Voice of America, 00-05-12

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

CONTENTS

[01] TURKEY / ISLAM (L-ONLY) BY AMBERIN ZAMAN (ANKARA)

[02] THE WEAK EURO (L-ONLY) BY BARRY WOOD (WASHINGTON)

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

[04] FRIDAY'S EDITORIALS BY ANDREW GUTHRIE (WASHINGTON)

[01] TURKEY / ISLAM (L-ONLY) BY AMBERIN ZAMAN (ANKARA)

INTRO: Turkey's opposition Virtue Party holds a convention Sunday, with traditionalists and self- styled moderates struggling for leadership of the pro- Islamic party. Amberin Zaman reports from Ankara.

TEXT: The present chairman of the opposition Virtue Party, Recai Kutan, is being opposed by a moderate party member, Abdullah Gul. It is the first time in the Islamic movement's history that a leadership race is taking place. Analysts say the outcome will have a profound impact in Turkey on Islamic politics in particular, and right-wing politics in general. The analysts say that should Mr. Gul succeed and move the party toward the center, the Virtue organization could emerge once again as the country's top party. Mr. Gul is a western-trained economist. And at age 50, he is considered young by Turkish political standards. Mr. Gul has strong support among rank-and- file members of Virtue. Still, the more moderate, reform wing of Virtue says it has no quarrel with the party's basic pro-Islamic policies. But one leading moderate, lawmaker Salih Kapusuz, says reformers believe the party needs to be more modern.

[02] THE WEAK EURO (L-ONLY) BY BARRY WOOD (WASHINGTON)

INTRO: The euro currency of 11 European Union countries has lost 23 percent of its value against the dollar since its launch in 1999. V-O-A's Barry Wood reports that while the euro recovered a bit this week, experts are identifying some structural reasons for its chronic weakness.

TEXT: Randall Henning, an economics professor at Washington's American University, says the euro is far weaker than it should be. Part of the reason, he believes, is that there is confusion over the interaction on exchange rate policy between the 11 governments and the new European Central Bank in Frankfurt. Mr. Henning, a long-time expert on monetary affairs, says the European Central Bank needs coherent guidance from its political authorities.

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

INTRO: Stock prices in the United States moved higher again today (Friday), but volume continues to be light as Wall Street awaits a U-S central bank meeting next week. V-O-A's Joe Chapman reports from New York.

TEXT: The Dow Jones Industrial Average moved up 63 points, about one half percent, to 10-thousand-609. For the week, the index closed up just a fraction of one percent. The technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite closed 29 points higher to three-thousand-529, but still lost more than seven percent for the week. The Standard and Poor's 500 closed up 13 points to finish at one-thousand-20, down nearly one percent from Monday. Technology stocks got a lift from Dell Computer, which moved up more than 10 percent in price after the firm reported a strong surge in both sales and profits. The Dell gains offset losses in some of other major technology shares.

[04] FRIDAY'S EDITORIALS BY ANDREW GUTHRIE (WASHINGTON)

INTRO: The inauguration of Russia's new president, Vladimir Putin, is drawing comments from some of the nation's regional dailies this Friday, while U-S involvement in Yugoslavia's Kosovo province is another popular topic. Other topics include: the crisis in Sierra Leone and the move under way in Arkansas to take away President Bill Clinton's license to practice law because he lied under oath. Now, here with a closer look - and some excerpts -- is ___________ and today's U-S Editorial Digest.

TEXT: Even though it has been several days since Vladimir Putin was sworn in (May 7th) as president of Russia, U-S papers continue to comment on the man, and his role. In Rhode Island's capital, the Providence Journal considers it a "hopeful start," after dissecting his inaugural address.

VOICE: Mr. Putin made two important points. To begin with, "for the first time in Russian history, supreme power in the country is being transferred in the most democratic and most simple way: through the will of the people, legally and peacefully." The brutal war against the Chechens is still being waged. But ... as a constitutional matter, Mr. Putin has said and done all the right things. ... His second point was more equivocal. "The movement toward a free society has not been easy [and] the establishment of a democratic state is a process still far from over," he said. ...

TEXT: In Ohio, Cleveland's Plain Dealer is awed by the huge responsibility Mr. Putin has taken on.

VOICE: It's a responsibility that challenges comprehension. The Russian Federation spans eleven time zones, encompassing a land naturally rich in oil, metals, timber and agricultural potential. It ranks first in the world with a 99 percent literacy rate, and boasts a vast number of teachers, engineers and scientists. Yet its legacy of czarist rule followed by nearly a century of Communism's command economics has left its people without an understanding of, or a legal infrastructure for, the market economy to which they now so unwillingly must adjust.

TEXT: In Georgia, the Augusta Chronicle is more reserved, suggesting the new Russian leader is a real enigma.

VOICE: Foreign policy analysts in government and the media are poring over [his] inaugural address for some clues as to where he intends to take his beleaguered nation ... It's akin to reading tea leaves. We can't recall a head-of-state of a major country taking office where so little is known about him.

TEXT: Turning to the Balkans, several papers are discussing different aspects of the U-S involvement in Yugoslavia's Kosovo province. The St. Petersburg [Florida] Times is pleased that Europe is taking more of an initiative.

VOICE: Ever since the first U-S troops were sent into the chaos of a crumbling Yugoslavia ... Congress and other Americans have complained that it's not our problem. It's the Europeans' problem, so let them provide the solution. Now the Europeans are beginning to do something about it. A multinational military grouping sponsored by France and Spain has taken over K-For, the international peace-keeping force in Kosovo. ... They will try to keep a lid on ever- simmering hostilities between Serbs and Albanians ... Eurocorps' lead role in K-For marks the first time NATO has allowed an "external" unit to exercise command in its jurisdiction.

TEXT: The "Eurocorps," says the Times, "sounds like a good first step in both relieving the burden on U-S troops and encouraging greater attention to security within the E-U [European Union.] Today's Tulsa [Oklahoma] World worries that a funding cutoff for U-S troops in Kosovo 13-months from now, voted in this week, may send a signal to the warring parties they can wait out a possible American departure and resume fighting.

TEXT: From Kosovo to an active civil war in Africa's Sierra Leone, where rebels are besieging the capital, Freetown, and Westerners have fled under protection of British paratroopers, as U-N forces collapsed. The situation draws this comment from The Kansas City [Missouri] Star.

VOICE: ... The United States should support constructive efforts to end the fighting. For starters, Nigeria's offer to bring back its soldiers to lead the peacekeeping effort could be helpful. And a more restrictive peace pact could be fashioned so that it punishes excessive brutality by rebel **and** [italics for emphasis] government forces.

TEXT: Ohio's Akron Beacon Journal laments what is happening in the West African nation.

VOICE: ... Sierra Leone is roiling again, and the United Nations is scrambling for a response to a humiliating situation. The crises in this small, beleaguered country offer a window on fundamental issues of long-term stability in Africa, most urgently seen in the current problems in Congo [Democratic Republic of Congo/Kinshasa]. For, despite the best intentions, no number of trade concessions, such as the recently passed African trade bill in the U-S House, can foster progressive economic and human development while continual upheavals spread misery over large sections of Africa. A primary issue is the need for a well-trained and well-equipped international or regional force that, in view of the breakdown of a credible central government, can be given the mandate to maintain order.

TEXT: Domestically, Washington and 60 other cities are preparing for demonstrations on Sunday of millions of mothers calling for stricter gun control laws. However, the Detroit Free Press says, despite all the expected publicity:

VOICE: ... the march must be just a start. To create meaningful change, these moms will have to make time, amid the chauffeuring, homework, soccer [football] games and jobs that scream for their time, too. They will have to coalesce around this issue and convince the politicians that they matter.... because they vote. ... Getting rid of the gun menace will be tougher than cleaning up mud-pie stains...

TEXT: The St. Petersburg Times agrees, suggesting:

VOICE: Translating the march into concrete results, however, is a more difficult task.

TEXT: On to the case of Elian Gonzalez, the Cuban boy whose request for asylum in the United States is being contested in the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals. The boy's Miami relatives want him to stay in the United States, while his father wants to return with him to Cuba.

VOICE: If common sense and common law have any bearing on the ... Court [`s] ... decision regarding ... Elian ... then the three-judge panel hearing the case ought to reject his Miami relatives' appeal for an asylum hearing. And it should be able to do so without weeks of delay.

TEXT: President Bill Clinton, who is a lawyer, is fighting a move to disbar him for lying under oath in the Monica Lewinsky affair. But The [Manchester, New Hampshire] Union Leader and the Chicago Tribune both say: disbar him! Here's the Union Leader.

VOICE: It's about time someone introduced President Clinton to the concept of shame. He has never met this creature -- never gotten within an inch of it -- as his lawyers once again proved this week, arguing in ... briefs that ... the President ... did not out-and- out lie. ... Enough. ... the message cannot go out that it is permissible to hoodwink the court system. There must be some penalty and this one is far from inappropriate.

TEXT: Says the Chicago Tribune: "disbarring him would be a reasonable approximation of justice."

TEXT: Today's Portland [Maine] Press Herald is pleased that the two Libyan security agents, accused of bombing Pan Am 103 eleven years ago over Scotland have finally come to trial.

VOICE: It's not getting much notice, but the principle that international terrorist attacks should not escape prosecution is receiving long-delayed support in The Netherlands this month. ... It'' a triumph of international law that it's being held at all, and the precedent may well help deter ...future ... attacks.

TEXT: On that note, we conclude this sampling of editorial comment from Friday's U-S press. NEB/ANG/ 12-May-2000 11:55 AM EDT (12-May-2000 1555 UTC)
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Source: Voice of America

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