Voice of America, 99-12-06

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From: The Voice of America <gopher://gopher.voa.gov>

CONTENTS

[01] CN-103 KOSOVO REPORT

[02] N. IRELAND/I-R-A (S O) BY DAVID WEBER (LONDON)

[03] SEATTLE IMPLICATIONS BY BARRY WOOD (WASHINGTON)

[04] CLINTON-WORLD TRADE (L-ONLY) BY DAVID GOLLUST (WHITE HOUSE)

[05] E-U DEFENSE (L-ONLY) CQ BY ROB PEMSTEIN (BRUSSELS)

[06] NY ECON WRAP (S&L) BY ELAINE JOHANSON (NEW YORK)

[07] MONDAY'S EDITORIALS BY ANDREW GUTHRIE (WASHINGTON)

[01] CN-103 KOSOVO REPORT

[02] N. IRELAND/I-R-A (S O) BY DAVID WEBER (LONDON)

INTRO: The outlawed Irish Republican Army announced Sunday that an I-R-A representative had met with officials to discuss disarmament. David Weber reports from London on what is seen as a vital step forward in the exhaustive effort to bring lasting peace to Northern Ireland.

TEXT: The Irish Republican Army announcement brought an almost palpable sigh of relief to the province. The decommissioning of I-R-A guns was the pivot on which more than two-years of negotiations had turned. Pro-British hardliners insisted there could be no sharing of government with the I-R-A's political wing, Sinn Fein, until disarmament began. The I-R-A held out for joint government first; then, it promised it would discuss disarmament. After much argument, the Unionists decided to take a chance. Last Thursday the province swore-in its first mixed cabinet of Unionists and Republicans since 1972 when London took over running Northern Ireland. The brief I-R-A announcement did not say where or when its representative met with the independent international disarmament commission. The I-R-A promised that further decommissioning talks will take place. (SIGNED)
NEB/DW/RAE 05-Dec-1999 10:49 AM EDT (05-Dec-1999 1549 UTC)
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Source: Voice of America

[03] SEATTLE IMPLICATIONS BY BARRY WOOD (WASHINGTON)

INTRO: The failure of 135 countries in Seattle last Friday to launch a new round of negotiations to expand world trade could have far-reaching implications. Economics correspondent Barry Wood reports that some experts believe the recent U-S China trade deal may now be at risk.

TEXT: Organizers of protests last week at the World Trade Organization meeting are taking credit for blocking a new round of trade negotiations. Environmentalists and trade unionists believe the failure in Seattle will boost their efforts to have Congress reject the landmark trade deal that was negotiated last month with China. Asia specialist and former U-S trade negotiator Michael Samuels shares that sentiment. He says before the Seattle meeting he was confident that Congress would approve the required normal trading relations (N-T-R) measure for China.

[04] CLINTON-WORLD TRADE (L-ONLY) BY DAVID GOLLUST (WHITE HOUSE)

INTRO: The White House is rejecting charges that tactical errors by President Clinton led to the failure of last week's World Trade Organization conference in Seattle. Spokesmen say the President remains confident there will be a new round of global tariff-cutting talks. V-O-A's David Gollust has more from the White House.

TEXT: The White House insists that progress was made in Seattle conference, despite the inconclusive outcome. And it rejects suggestions that the meeting reflected a failure of U-S leadership, even though it was marred by policy disputes and violent street protests. Trade experts and Congressional Republicans have criticized Mr. Clinton for, among other things, allegedly trying to advance the White House ambitions of Vice President Al Gore, by insisting that future trade agreements incorporate labor and environmental protections. Clinton spokesman Joe Lockhart says labor and environmental safeguards have always been part of the President's trade agenda, and the Seattle meeting foundered even before there was serious talk on those issues:

[05] E-U DEFENSE (L-ONLY) CQ BY ROB PEMSTEIN (BRUSSELS)

INTRO: European Union foreign ministers have approved plans for strengthening Europe's defense policy. The documents are expected to be adopted by European leaders when they meet later this week. Correspondent Ron Pemstein reports from Brussels on the European Union's military plans.

TEXT: The plans are long-range. By the year 2003, the European Union wants to have a rapid reaction force of 15-brigades, 50 to 60-thousand soldiers, who can be deployed within 60-days and sustained in the field for at least one-year. These special forces will operate in crisis situations where NATO as a whole is not engaged. European Union foreign ministers have approved the documents that will be endorsed by their leaders when they meet in Helsinki later this week. Since 11 of the 15- countries are also NATO members, the documents should be acceptable to NATO. The plan says the European Union's improved military capabilities should not duplicate NATO's. The member states in NATO should be able to play their full role in the alliance while conducting effective operations for the European Union. The documents also say members of NATO that are not members of the European Union - will also be invited to build up European capabilities. That will open the way for Norway, Poland, and Turkey, NATO members who are not part of the European Union.

[06] NY ECON WRAP (S&L) BY ELAINE JOHANSON (NEW YORK)

INTRO: Stock prices in the United States were mixed today (Monday) as investors locked in gains from the market's big advance on Friday. V-O-A correspondent Elaine Johanson reports from New York:

TEXT: The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 61 points, or one-half of one percent, closing at 11- thousand-225. The Standard and Poor's 500 index fell 10 points to 14-hundred-22. The Nasdaq composite gained three-quarters of one percent, closing at a new record high. Analysts said some profit-taking was to be expected following the rally on Friday.

[07] MONDAY'S EDITORIALS BY ANDREW GUTHRIE (WASHINGTON)

INTRO: As the new work week begins in the United States, the nation's press is taking a backward look at last week's violence in Seattle at the World Trade Organization conference. Commentary also continues on a report that says nearly 100-thousand people in this country may die each year from medical mistakes. There is some criticism of the Immigration Service; and comment on the fight between Havana and the Washington over a Cuban boy rescued from the sea. Finally there are thoughts on China, Russian elections; and the Euro currency. Now, here with a closer look and some excerpts is ______________ with today's U-S Editorial Digest.

TEXT: The unexpected violence on the streets of Seattle most of last week during protests against the World Trade Organization meetings continues to draw comment. The Tacoma [Washington] News Tribune suggests:

VOICE: What these fearful demonstrators do not know is that many of the big-shot foreign ministers at the W-T-O conference, who hovered in the halls and conferred in the closed conference rooms, are fearful too. For globalization is now the huge new force stalking the Earth, creating great uncertainty as well as vast new opportunity. . Changing your ways to survive globally is unavoidable, but cultures and polities [sic] won't abdicate to foreign influences unless economic survival absolutely depends on it.

TEXT: Writing under a headline reading: "The collapse in Seattle" the New York Times sums up its view:

VOICE: The world Trade Organization is not the Hydra-headed monster portrayed by its severest critics. But after Seattle, it is all the more important for this administration or its successor to help enhance the W-T-O'S legitimacy through reforms of secrecy, labor rights and the environment. That is what the demonstrators demanded. That is what people around the globe deserve.

TEXT: The national daily USA Today sums up its concern in this headline: "Seattle fiasco raises risks for a public leery of free trade" while The Colorado Springs [Colorado] Gazette adds this:

VOICE: The lightning rod [Editors: the catalyst] was the World Trade Organization meeting. But the focus of the anger was free trade and the capitalist economy - - two things that the protesters associated with everything from Third World poverty to environmental degradation. . But those of the political left weren't the only ones out en masse in Seattle. Some widely regarded as conservatives headed to Seattle, including Reform Party presidential candidate Patrick Buchanan, who views the protests as affirmation of his protectionist economic proposals. The protests remind us that, despite a broader understanding in America that free trade provides unrivaled prosperity . the old protectionist nostrums haven't faded away.

TEXT: There continues to be comment on a report released last week that American doctors and other health workers kill almost 100-thousand people a year by accident - in a lot of cases by giving or mixing the wrong medicines. The Detroit News says proposals to improve hospital performance should approached cautiously

VOICE: . Congress needs to think carefully about this proposal. . medicine is as much an art as a science; most errors are made in good faith as doctors try to cope with often-baffling symptoms under real-time pressures. The big story of American medicine in the 20th century has been the steady progress in its ability to cure an ever-larger proportion of the sick.

TEXT: In Texas, The Fort Worth Star-Telegram suggests that:

VOICE: Although it would be premature to hastily endorse the recommendations in the report, they clearly merit earnest attention. . The . report shouldn't be viewed as an indictment of the nation's health-care system, which is among the best in the world. But in a country where there are more than 30 million hospital admissions annually and about two- point-five-billion prescriptions dispensed by pharmacies, there is ample opportunity for error - - as well as abundant opportunity to reduce mistakes.

TEXT: Still with medical news, today's Omaha [Nebraska] World Herald is pleased that an experimental anti-Malaria vaccine is showing promise.

VOICE: Malaria kills as many as two-million- seven-hundred thousand people every year. And now researchers are beginning to think it causes hundreds of thousands of spontaneous miscarriages and brings lasting neurological damage to thousands of children. . The recent news doesn't amount to a cause to stand up and cheer, but guarded optimism is in order.

TEXT: In a domestic news story with international implications, The Akron [Ohio] Beacon Journal is criticizing the U-S government for what it calls an "affront to the American sense of justice." At issue is the three-and-a -half year detention of Egyptian national, Nasser Ahmed, held on the basis of secret evidence gathered by the Immigration and Naturalization Service. The paper hails Mr. Ahmed's recent release, but adds:

VOICE: [Mr.] Ahmed's detention was made possible by wrongheaded portions of the 1996 immigration-reform law. He was deprived of the fundamental right to confront his accusers, a civil liberty extended to every U-S citizen, because of a misguided notion of what constitutes a threat to national security mixed with a strain of xenophobia.

TEXT: The press is also busy with the case of a six- year old Cuban boy - one of the few rescued from the sea in a botched attempt to sail to Florida. His father in Cuba wants him returned but it is not clear that will happen. The [Minneapolis, Minnesota] Star- Tribune urges that he be viewed as a child and n o t as a political pawn between the U-S and Cuba.

VOICE: All but the most partisan of observers can see good sense in the Clinton administration's declaration that Elian Gonzalez's best interests, as determined by Florida's family courts, should decide whether he returns to Cuba or remains in the United States.. Elian's father says he wants his son back .. But relatives in Miami claim that Juan Gonzalez is only saying what his government tells him to say. ..the challenge will be to focus on the personal, not the political, in weighing the needs of this young boy - - a challenge the Cuban and U-S governments have repeatedly failed with refugees.

TEXT: Later this month the colonial-era Portuguese colony of Macao is turned over to Chinese rule. The Florida Time-Union in Jacksonville has this observation on the event:.

VOICE: Now that the final obstacle has been cleared to transfer power in Macao, Beijing soon will rule the entire Chinese mainland. Macao, which many Americans don't even know exists, consists of two small islands and a city on a peninsula along China's Pacific Coast - - about 64 kilometers west of Hong Kong. . Macao is of no strategic importance . But it is a matter of national pride for the Chinese because its return, along with the 1997 transfer of Hong Kong to China's authority, closes the door on a long and humiliating colonial period.

TEXT: Still with Chinese affairs, Newsday on New York's Long Island is upset with Israel over the planned sale to China of an Israeli-developed airborne early warning and control aircraft, even though there is no specific prohibition against it. Says the paper:

VOICE: What Israel is doing may be technically irreproachable, but it's woefully shortsighted. . the extraordinary relationship Israel enjoys with the United States should not be strained by such blatant self-interest. /// OPT /// The sale of early-warning radar systems does not, in itself, pose an immediate threat to U-S security interests in East Asia. But it might in the future, if Beijing were to make aggressive moves toward Taiwan and Washington felt compelled to come to the island's defense./// END OPT ///

TEXT: Turning briefly to the pending Russian parliamentary election (12/19), The Boston Globe points out:

VOICE: There are many reasons to fret about Russia's future, but the routinized quality of the parliamentary elections to be held on December 19th suggests that the concept and practice of electoral democracy is becoming normal in Russia. . what merits appreciation, is that Russians expect to decide at the voting booth who will govern them. Each time elections transfer power, the roots of representative government in Russia take a deeper hold. This will be the third elected parliament since the implosion of the Soviet Union at the start of this decade.

TEXT: And lastly, about the travails of the Euro, the single European currency, which has been having a difficult time of late, falling to near or exact parity with the U-S dollar, and doing even worse against the Japanese yen, The Boston Globe says:

VOICE: Because of the Euro's steady fall against other major currencies, a more important matter - - the underlying monetary policy of the European Central Bank - - has too often been overlooked. The bank deserves considerable credit for its role in stabilizing the common economy of its eleven member nations, setting the stage for solid growth. . It has avoided policies its governors think would be inflationary and in the long run more harmful to recovery.

TEXT: On that note, we conclude this sampling of editorial comment from Monday's U-S press.
NEB/ANG/JO 06-Dec-1999 12:28 PM EDT (06-Dec-1999 1728 UTC)
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Source: Voice of America

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