Putin's Words and Deeds Dominate Newscasts--Moscow Times/New WMW

[Gloria]

Full excerpts, links up now at http://www.zianet.com/insightanalytical
Tomorrow at Buzzflash.com


WORLD MEDIA WATCH FOR FEBRUARY 27, 2004

1//The Jordan Times, Jordan--US MIDDLE EAST DEMOCRACY PLAN RILES ARABS (A US master plan for the democratisation and economic liberalisation of the Middle East is riling Arabs who fear direct meddling in their affairs. Washington wants to launch the international plan, dubbed the “Greater Middle East Initiative”, at a summit of the Group of Eight (G-8) industrialised nations in June…In the wake of the Iraq invasion, the project would promote deep transformations in a region that, if left untended, US officials say, could become in the long-term a cauldron of tension and terrorism. To encourage the targeted countries to cooperate, Western governments would propose increasing political cooperation and aid, facilitating membership in the World Trade Organisation and fostering security agreements, according to The Washington Post.)



2//Arab News, Saudi Arabia--KINGDOM LIKELY TO JOIN WTO IN THE SUMMER(Negotiations on Saudi Arabia’s bid for membership of the WTO are almost complete after talks in Geneva on Tuesday and yesterday, and observers now expect the Kingdom to join the organization as early as the middle of the year…Negotiations with just five countries now need to be finalized — China, Panama, Indonesia, the Philippines and the United States. However, Al-Alamy said he expected agreements to be signed with the first four “in the next couple of weeks”. He anticipated there would be just one more session of negotiations with the United States…Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil producer, Russia and Ukraine are the three largest economies still not admitted to the WTO. All three opened talks in the mid-1990s.)



3//The Independent, UK--‘CALAMITY CLARE’ IS ACCUSED OF SABOTAGE AS SHE FIRES ANOTHER FURIOUS BROADSIDE AT TONY BLAIR (When Clare Short arrived at the BBC's Millbank studio in Westminster yesterday morning, she knew she was about to drop a bombshell. Her explosive allegation that Britain spied on the United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan may have sounded unplanned and certainly took John Humphrys, the presenter of Radio 4's Today programme, by surprise… As a member of Tony Blair's war cabinet, Ms Short had been troubled to see transcripts of Mr Annan's telephone conversations. She had been tempted to tip him off at the time, but resisted. Her failure to do so has worried her ever since.)



4//The Moscow Times, Russia--PUTIN’S WORDS AND DEEDS DOMINATE NEWSCASTS (Monitoring conducted by The Moscow Times over the first two weeks of the official campaign period shows that state-controlled television channels have given President Vladimir Putin -- the undisputed pre-election favorite -- widespread, favorable coverage at the top of primetime newscasts. Meanwhile, his six opponents have received paltry, often unfavorable coverage… Irina Petrovskaya, Izvestia newspaper's television critic, said the unfair coverage is turning the campaign into a farce. "State-controlled media are sending a message that there is only one favorite in the race and are doing it shamelessly," Petrovskaya said.)



5//The Philippine Daily Inquirer, Philippines--POE TOPS MACAPAGAL IN SWS SURVEY (The Presidential race is turning into a battle of surveys. This time, actor Fernando Poe Jr. is leading the field, according to a private group which the opposition presidential candidate had commissioned to do the latest survey. Poe got 37.5 percent and President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo received 28.7 percent of the votes in the nationwide survey that Social Weather Stations conducted from Jan. 28 to Feb. 6, 2004. SWS is headed by Mahar Mangahas, Poe's first cousin.)

[Fovea]

1. Bush-Putin in 04

His English is certainly no worse than *.