Voice of America, 99-11-10

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

CONTENTS

[01] CLINTON/GREEK TRIP (S) BY NICK SIMEONE ()

[02] U-S - SERBIA (L ONLY) BY KYLE KING (STATE DEPARTMENT)

[03] ON THE LINE: TURMOIL IN THE CAUCASUS

[04] BERLIN WALL CELEBRATION BY RON PEMSTEIN (BERLIN)

[05] N-Y ECON WRAP (S&L) BY ELAINE JOHANSON (NEW YORK)

[06] WEDNESDAY'S EDITORIALS BY KEVIN LYNCH (WASHINGTON)

[01] CLINTON/GREEK TRIP (S) BY NICK SIMEONE ()

INTRO: President Clinton is postponing a trip to Greece because of concerns about security. Correspondent Nick Simeone reports anti-American groups are threatening demonstrations during his visit.

TEXT: Many Greeks disagreed with the US-led NATO bombing over Kosovo and some groups have threatened anti-American demonstrations during the President's visit to Athens. Mr. Clinton told reporters he is not worried about protests but that the Greek government asked for his schedule to be modified.

[02] U-S - SERBIA (L ONLY) BY KYLE KING (STATE DEPARTMENT)

INTRO: The United States is expressing concern about the fate of an ethnic Albanian doctor who faces terrorism charges in a Serbian court this week. From the State Department, V-O-A's Kyle King reports.

TEXT: The State Department says it does not believe that Doctor Flora Brovina can expect a fair trial in Serbia under the Milosevic government. Dr. Brovina was a prominent Kosovo Albanian pediatrician and women's rights activist. She is expected to go on trial for terrorism later this week in the Southern Serb city of Nis. Dr. Brovina is one of an undetermined number of ethnic Albanian prisoners who were transferred to Serbia before NATO peacekeeping troops arrived in Kosovo in June. State Department Spokesman James Rubin says the United States is concerned about the fate of the prisoners.

[03] ON THE LINE: TURMOIL IN THE CAUCASUS

INSERTS AVAILABLE IN AUDIO SERVICES THEME: UP, HOLD UNDER AND FADE Anncr: On the Line - a discussion of United States policy and contemporary issues. This week, "Turmoil in the Caucasus." Here is your host, ---- . Host: Hello and welcome to On the Line. Chechnya gained virtual autonomy in 1996 after Russia abandoned its unsuccessful war against the province. But two months ago, after a Chechen-led insurrection in neighboring Dagestan and terrorist bombings in Russian cities that were blamed on Chechens, Russian forces reentered the province and have been hammering it ever since. Some two hundred thousand refugees have fled to nearby Ingushetia, and there is no end to the fighting in sight. Charles Fairbanks is director of the Central Asia- Caucasus Institute at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. He says that many see the fighting in Chechnya as an attempt by the new Russian prime minister to boost his popularity as a candidate for the upcoming presidential elections. Fairbanks: Some people think that the arrival of Prime Minister [Vladimir] Putin at the end of the summer actually somehow set these events in train because he is the designated successor of Boris Yeltsin, who is standing at something like two percent in the polls. And it's almost universally thought in Russia that the war has something to do with the presidential election coming up next spring or early summer. Host: Paul Henze is a resident consultant at the RAND Corporation. He says that Russia could have prevented the current war by meeting its obligations to Chechnya made in 1996. Henze: When the Russians, at the initiative of General [Aleksandr] Lebed agreed to withdraw from Chechnya, and agreed on a timetable for Chechen self-determination, they also promised major aid. If the Russians had given that substantial financial aid for the reconstruction of Chechnya, it would not have become the mess that it became. No Russian aid came through. The Russians did nothing to moderate the situation in Chechnya. Under those circumstances, the worst elements in Chechnya came to the top. Paul Goble is communications director of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. He says that the United States should use more than words to express its disapproval of Russian conduct in Chechnya. Goble: Right now, the Russian government is delighted by our criticism because this allows the current Russian authorities to portray themselves as standing up for Russia against the West at no cost. I believe that we ought to use our leverage in I-M-F [International Monetary Fund] loans and elsewhere to make it very clear that a country that is violating all kinds of international undertakings, violating its own constitution, violating the laws of war -- however you want see this conflict -- will not be getting the kind of support that we would otherwise like to be able to extend it. We are talking about a crisis that has driven more than a quarter of a million people from their homes, that has cost thousands of injured and hundreds, if not thousands, of dead, and is going to have even more severe humanitarian consequences in the coming months. So we should, I think, take a very tough line. Host: At their recent meeting in Oslo, President Bill Clinton made clear to Prime Minister Putin U.S. concern over escalating civilian casualties in Chechnya and the need to pursue political dialogue. For On the Line, this is -------. Anncr: You've been listening to "On the Line" - a discussion of United States policies and contemporary issues. This is -------. 10-Nov-1999 15:06 PM EDT (10-Nov-1999 2006 UTC)
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Source: Voice of America

[04] BERLIN WALL CELEBRATION BY RON PEMSTEIN (BERLIN)

INTRO: Germany has celebrated the tenth anniversary of the day that changed European history. It was November Ninth, 1989, when the Berlin Wall first began to open - marking the beginning of the end of the Wall and a Europe divided by communism. V-O-A Correspondent Ron Pemstein in Berlin reports changes are taking place in united Germany's new capital but memories of the past still linger.

TEXT: Just like 10 years ago, on the night of November Ninth, it was cold. This time it also was rainy. Just like 10 years ago, there were thousands of people at the Brandenburg Gate. Ten years ago, the Germans were drawn by reports the Berlin Wall was opening there. This time, they gathered for a nostalgic party. They heard a German rock band, the Scorpions, sing "The Winds of Change" accompanied by conductor, Mystislav Rostropovich, leading 166 cellists.

[05] N-Y ECON WRAP (S&L) BY ELAINE JOHANSON (NEW YORK)

INTRO: Stock prices in the United States were mixed Wednesday. There was some confusion on Wall Street over the latest report on U-S inflation at the producer, or wholesale, price level. V-O-A correspondent Elaine Johanson reports from New York:

TEXT: The Dow Jones Industrial Average was off a fraction. It lost 19 points, closing at 10-thousand- 597. The Standard and Poor's 500 index rose eight points to 13-hundred-73. And the Nasdaq index sailed back into record territory after Tuesday's drop, with a gain of one percent. A new producer price index shows that inflation in the United States actually fell one-tenth of one percent in October. But the core rate, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, rose more than expected.

[06] WEDNESDAY'S EDITORIALS BY KEVIN LYNCH (WASHINGTON)

INTRO: The high cost of medical care and how to pay for it is the leading topic in many U-S editorial pages today. There is also more comment, one day after the celebrations in Berlin, on the 10th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Other topics include elections in Mexico and the latest efforts to bring peace to the Mideast. Now, here is ______________ with a closer look and some excerpts in today's Editorial Digest.

TEXT: Many Americans have enrolled in what are called Health Maintenance Organizations, known as H-M-O's, in an effort to control their medical expenses. But one of the criticisms of H-M-Os is that they are too restrictive, that to save money, they limit patients' choices in medical care. Earlier this week one of the biggest H-M-Os, UnitedHealth Group, said that it was going to give doctors greater latitude in the treatments they prescribe. That decision has won praise from newspapers across the country. "The Los Angeles Times" writes:

VOICE: Since World War II, medical insurers have gone from one extreme to the other: first the "fee-for- service" system in the 1960's and `70's which rewarded lavish spending by hospitals and doctors, then a "managed-care" system in the `80's and `90's, which too often rewarded health providers who denied treatment in order to ratchet [reduce] costs. Congress has not found a good middle ground, but now the nation's largest health insurer is working toward it. UnitedHealth Group [has announced] it will return decision-making power to physicians.

TEXT: "The Los Angeles Times" goes on to say that UnitedHealth will still retain its ability to assess whether the doctors are delivering cost-efficient quality medical care. "The New York Times" says the idea of managed care was a good one, although its flaws soon became apparent:

VOICE: When the managed-care concept first burst upon the American health-care scene a decade or so ago, it was touted as the best way to control runaway medical costs and to assure that all patients received the care they needed but not unnecessary care. // OPT // As one key element of "managing" costs, insurance plan administrators were given the power to approve, in advance, any costly procedures and hospitalizations recommended by doctors participating in the plan. Whatever merit this approach had as a management tool, it was despised by both patients and doctors. // END OPT //... The change at [UnitedHealth] does not, by any means, mean that the managed-care industry is giving up the goal of cost containment, nor should it.... The managed care companies ... will need to retain some tools to prevent another explosion of healthcare costs on the scale that spawned managed care to begin with.

TEXT: Like the "New York Times", "U-S-A Today" welcomes the new proposal, but it also says a lot more needs to be done by H-M-O's:

VOICE: The hobbling of doctors is only part of an industry-wide pattern of ignoring patients' concerns until public outcry [becomes great]. Many in the industry [tried to prevent] doctors from discussing expensive treatment options with patients, only to abandon them in the face of withering public criticism. Companies capped physicians' payments and used other financial incentives to reward doctors who curtailed access to care ... until states started debating ways to ban the practice. Others used foreshortened medical stays to control costs... Still others imposed tight restrictions on emergency room services.

TEXT: UnitedHealth's announcement, "U-S-A Today" suggests, is only a first step. Plenty of frustrating obstacles to good health care still remain, says the paper.

VOICE: One day the hated keystone of Moscow's empire was there. The next day the concrete was rubble. Suddenly European Communism was gone, the Soviet Union was gone, the Soviet Communist Party was gone, Europe was no longer divided ... and freedom was beginning to ring where it had not rung in a generation or more.... A debate still rages over whether the Cold War was waged at excessive cost and risk... But 10-years is not too soon to apply the new grant of security, opportunity and dignity that became available to hundreds of millions of people in many countries.

TEXT: The "Washington Post" concludes by saying that the work of moving on from the Cold War remains at the core of the global agenda. "The Wall Street Journal" says the collapse of the Wall had repercussions far beyond Europe. The paper writes:

TEXT: The events of November ninth, 1989 had a profound effect on all who watched them. In Asia as elsewhere, the fall of the Wall opened countless doors. The people power movements of recent years and ... widespread sense of entitlement to basic rights and freedoms has drawn strength from the proof 10- years ago that no status quo is immutable. The collapse of Soviet imperialism made the idea of popular protest and political reform seem less threatening to Asian governments that had seen iron rule as the only bulwark against Communist subversion.

TEXT: The "Wall Street Journal" says in the new atmosphere Taiwan and South Korea secured democratic transitions that might not have been possible, or would have been much delayed. The "Chicago Tribune" says Sunday's presidential primary in Mexico shows that democracy is making further inroads in that country. The paper writes:

VOICE: The Institutional Revolutionary Party . has dominated Mexico's political life since 1929 -- the longest uninterrupted run of any party in the world -- and its inner workings, particularly the selection of its presidential candidates, have been as impenetrable as any ritual of the Roman Curia [Vatican officials]. That secretive and autocratic tradition began to crumble Sunday, when the P-R-I held its first-ever primary election to select candidates for next July's races for president and mayor of Mexico City. It was a watershed in the country's remarkable politician and economic opening under President Ernesto Zedillo. // OPT // Francisco Labastida won the P-R-I's presidential nomination by a landslide over Roberto Madrazo and two lesser candidates after a lively ... primary campaign. // END OPT //

TEXT: Finally, the "Christian Science Monitor" says the race toward Mideast peace is now in its final lap, but will require the help of a strong outsider. The paper writes:

VOICE: Israel and Palestinian negotiators began the task of meeting a February deadline and coming up with broad solutions to settle their most difficult differences: Jerusalem, West Bank border, Jewish settlements, Israeli security, the return of Palestinian refugees and water. But is there a referee to keep these two runners heading straight and true to the tape, someone who can prevent out of lane cheating or stop just one runner from just dropping out? ... [President Clinton] hopes his main foreign policy legacy will be a Mideast peace. ...Is he up to the task?

TEXT: With that commentary from the "Christian Science Monitor", we conclude this sampling of comment from the editorial pages of Wednesday's U-S newspapers.
NEB/KL/RAE 10-Nov-1999 12:31 PM EDT (10-Nov-1999 1731 UTC)
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Source: Voice of America

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