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WORLD MEDIA WATCH FOR AUGUST 27, 2004
1//The Daily Star, Lebanon--KERRY VICTORY WOULD MARK RETURN TO SERIOUS DIPLOMACY (If US presidential hopeful John Kerry makes it to the White House, the "rhetorical flourishes" and "loud declarations" that has defined the Bush administration will be long gone, says veteran Mideast analyst Augustus Richard Norton. Norton, a professor of anthropology at Boston University, said Kerry's presidency would mark a return to "serious diplomacy" and a re-engagement on the Palestinian and Syrian tracks of the moribund peace process…Norton, who has been consulted on Mideast policy by the Kerry campaign, said the Democratic nominee's chances "look pretty good." "The atmosphere is going to change pretty dramatically," he said. "Let's be blunt. Bush is extremely unpopular in Europe and the Middle East, and increasingly at home say as well.)
2//Inter Press Service News Agency, Italy--LEARNING NEW LESSONS, AND SOME OLD ONES(As almost six million Iraqi children prepare to start their second year at school away from the shadow of Saddam Hussein's regime, officials see major challenges ahead… But the biggest task lies beyond repairing buildings and reprinting books. "Nowadays the biggest challenge before the ministry is how to change the curriculum," says Ibrahim. "A national committee was formed last year (but) I think it will take many years. The education philosophy now has to be changed." What some people in Iraq mean by "changing the philosophy" is cleansing the textbooks of any reference to Saddam and the Baath Party which Saddam used for more than three decades to stay in power. This is a touchy subject. Some Iraqi parties that campaigned for decades to topple Saddam argue that Baath ideology must be eradicated from the memory of the country. Others say this history must be recorded for future generations.)
3//Asia Times Online, Hong Kong--ALL CHANGE FOR PAKISTAN’S NEW PREMIER(Just weeks after surviving a suicide attack, Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz is due to be elected on Friday as Pakistan's 20th prime minister. His elevation promises to bring in a new era of rule by technocrats, at the expense of career politicians, whose demise will not go without a fight…While Aziz's appointment makes sense for the development of Pakistan, in tune with US views, the biggest losers in the new setup - the politicians - are not likely to sit idly by. The forces of fundamentalism still exist - they just need tapping for a new "cause". The suicide attack on Aziz could be the first warning.)
4//The Pakistan Daily Times, Pakistan--TALIBAN THREATEN RUMSFELD, PROMISE ‘FLOOD OF JIHAD’ (The Taliban threatened on Thursday to kill US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and promised “a flood of jihad” against the Americans, in a statement posted on their website. “We tell Rumsfeld: you may have escaped unharmed from our swords once, but you will not escape again,” said “the information office of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan” in the statement accompanied by footage of Taliban “victories” in Afghanistan. The statement also promised “a flood of jihad against the Americans and their allies in Pakistan and Afghanistan”.
5//The Economist, UK--ELEVATE YOUR HANDS OR I IGNITE (AMONG the many fields in which Americans excel are technological wizardry and not speaking foreign languages. So it was only a matter of time before someone invented a robot that can translate spoken English into other tongues. Enter the “Phraselator”, a palm-held electronic polyglot built by a firm in Maryland called VoxTec. Its most immediate application is military. Flesh-and-blood linguists prefer to work in places where their flesh and blood are safe. Robots don't care.)
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