Voice of America, 99-11-19

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

CONTENTS

[01] CLINTON - GREECE (L) BY DEBORAH TATE (ATHENS)

[02] CLINTON - GREECE ONITER (L) BY DEBORAH TATE (ATHENS)

[03] YUGO CLAIMS KOSOVO ABUSES (L ONLY) BY BRECK ARDERY (UNITED NATIONS)

[04] O-S-C-E EVOLUTION BY LAURIE KASSMAN (ISTANBUL)

[05] OSCE WRAP (S) BY LAURIE KASSMAN (ISTANBUL)

[06] CLINTON - RUSSIA (S) BY DEBORAH TATE (ISTANBUL)

[07] NY ECON WRAP FRIDAY (S&L) BY JOE CHAPMAN (NEW YORK)

[08] FRIDAY'S EDITORIALS BY ERIKA EVANS (WASHINGTON)

[01] CLINTON - GREECE (L) BY DEBORAH TATE (ATHENS)

INTRO: President Clinton has arrived in Athens as thousands of anti - U-S protesters clashed with riot police in the city's main square. Correspondent Deborah Tate reports from the Greek capital. Text: Mr. Clinton stepped off Air Force late Friday saying he is "a friend of Greece" and that Washington is a close ally of Athens.

[02] CLINTON - GREECE ONITER (L) BY DEBORAH TATE (ATHENS)

INTRO: President Clinton - traveling in Athens - meets Saturday with Greek leaders to discuss prospects for improved relations between Greece and Turkey and the future of Cyprus. Upon his arrival from Istanbul, Turkey Friday night, anti-US protesters clashed with riot police in the city's main square. Correspondent Deborah Tate reports from the Greek capital. Text: Mr. Clinton is expected to use his meetings with President Constantinos Stephanopoulos and Prime Minister Costas Simitis to encourage Greece to seek reconciliation with Turkey. He has argued that better relations between the long- time rivals and fellow Nato members would be an important step toward stability in southeastern Europe. His talks with Greek leaders are also expected to include Cyprus - another issue with implications for the stability of the region. During State dinner toasts at the Presidential Mansion Friday night, Mr. Clinton praised plans by Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders to hold indirect talks on Cyprus in New York next month - a meeting aimed at paving the way to direct negotiations.

[03] YUGO CLAIMS KOSOVO ABUSES (L ONLY) BY BRECK ARDERY (UNITED NATIONS)

INTRO: The representative of Yugoslavia's to the United Nations charged today (Friday) that the U-N Mission in Kosovo is abusing its authority and not living up to its mandate. At the United Nations, VOA Correspondent Breck Ardery reports.

TEXT: Vladislav Jovanovic told reporters that the U-N mission in Kosovo has appeared to change from helping to create conditions for autonomy to allowing independence forces in Kosovo to gain greater influence. He charged that the Kosovo Liberation Army, the K-L-A, is committing atrocities against Serbs and that neither the U-N Interim Administration nor NATO military forces are doing anything to stop the K-L-A. Mr. Jovanovic claimed homes owned by Serbs in Kosovo have been looted and burned and that the K-L-A has organized mobs of ethnic Albanians to attack Serbs and other ethnic minorities. He repeatedly used the phrase "ethnic cleansing" to describe the conditions in Kosovo.

[04] O-S-C-E EVOLUTION BY LAURIE KASSMAN (ISTANBUL)

INTRO: The 54-member Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe -- the O-S-C-E -- has completed its two-day summit in Istanbul with a consensus on the need to enhance its role in peacekeeping and prevention of the spread of conflict in Europe. The group also expanded its area of concern to actions within the borders of its member countries that pose a threat to regional stability. V-O-A Correspondent Laurie Kassman takes a closer look at the European security organization that traces its origins to an accord signed in Helsinki a quarter of a century ago.

TEXT: Czech President Vaclav Havel remembers the signing of the Helsinki Act 25 years ago. He says it took a leap of faith back then to trust that Cold War enemies would actually abide by an agreement to reduce their nuclear and conventional forces and decrease the risk of war.

[05] OSCE WRAP (S) BY LAURIE KASSMAN (ISTANBUL)

INTRO: The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe - the O-S-C-E - has ended its two day summit in Istanbul with a security charter designed to expand the organization's peacekeeping role. Russia at first resisted an O-S-C-E role in resolving the conflict in Chechnya. But, as V-O-A Correspondent Laurie Kassman reports from Istanbul, a final summit declaration that recognizes Russia's right to fight terrorism helped produce a compromise.

TEXT: The current O-S-C-E chairman, Knut Vollebaek of Norway, says the key to the final summit consensus was Russia's acceptance of the O-S-C-E's demand to fulfill its 1995 mandate to help seek a political solution to the Chechen conflict.

[06] CLINTON - RUSSIA (S) BY DEBORAH TATE (ISTANBUL)

INTRO: President Clinton says he is encouraged that Russia is signing a European security charter that says the international community has a right to intervene in civil conflicts. Correspondent Deborah Tate reports from Istanbul, Turkey, where Mr. Clinton is attending (attended) the closing session of a summit of the Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe - a meeting that was dominated by the war in Chechnya. Text: Russia has made no commitment to ending its bloody military campaign in Chechnya, nor has it committed itself to opening a dialogue with Chechen leaders - as President Clinton and other summit participants here have appealed to Moscow to do. But Mr. Clinton says Russia's decision to sign on to an OSCE charter, which says international intervention in civil conflicts is justified, is a step in the right direction.

[07] NY ECON WRAP FRIDAY (S&L) BY JOE CHAPMAN (NEW YORK)

INTRO: Stock price on Wall Street closed mixed today (Friday). But high technology stocks continued their strong surge. VOA's Joe Chapman reports from New York.

TEXT: The Dow Jones Industrial Average edged downward 31 points to 11-thousand-three after Caterpillar, one of the 30 component stocks of the Dow, reported lower than expected earnings. For the week, the Dow Jones Industrial Average moved up 234 points, about two percent. The Standard and Poor's 500, a broader and more representative index, moved up 22 points for the week, just under two percent. But the Nasdaq Composite closed up 22 points for the day, less than one percent, to three-thousand-369, for its 13th record close in 16 trading days. The Nasdaq was up four percent for the week.

[08] FRIDAY'S EDITORIALS BY ERIKA EVANS (WASHINGTON)

INTRO: With Cuba hosting the annual summit of Latin and Iberian peninsula nations this week, many of today's U-S editorials are discussing the outcome of the meeting as well as U-S policy on Cuba. There are also editorial comments about Russian policy in Chechnya, U-S labor unions' criticism of China's prospective membership in the World Trade Organization, and Ireland close to peace. Now here is _________with some excerpts and a closer look in today's Editorial Digest.

TEXT: Many heads of state and other high ranking officials arrived in Havana, Cuba earlier this week for the Ibero-American Summit. Summit participants were expected to focus on developing nations and the problems they face in becoming part of the global economy. The summit prompted the Chicago Tribune to comment on the future of Cuban leader Fidel Castro and the lack of meaningful U-S policy on Cuba. The paper writes:

VOICE: (Mr.) Castro had wanted the summit to grant his regime an official international imprimatur, but several of his guests - most notably the president of Spain and the foreign minister of Mexico - pointedly took some time to meet with small groups of dissidents. If anything was legitimized by the summit, it was not (Mr.) Castro's government but his vocal opposition. The summit was hardly a loss for (Mr.) Castro though. The theme of economic globalization provided a ready-made forum for him to berate neo-liberalism and "savage capitalism". .In practical terms the summit's proclamations don't have much significance - except as a reminder of how the American obsession with isolating Cuba has isolated the U-S instead. In fact, as the Havana meeting neared, the only move available to Secretary of State Madeline Albright was to write letters to all the summiteers, exhorting them to please scold Castro for his sorry human rights record. Hardly an impressive or effective foreign policy maneuver.

TEXT: The Los Angeles Times believes the summit gave proof that the U-S must find a better way to deal with Cuba.

VOICE: From the U-S perspective, the summit showed once again the obsolescence of Washington's Cuba policies. At the end of the century, the United States retains a policy of boycotts and embargoes meant for the Cold War instead of the constructive engagement that marks U-S policy toward other troublesome governments.... The leaders of this summit have shown the world the right way to deal with Cuba. It is high time for a radical change in U-S policy.

TEXT: Turning from Cuba to Chechnya, the New York Times is commenting on the conflict in Chechnya and the inability of Western leaders to push Russia toward peaceful resolution.

VOICE: President Boris Yelstin of Russia growled this week at Western leaders meeting in Turkey that they had no right to criticize his nation's war against "bandits and murderers" in Chechnya. On this point the Russian president is simply wrong. The Russians must realize that good will in the West and especially in America is in their best interest as well. The stream of refugees from Chechnya and the bombings in downtown Grozny are images the American people care about. In the long run, these cruelties add to American doubts, not simply about Chechnya, but about the willingness of Russia's leaders to move away from the brutal methods of the past.

TEXT: The Washington Times has a comment on American labor unions and their objections to China's looming membership in the World Trade Organization. The paper believes the union's concerns are legitimate.

VOICE: Admitting China, a notorious abuser of labor rights, to the W-T-O is anathema to the A-F-L/C-I-O. .China's reprehensible labor policies clearly violate the norms of acceptable international behavior. The federation is right to be repulsed. But the place to hold China accountable for its despicable behavior is not the W-T-O.. The place to deal with China's abhorrent labor record is the International Labor Organization (I-L-O), a union affiliated agency that specifically addresses the rights of workers. .The A- F-L/C-I-O would earn far more credibility by seeking to expel China and its totalitarian labor policies from the I-L-O than by pursuing its wide-ranging, self-serving protectionist policies within the confines of the W-T-O.

TEXT: Finally, discussing the recent agreement between Protestant and Catholics parties in Northern Ireland, the Washington Post says the troubled nation may be on the threshold of peace.

VOICE: The mood is of hope but caution too. .One hesitates to say this is Northern Ireland's "last chance." But most people would probably concede that it is simply not possible to imagine how the disruption of this accord could bring profit to anyone except the men of violence on both sides. Failure would deny Protestants and Catholics alike the chance they still have, despite everything, for a decent future.

TEXT: With that view from the Washington Post, we conclude this sampling of commentary from the editorial pages of Friday's U-S newspapers.
NEB/ENE/KL 19-Nov-1999 13:36 PM EDT (19-Nov-1999 1836 UTC)
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Source: Voice of America

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