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GS(3) Intel Brief 9-20-06: EU Economic Insecurity, Turkey Turns Away, Energy Security in China, Journalist Murdered in Central Asia, Population Control in Chile, Corporate Investigators Run Afoul of the Law, and Much More!
By Richard Power
Here are highlights from 15 items, including both news stories and op-ed pieces, from 11 diverse, international news sources: EU Observer, Der Spiegel, Inter Press Service, Asia Times, Eurasianet, The Australian, Mercosur Press, CNET News, and The Age. They provide insight on important global issues and trends.
(NOTE: I continue to monitor developments in regard to the genocide in Darfur, the spread of bird flu, and the struggle over the disputed results of the Mexican presidential election. I will post updates as circumstances dictate.)
Here is a summary. Longer excerpts and links follow below. Customized analysis is provided for clients.
Europe, Middle East & Africa
The eurozone risks breaking up in the near future putting the entire EU single market into jeopardy unless member states – particularly Italy - undertake crucial economic reforms, according to a new report. (EU Observer, 9-19-06)
The moderate Islamist government in power in Turkey is steering the country away from a pro-US foreign policy and is rapidly orienting itself with its Muslim neighbors....A recent survey showed that only 12 percent of Turks viewed the United States positively, down from 52 percent in 2000. (Eurasianet, 9/15/06)
Those who take a stand for the rights of Muslim women -- by criticizing the practice of forced in marriage, for example -- put themselves at considerable risk in Germany. Murder threats and attacks by conservative Muslims are common, and the police can offer only limited help....(DER SPIEGEL, 9-11-06)
Asia
At the current speed of extraction, experts say, these energy resources will last just 15, 30 and 80 years respectively. The corresponding world averages are 45, 61 and 230 years....Given its grave energy-security concerns, China is stepping up efforts to develop renewable energies...According to statistics, US$38 billion was invested in renewable-energy development worldwide in 2005. China topped the list with a commitment of $6 billion, which did not include its spending on large hydro projects. (Asia Times, 9-21-06)
JAPANESE security officers today raided 25 offices of the doomsday cult behind the 1995 Tokyo subway nerve gas attacks, after its founder lost a last appeal against his death sentence. “Since his death sentence was finalised, we are afraid that his followers may possibly plan something illegal,” said a Public Security Intelligence Agency spokesman....(The Australian, 9-16-06)
Journalist Ogulsapar Muradova was murdered in a Turkmen prison after one of her children challenged police surveillance methods...."The pending Interim Trade Agreement is predicated on Turkmenistan promoting progress on human rights. The EU has a rare opportunity to call things by their proper name in Turkmenistan, put human rights ahead of energy interests, and vote down the Agreement." (Eurasianet, 9-14-06)
Americas
President Evo Morales has announced plans to build three military bases with Venezuelan assistance along Bolivia's eastern borders with Brazil and Paraguay, where more than 2,000 elite troops will receive advanced training. Mr. Morales says the bases are needed because the United States is "scheming" against Bolivia through neighboring countries, but domestic critics think he is more interested in having the troops available to stem unrest in a region that increasingly is demanding autonomy....(Mercosur Press, 9-19-06)
Vice Pte. A. Garcia Garcia Linera said at a press conference that the government was aware of some companies alleged attitude of stalling the process but insisted that come October 31, if no agreements are signed, Bolivia’s government managed oil company YPFB was ready to take over oil and natural gas assets....(Mercosur Press, 9-19-06)
According to a 2003 survey, around 15% of all babies in Chile are born to teenage mothers. The proportion ranges from 22% in the poorest neighbourhood of Santiago to just 1% in the richest. The centre-left coalition, which has governed Chile since 1990, is partly to blame for that glaring difference. For several years now, the private health services, used by better-off Chileans, have been prescribing the morning-after pill to teenagers even without their parents' consent, while the national health service, catering for poorer Chileans, is still restricting its use to rape victims. (Economist, 9-14-06)
Global
The economic success stories of the world's 50 poorest nations are also predicated on "good governance", including multi-party democracy, rule of law, gender empowerment, respect for human rights and transparency and accountability, according to the United Nations.(Inter Press Service, 9-19-06)
Several developing countries are not reaching sustainable development targets fast enough despite numerous international agreements, says a report, launched here amidst criticism that World Bank energy and mining projects were not doing enough to protect the environment and improve the plight of the poor.(Inter Press Service, 9-20-06)
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, in a farewell address to global leaders yesterday, depicted a world divided by an unjust economy, contempt for human rights and a failure to make peace in the Middle East....“The events of the last 10 years have not resolved, but sharpened, the three great challenges I spoke of — an unjust world economy, world disorder, and widespread contempt for human rights and the rule of law,” Annan said. “As a result, we face a world whose divisions threaten the very notion of an international community, upon which this institution stands,” he said....(Mercusor Press, 9-20-06)
Cyberspace
Federal regulators say that 18 million computer users worldwide were affected by malicious spyware allegedly distributed by parties that agreed the day before to a $US2 million ($A2.6 million) settlement. Analysts and government officials said huge hurdles remain in containing the problem.(The Age, 9-8-06)
Investigators hired by Hewlett-Packard to find a media leak used sensitive information to access phone-company computers and get the calling records of nine reporters without authorization, media reports said on Thursday. The revelations came a day after complaints by a former member of HP's board of directors forced the company to file a statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), acknowledging that investigators hired by the board had fraudulently accessed the private telephone records of boardmembers and reporters. (Security Focus, 9-8-06)
Phone companies are once again feeling the heat as another scandal erupts highlighting how easily unauthorized individuals can access personal phone records....The telecommunications industry came under fire nine months ago when news reports pointed to Web sites where customer records could be openly purchased. The news prompted several phone companies, including Cingular Wireless, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless, to sue brokers selling customers' phone records. (CNET News.com 9-11-06)
Europe, Middle East & Africa
The eurozone risks breaking up in the near future putting the entire EU single market into jeopardy unless member states – particularly Italy - undertake crucial economic reforms, according to a new report. Entitled Will the eurozone crack?, the report by the London-based Centre for European Reform, argues that instead of European Monetary Union in 1999 leading to progress in the reform needed for membership of a single currency zone, it resulted in national governments becoming complacent and no longer feeling obliged to push through unpopular economic changes. The result is that today the 12-nation zone faces a situation where Italy, the laggard among the EU economies that matter, could eventually be forced to leave the common currency because the economic costs of staying in outweigh those of leaving. "A failure by Italy to regain competitiveness would ultimately bring into question its membership of the eurozone and the sustainability of EMU itself," says the 59-page report, which puts the odds of an Italian eurozone exit as high as 40 percent. Honor Mahony, Eurozone could fall apart due to slow economic reforms, says report, EU Observer, 9-19-06
The moderate Islamist government in power in Turkey is steering the country away from a pro-US foreign policy and is rapidly orienting itself with its Muslim neighbors, a regional expert said during testimony before a congressional committee September 14. Soner Cagaptay, a fellow at the conservative-leaning Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said that ever since the Justice and Development Party (AKP in Turkish), took power in 2002, Ankara has viewed foreign policy issues increasingly through the prism of religion....Once steadfast allies, the United States and Turkey have experienced bilateral tension in recent years, mainly connected with the Iraq invasion and the subsequent imbroglio....He noted that the Turkish public tends to follow its rulers’ lead: A recent survey showed that only 12 percent of Turks viewed the United States positively, down from 52 percent in 2000. Joshua Kucera, TURKISH FOREIGN POLICY MOVING AWAY FROM US POSITION – EXPERT, Eurasianet, 9/15/06
Those who take a stand for the rights of Muslim women -- by criticizing the practice of forced in marriage, for example -- put themselves at considerable risk in Germany. Murder threats and attacks by conservative Muslims are common, and the police can offer only limited help….It happened in April, on the freeway, on the way home from a book reading in the western German city of Saarbrücken. Fatma Bläser, author of the novel "Hennamond" ("Henna Moon"), stepped on the brakes -- but nothing happened. She steered the car into the shoulder, "in a state of panic," she says, and let it roll to a halt. A mechanic later found that someone had tampered with the brakes….Berlin-based lawyer and writer Seyran Ates recently renounced her accreditation as a lawyer, explaining that she fears for her life after having been threatened repeatedly by Muslims. She wants to continue her political work, but she says that direct confrontations in the courtroom have become too dangerous for her. Ates, who is a German citizen of Turkish origin, stood up for Muslim women for years, attacking their intolerable condition in a way that drew considerable public attention. As early as 1984, Ates was shot in the neck by a man associated with the Turkish extremist group known as the "Grey Wolves." Cordula Meyer, Reading under Police Protection: Advocates for Muslim Women Face Constant Danger, DER SPIEGEL, 9-11-06
Asia
In per capita terms, China is relatively poor in many energy resources. Its remaining exploitable reserves of petroleum, natural gas and coal equal merely 7.7%, 7.1% and 58.6% of the world averages respectively. At the current speed of extraction, experts say, these energy resources will last just 15, 30 and 80 years respectively. The corresponding world averages are 45, 61 and 230 years....
Given its grave energy-security concerns, China is stepping up efforts to develop renewable energies. According to the Medium- and Long-Term Program for Renewable Energy Development, prepared by NDRC, renewable energies are expected to account for 16% of the country's total energy mix by 2020. Hydropower capacity will reach 300 million kilowatts, wind power 30 million, biomass energy 30 million, and solar energy 1.8 million...According to statistics, US$38 billion was invested in renewable-energy development worldwide in 2005. China topped the list with a commitment of $6 billion, which did not include its spending on large hydro projects. China's energy focused on renewable sources, Asia Times, 9-21-06
JAPANESE security officers today raided 25 offices of the doomsday cult behind the 1995 Tokyo subway nerve gas attacks, after its founder lost a last appeal against his death sentence. “Since his death sentence was finalised, we are afraid that his followers may possibly plan something illegal,” said a Public Security Intelligence Agency spokesman....Shoko Asahara, the 51-year-old founder of the cult that attacked the Tokyo subway with nerve gas, lost his final appeal against his death sentence on Friday, meaning he can be executed at any time. The bearded guru, who ordered Japan's worst ever terror attack which claimed 12 lives, was revered as a god by his sect, whose hardline followers are under constant surveillance. The security agency raided the sect's facilities to determine what impact yesterday's decision had on his estimated 1650 followers, the spokesman said. Japan security raids death cult offices, The Australian, 9-16-06
Journalist Ogulsapar Muradova was murdered in a Turkmen prison after one of her children challenged police surveillance methods. The adult-age children were taken early September 14 to an Ashgabat morgue to identify the body, which showed signs of a "violent death." "The last year has seen dramatic escalations of harassment of dissidents and perceived dissidents and their families. In the past few months in particular we have received increased numbers of cases of arbitrary detention, interrogation, house arrest, bans on leaving the country, and beatings. But Ogulsapar Muradova’s apparent murder signals unequivocally that the gloves are now off," said Erika Dailey, the director of the Turkmenistan Project at the Open Society Institute...."The European Union is currently debating whether to grant Turkmenistan most-favored-nation trading status," Dailey continued. "The pending Interim Trade Agreement is predicated on Turkmenistan promoting progress on human rights. The EU has a rare opportunity to call things by their proper name in Turkmenistan, put human rights ahead of energy interests, and vote down the Agreement." TURKMENISTAN TAKES TERROR TO NEW LEVEL, Eurasianet, 9-14-06
Americas
President Evo Morales has announced plans to build three military bases with Venezuelan assistance along Bolivia's eastern borders with Brazil and Paraguay, where more than 2,000 elite troops will receive advanced training. Mr. Morales says the bases are needed because the United States is "scheming" against Bolivia through neighboring countries, but domestic critics think he is more interested in having the troops available to stem unrest in a region that increasingly is demanding autonomy....Military delegations from Bolivia and Venezuela met yesterday to establish "economic cooperation" for new army installations in Bolivia's Amazonic region along the Paraguay River said Defense Minister Walker San Miguel. He said the project will cost $22 million. "It will be a large headquarters for elite units and professional military training which is very much wanted by the Bolivian army and now thanks to Venezuelan cooperation will become a reality," Mr. San Miguel said. The facilities are expected to house an airfield and 2,500 personnel.
Officers of Bolivia's 8th Army Division based in Santa Cruz say Venezuelan army engineers are already at the sites and that Venezuela is bringing in AK-103 assault rifles recently acquired from Russia. Military officials said 14 Venezuelan air force pilots are in Bolivia. Bolivia and Venezuela, military cooperation agreement, Mercosur, 9-19-06
Vice Pte. A. Garcia Garcia Linera said at a press conference that the government was aware of some companies alleged attitude of stalling the process but insisted that come October 31, if no agreements are signed, Bolivia’s government managed oil company YPFB was ready to take over oil and natural gas assets.
"We told them in a very firm and respectful way: the timetable is not going to be changed, if by October 28 they have not concluded ... contracts that benefit the firm and the country, we will proceed as set forth in the nationalization decree" he said. In the May 1 decree, Socialist President Evo Morales gave foreign energy companies doing business in Bolivia six months to accept minority shares in partnerships with YPFB. Firms unable or unwilling to accept that condition face having to abandon their operations in Bolivia and then negotiate with La Paz compensations. The government will not change "either the dates or the basis and basic philosophy of the total and absolute recovery of the hydrocarbon (production) chain" Garcia Linera emphasized warning companies they will gain nothing “from a strategy of delay”. However Garcia Linera said the Bolivian government’s offer was "flexible, tolerant and ready to change certain issues" like details of the model framework for the new operations contracts....Natural gas exports from Bolivia to Argentina and Brazil are the country’s main source of foreign income and are under the control of mainly Petrobras. Bolivia’s second attempt to nationalize oil and gas, Mercosur,
For many in Latin America's most socially conservative country, the idea of their teenage daughters being able to nip round to their local health centre for emergency contraception—the morning-after pill—without their knowledge or consent, is too much for them to swallow....But the government of Michelle Bachelet, president since March and herself a paediatrician, points out that youngsters, many of them barely in their teens, are already having sex and that, not surprisingly, many of them are getting pregnant. According to a 2003 survey, around 15% of all babies in Chile are born to teenage mothers. The proportion ranges from 22% in the poorest neighbourhood of Santiago to just 1% in the richest. The centre-left coalition, which has governed Chile since 1990, is partly to blame for that glaring difference. For several years now, the private health services, used by better-off Chileans, have been prescribing the morning-after pill to teenagers even without their parents' consent, while the national health service, catering for poorer Chileans, is still restricting its use to rape victims. In defiance of the solidly Catholic Christian Democrat party, the ruling coalition's biggest partner, Ms Bachelet, who is herself an agnostic socialist, has now decided that the national health service should prescribe the morning-after pill to anyone over the age of 14, the legal age of consent, who wants it. In response to protests by horrified parents and opposition politicians, the Santiago Appeals Court issued a temporary injunction on September 13th banning the national health service from prescribing the pill to anyone aged under 19 without their parents' consent....A difficult pill to swallow: A plan to tackle teenage pregnancies, Economist, 9-14-06
Global
The economic success stories of the world's 50 poorest nations are also predicated on "good governance", including multi-party democracy, rule of law, gender empowerment, respect for human rights and transparency and accountability, according to the United Nations. "Such governance means ensuring that the poor have a real political voice," says U.N. Deputy Secretary-General Mark Malloch Brown. If the world's 50 least developed countries (LDCs) are to eradicate poverty and promote human development, Malloch Brown told delegates at a two-day ministerial meeting on LDCs which concluded Tuesday, "we need to do there what we do anywhere else -- and that is to stress democratic governance as one of the main foundations of progress." ....Of the 50 LDCs, 26 have ratified all eight international labour rights conventions while 23 have signed and four have ratified the U.N. Convention Against Corruption. Additionally, 28 LDCs have signed and 15 ratified the U.N. Convention Against Transnational Organised Crime....In a report to the high level meeting on LDCs, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan points out that since 2001, there has been a diminution of conflicts in LDCs -- particularly in Africa -- "and this has been a critical factor in improving development prospects."....Of the 16 U.N. peacekeeping operations, nearly half are in LDCs, while civil unrest has erupted or festers in a number of other LDCs. Current U.N. missions in LDCs include Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Liberia, Haiti and Burundi. Thalif Deen, U.N. Ties Prosperity to Good Governance, Inter Press Service, 9-19-06
Several developing countries are not reaching sustainable development targets fast enough despite numerous international agreements, says a report, launched here amidst criticism that World Bank energy and mining projects were not doing enough to protect the environment and improve the plight of the poor. The Sustainability Watch 2006 Report, launched by civil service organisations at the annual meetings of the Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) stressed that sustainable development was crucial as about three billion people -- almost 50 percent of the world population -- now live on less than two dollars a day. This figure was expected to rise by 100 million by 2015 unless implementation of internationally agreed commitments was substantially improved.
The most critical factor is the market-oriented development frameworks, which promote trade liberalisation and privatisation, said Roy Cabonegro, regional facilitator for Asia of Sustainability Watch, a civil society network in 15 southern countries monitoring promises to improve sustainability. These frameworks do not pay serious attention to environmental constraints, especially in the case of planning for land and natural resource use. Anil Netto, World Bank Careless About Development Goals – Report, Inter Press Service, 9-20-06
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, in a farewell address to global leaders yesterday, depicted a world divided by an unjust economy, contempt for human rights and a failure to make peace in the Middle East.
To a standing ovation from presidents, prime and foreign ministers, Annan, who ends 10 years in office on December 31, said there had been some progress in living standards, security and a drop in global conflicts since he first addressed the General Assembly in 1997.
“And yet. And yet. Every day, reports reach us of new laws broken, of new bestial crimes to which individuals and minority groups are subjected,” Annan said.
“The events of the last 10 years have not resolved, but sharpened, the three great challenges I spoke of — an unjust world economy, world disorder, and widespread contempt for human rights and the rule of law,” Annan said.
“As a result, we face a world whose divisions threaten the very notion of an international community, upon which this institution stands,” he said....Annan had pushed for the right of the international community to protect populations when their governments refused to do so, which was enshrined in a document adopted by world leaders a year ago. But Annan, a Ghanaian, said the conflict in Sudan’s Darfur region made that commitment of protection from atrocities seem an empty promise. “Divisions threaten world," Mercusor, 9-20-06
Cyberspace
Federal regulators say that 18 million computer users worldwide were affected by malicious spyware allegedly distributed by parties that agreed the day before to a $US2 million ($A2.6 million) settlement. Analysts and government officials said huge hurdles remain in containing the problem. The Federal Trade Commission's settlement against two California companies and three individuals was the second-biggest ever made by the agency, bringing the running total to about $US8 million ($A10.45 million) in settlements with more than a dozen companies over the past two years.
"In terms of breadth and perniciousness ... this was probably the most widespread infection we've dealt with," said Mona Spivack, lead lawyer on the case....At the commission's request, a federal judge froze the defendants' assets in November and ordered it shut down. The settlement includes a suspended judgment of $US8.5 million ($A11.1 million) for alleged violations of the FTC Act....In May, the FTC announced a $4 million spyware settlement with Seismic Entertainment Productions Inc., of Rochester, New Hampshire, which was accused of exploiting a security vulnerability in Microsoft's Internet Explorer's browser. Spyware affected 18m computer users worldwide, The Age, 9-8-06
Investigators hired by Hewlett-Packard to find a media leak used sensitive information to access phone-company computers and get the calling records of nine reporters without authorization, media reports said on Thursday. The revelations came a day after complaints by a former member of HP's board of directors forced the company to file a statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), acknowledging that investigators hired by the board had fraudulently accessed the private telephone records of boardmembers and reporters. The private investigators fraudulently used the identities of the victims to get the necessary login credentials to access online telephone records without authorization, according to media reports. Under Title 18 Section 1030(a)(4), whoever: knowingly and with intent to defraud, accesses a protected computer without authorization, or exceeds authorized access, and by means of such conduct furthers the intended fraud and obtains anything of value, unless the object of the fraud and the thing obtained consists only of the use of the computer and the value of such use is not more than $5,000 in any 1-year period could be charged with a felony. Prosecutors frequently call violations of Section 1030, "computer hacking." HP has maintained that the investigators had represented their investigative methods as legal. HP-funded hacking included reporters' data, Security Focus, 9-8-06
Phone companies are once again feeling the heat as another scandal erupts highlighting how easily unauthorized individuals can access personal phone records....The news has once again highlighted a growing problem plaguing the telecommunications industry called "pretexting," a scam where unauthorized individuals pretend to be someone they're not to obtain personal information. Private investigators and con artists have been using this technique for years not just to obtain phone records, but also to get access to bank records, credit card information and other sensitive information.
The telecommunications industry came under fire nine months ago when news reports pointed to Web sites where customer records could be openly purchased. The news prompted several phone companies, including Cingular Wireless, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless, to sue brokers selling customers' phone records. And lawmakers in Congress have also drafted legislation criminalizing the act of pretending to be someone else to get telephone records....Marguerite Reardon, Security breaches are wake-up calls to phone companies, CNET News.com 9-11-06
Richard Power is the founder of GS(3) Intelligence and http://www.wordsofpower.net. His work focuses on the inter-related issues of security, sustainability and spirit, and how to overcome the challenges of terrorism, cyber crime, global warming, health emergencies, natural disasters, etc. You can reach him via e-mail: richardpower@wordsofpower.net. For more information, go to www.wordsofpower.net
Population Control Family Planning Birth Control Sustainability Chile China Turkmenistan Climate Change Environmental Security United Nations Europe Italy Geopolitics, Turkey, Energy Security, Venezuela, Bolivia, Human Rights, Cybercrime, Shoko Asahara, Japan, Germany, Der Spiegel
