Military Medics to Replace Civilian Peers in Iraq/Philipppines--New WMW

[Gloria]

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

WORLD MEDIA WATCH FOR MARCH 5, 2004

1//Asia Times Online, Hong Kong--HOUSE OF SAUD – TO FALL OR NOT? (The vilification of Saudi Arabia by many in Washington after September 11, 2001, led to rash speculation that the United States might eventually turn on its longtime ally. But the sound and fury of ongoing neo-conservative polemics against the al-Saud dynasty have not signified a change in policy. The Saudi-US partnership is too profitable to risk throwing the baby out with the bath water, and it seems destined to endure, at least until the long-predicted fall of the House of Saud.)

2//The Philippine Daily Inquirer, Philippines--MILITARY MEDICS TO REPLACE CIVILIAN PEERS IN IRAQ: DFA (The 15 returning doctors and other medical personnel of the Philippine contingent to Iraq will be replaced by military medical personnel "as a precautionary measure," acting Foreign Affairs Secretary Rafael Seguis said Friday. In a press conference, Seguis said the shift from civilian to military personnel was in response to security assessments.)



3//The Sydney Morning Herald, Australia--BOEING WINS RIGHT TO TREAT FOREIGN WORKERS DIFFERENTLY (Aerospace giant Boeing Australia has been granted a legal exemption to discriminate against employees on the basis of nationality to allow it to meet US anti-terrorism requirements…Boeing told the Victorian Civil and Administrative Appeals Tribunal, which granted the exemption, that it was necessary because the US State Department required that it not "transfer technical advice, defence articles or furnish defence services" to anyone who was not Australian or American.)



4//The Chosun Ilbo, South Korea--SPECIAL EDITORIAL: THE INDEPENDENT PRESS UNDER SIEGE AND THE CRISIS IN REPRESENTATIVE DEMOCRACY (The Chosun Ilbo celebrates its 84th anniversary at a critical crisis for the independent press in Korea and representative democracy…Currently the independent press, which is the institution of expression for the people who think independently and act rationally, and representative democracy, their institution of representation, are being challenged simultaneously, and that symbolizes the situation of our era. Both institutions are a community of the same destiny. Who attacks it, how are they attacking it, and why?)



5//The Moscow Times, Russia--OPINION: FROM PURGE TO CONSOLIDATION (Although the nomination of Mikhail Fradkov as prime minister this week was no less unexpected than the dismissal of the Kasyanov government, there are objective reasons for it… Fradkov's appointment demonstrates that the president has decided to try to refute managerial axioms. The government will not be able to make decisions and will become a front for the presidential administration, just as much as the parliament is now. The problem is that the administration focuses on political matters and cannot serve as a substitute for the government on social and economic matters.)