, Lebanon--MUSLIM TROOPS MUST BE SEPARATE FROM IRAQ’S OCCUPIERS’ (A proposed Muslim peace keeping force must operate separately from US-led coalition forces and be accepted by all Iraqi people, Malaysia said Thursday, the day after UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said that UN staff returning to Iraq would have to rely on US troops for security since a Saudi idea for an Islamic protection force has not taken off…Annan's new special representative for Iraq is expected to return to the war-torn country with a small UN team in time for an Aug. 15 national political conference seen as a crucial step toward January elections, Annan said. But "for the time being, for practical measures, we have no other choice but to rely on the multinational force and this is the way we are going," Annan told reporters. "We haven't had much success attracting governments to sign up for the dedicated force," he added.)

2//Arab News, Saudi Arabia--KINGDOM SUSPENDS TRUCK TRAFFIC TO IRAQ (Saudi authorities yesterday suspended local trucks from heading to Iraq via Arar due to the deteriorating security conditions in Iraq which is threatening the safety of truck drivers. A director of one of the Saudi companies working in Iraq, Hazam Al-Jeri, told Al-Eqtisadiyah daily, a sister publication of Arab News, that there are 221 Saudi trucks waiting on the borders with Iraq for permission to enter Iraq. He added that his company was supervising the transport of 3.2 million liters of refined petroleum products for the Iraqi National Institute…After a Turkish trucker was shot dead this week, Turkey’s International Transporters’ Association urged its members to immediately stop shipping cargo to US troops in Iraq. Daoud and Partners, a leading Jordanian firm and key supplier of foodstuffs to the US Army in Iraq, also said it was quitting after two of its drivers were kidnapped.)

3//dw.Worlde.de/Deutsche-Welle, Germany--EUROPE MUM OVER NEXT STEP ON IRAN (The US says it's working with Europe on a "tough set of resolutions" demanding Iran's compliance on the nuclear issue, but it's not clear whether Europe will abandon its engagement with Iran to follow the US position…European diplomats have kept quiet on how they intend to proceed. While there's little doubt that European negotiators were frustrated by the lack of progress at last week's talks, Europe has been committed to a process of engagement with Iran, which the EU says has been developing in a "positive direction." According to reports in the Iranian media, European diplomats in Tehran said they will continue engagement and communication, though there was mention of a "cooling off period," referring to the pause in negotiations on a Trade and Cooperation Agreement between Brussels and Tehran.)

4//The Daily Times, Pakistan--IRAN URGES AZERBAIJAN TO MOVE CLOSER (Iranian President Mohammad Khatami, on his first official visit to Iran’s pro-Western neighbour Azerbaijan Thursday, said the two Muslim countries had a historic obligation to move closer together. Tehran is known to be unhappy about the Western orientation chosen by Azerbaijan, an oil-rich former Soviet republic on Iran’s northern border, and is also uneasy about a growing US military presence in the country…According to analysts, Azerbaijan is caught in the middle of a tussle between Iran and the United States for influence in the strategically-important region around the Caspian Sea.)

5//The Toronto Star, Canada--CANADA-U.S. AMEND NORAD PACT (The Canada-U.S. Norad agreement has been amended in a move critics says pushes Canada closer to participating in a controversial U.S. missile defence program. But Defence Minister Bill Graham told a news conference today that the amendment doesn't commit Canada at all…Alexa McDonough, foreign affairs critic for the NDP, said Canada is, "aiding and abetting Bush's weaponization of space with bogus arguments," about needing to preserve Norad functions. "The Prime Minister throughout the election promised repeatedly that Canada would, under no circumstances, be a party to Bush's weaponization of space," she said in a release. "The government's decision today takes us one step closer to full and official participation in Bush's Star Wars.")

[Aidoneus]

1. Iran has some nerve saying that

having accepted the Russian-Armenian aggression against Azeris in Karabakh in the 90s..

A good idea, but they have some footwork to make first.