Voice of America, 99-09-02

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

CONTENTS

[01] CN-061 KOSOVO

[02] KOSOVO / GRACANICA (L-ONLY) BY TIM BELAY (PRISTINA)

[03] KOSOVO / NATO (L ONLY) BY TIM BELAY (PRISTINA)

[04] BRITAIN / TURKEY (S / L) BY LAURIE KASSMAN (LONDON)

[05] E-U FOREIGN POLICY (L-ONLY) BY RON PEMSTEIN (BRUSSELS)

[06] N-Y ECON WRAP (S & L) BY BRECK ARDERY (NEW YORK)

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

[01] CN-061 KOSOVO

[02] KOSOVO / GRACANICA (L-ONLY) BY TIM BELAY (PRISTINA)

INTRO: The main highway through Yugoslavia's central Kosovo town of Gracanica remained under tight control by British peacekeepers (Thursday). Tim Belay reports from Pristina that the increased security follows a violent protest by ethnic Serbs, which injured at least five Kosovar Albanians.

TEXT: The protest by ethnic Serbs, who make up nearly the entire population of Gracanica, began in the middle of the day Wednesday. The Serb protesters are angry about reports that a member of their ethnic community was kidnapped. Colonel Gil Prowse speaks for the British NATO contingent, which is responsible for security in that region. Colonel Prowse says members of the kidnap victim's family started the protest.

[03] KOSOVO / NATO (L ONLY) BY TIM BELAY (PRISTINA)

INTRO: The NATO-led peacekeeping force in Kosovo has been involved in a range of community service activities since arriving in the province in June. Tim Belay reports from Pristina.

TEXT: NATO-led peacekeepers have been doing more than trying to keep the peace in Kosovo these past several weeks.

[04] BRITAIN / TURKEY (S / L) BY LAURIE KASSMAN (LONDON)

INTRO: Turkish Foreign Minister Ismail Cem (JEM) is in London for consultations with his British counterpart, Robin Cook. Britain and its European Union partners are expected to respond generously to Turkey's request for economic aid to rebuid after a devastating earthquake. V-O-A correspondent Laurie Kassman reports from London on renewed British support for Turkey's bid to join the European Union.

TEXT: Foreign Secretary Robin Cook says he will bring up Turkey's membership bid when E-U foreign ministers meet this weekend. But he says any candidate for E-U membership must meet all the basic requirements, including a clean human rights record.

[05] E-U FOREIGN POLICY (L-ONLY) BY RON PEMSTEIN (BRUSSELS)

INTRO: The European Parliament is continuing a series of confirmation hearings on the nominees for the European Commission. Correspondent Ron Pemstein reports from Brussels the nominee for External Relations Commissioner, Christopher Patten, is well known in China.

TEXT: One of the concerns expressed by deputies in the European Parliament is whether Christopher Patten's reputation in Beijing will weaken his ability to represent E-U interests there as External Relations Commissioner. Mr. Patten says he is not obsessed by China. As Hong Kong's last British governor between 1992 and 1997, he continually clashed with Chinese authorities about democracy. Mr. Patten says the European Union has to be engaged in China, but that does not mean keeping silent about human rights.

[06] N-Y ECON WRAP (S & L) BY BRECK ARDERY (NEW YORK)

INTRO: Stock prices in the United States were down today (Thursday) as inflation and interest rate fears returned to Wall Street. V-O-A Business Correspondent Breck Ardery reports from New York.

TEXT: The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 10- thousand-843, down 94 points, almost one percent. The Standard and Poor's 500 index closed at 13-hundred-19, down 12 points. The NASDAQ index lost one-half percent. Analysts say stock traders were upset by comments from Edward Kelly, a governor of the U-S central bank. Mr. Kelly said it is "premature" to rule out another interest rate increase next month. Mr. Kelly said the central bank will continue to monitor economic statistics for signs of inflation. Some traders worried about the monthly U-S employment report which will be released Friday.

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

INTRO: There are more critical editorials this Thursday concerning new revelations about how federal law enforcement officers carried out a raid on a religious cult near Waco, Texas six years ago. Other popular topics include: East Timor's election; Secretary of State Albright's trip to the Middle East; the anti-Democratic tide in Venezuela; Panama's new lady president; and the internet celebrates its 30th birthday. Now, here is ___________ with a closer look at some commentaries in today's Editorial Digest.

TEXT: Two of the nation's most influential newspapers, the New York Times and Washington Post carry lead stories about the Waco, Texas incident Thursday. On Wednesday, U-S marshals seized evidence from another group of federal law enforcement agents, the F-B-I, pertaining to the case. In the 1993 incident, after a siege of 51 days by federal agents of a farmhouse outside Waco, a fire consumed the Branch Davidians complex, killing about 80 people, including 25 children. At issue is who started the fire. The New York Times is calling for an independent investigation of the incident.

VOICE: Louis . Freeh, the F-B-I Director, has urged his boss, Attorney General Janet Reno, to appoint a qualified group of outsiders to investigate the agency's failure to keep Ms. Reno and Congress fully informed about all aspects of its role in the 1993 siege . in Waco . This is the right thing to do, since it would be an appalling conflict of interest to have the F-B-I and the Justice Department investigating themselves. . The House of Representatives, which also feels badly misled by the F-B-I, is talking about two investigations . A wiser course would be for Justice to go first, while Congress monitors the process and the final report.

TEXT: In Texas, The Houston Chronicle is also calling for a high level, independent, investigation.

VOICE: It would be hard to argue that the Waco tragedy doesn't need to be looked at again. And the F-B-I investigation of the case needs to be investigated itself. However, someone with some credibility, and that probably means from outside the immediate Washington establishment, needs to be called in for that job. Someone like a retired attorney general, for example. Credibility and confidence need to be restored in this incredible mess. [Attorney General Janet] Reno needs to get on with finding the right investigator and then get out of his or her way.

TEXT: Along with front page stories of new violence in East Timor, come more editorials about Monday's referendum, or plebiscite, for autonomy within, or independence from, Indonesia. Wednesday afternoon's Honolulu Star Bulletin worries that the results of the plebiscite are being threatened by the violence.

VOICE: The plebiscite . on the future political status of East Timor produced a heavy turnout . and was relatively peaceful. But a resurgence of activity by anti-independence militiamen raised fears that the little island territory in eastern Indonesia might be plunged into chaos. The situation is highly volatile. . The Indonesian army appears to be backing the militia in its attempts to intimidate supporters of independence. The army is said to fear that secession would encourage separatists in other parts of the archipelago and lead to dismemberment of the nation. Another separatist movement is gaining momentum in Aceh in northern Sumatra. . Indonesia held national elections earlier this year and seems on a path of democratic reform after decades of authoritarian rule. East Timor is a major test of the strength of the reform effort.

TEXT: The opinion of Hawaii's Honolulu Star Bulletin.

VOICE: For one thing, East Timor is a largely Roman Catholic region where people have been persecuted by the military of mainly Muslim Indonesia. Up to 200- thousand people have perished - 10-thousand by military force, the rest from famine and disease - since Indonesia annexed East Timor in 1976. . the vote is a test for Indonesian President B. J. Habibie. How he handles this test will signal the strength of his government and his reach as an international player. So far, [Mr.] Habibie is failing the test.

TEXT: The Mideast is back in the news, with an apparent impasse in the latest talks between the Israelis and Palestinians over implementing the Wye River accords. The Washington Post comments on the Secretary of State's current trip to the region.

TEXT: Secretary Albright's first task is to loosen the knot that Prime Minister Barak's predecessor and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat tied in the Wye agreement. Wye provided, among other things, for further but partial Israeli troop withdrawals from the West Bank - withdrawals that Mr. Barak is now asking the Palestinians to adjust in size and time so that Israel can feel better positioned to address the big peace issues-borders, refugees, a Palestinian state, Jerusalem and the like. . In the Middle East as elsewhere, the overpowering need is to catch up with the positive values and opportunities that grew out of World War Two: They are summed up in the world freedom. If it is not done now in the region, there may not be another opening for a generation. No one can want to try to tally the possible costs of obstruction and delay.

TEXT: To this hemisphere now, and ongoing worries about the direction of Venezuela's President. The Forth Worth, Texas Star-Telegram exclaims:

VOICE: . President Hugo Chavez's "virtual coup" is almost complete. It's taken only seven months, but the last vestiges of democratic legitimacy in Venezuela are in tatters. Since taking office in February, President . Chavez has imposed exactly what he promised: a social revolution led by a constitutional assembly with broad powers to rewrite the constitution. . he has undermined one oligarchy in favor of another, one more amenable to his Napoleonic pretensions. . [President] Chavez is achieving through the ballot box what he failed to achieve with pure military might. It is a chilling portent in a region marked by fledgling democracies, wrenching poverty and watchful military leaders.

TEXT: The views of the Forth Worth Star-Telegram. Still in the region, today's Sun in Baltimore, has some qualms about the woman who is now president in Panama, as the U-S military prepares to depart the Canal Zone for good.

VOICE: Mireya Moscoso . elected in May, heads a party that is weaker in the legislature than its opposition. In recent days, she hammered out agreements with minor parties to give her a bare working majority, vulnerable to defections. . Ms. Moscoso heads the Arnulfista Party, named for her late husband. Arnulfo Arias, the most popular politician in Panama's history. . Her politics are leftist and intentions honest but abilities may be in question.

TEXT: The situation in Colombia, where armed militias exert great influence in large areas of the nation draws the attention of The Orlando [Florida] Sentinel.

VOICE: . Virtually no one anticipated the crisis now shaking Colombia and sending reverberations all the way to the United States. Drug traffickers, teamed up with anti-government rebels, threaten Colombia's very government. The situation has worsened in recent months, demanding that the United States re-examine its Colombia strategy. . Something essential is missing from U-S policy: a greater sense of urgency. If the United States can focus significant attention on Kosovo, which has no direct effect on the United States, why not Colombia, which directly affects this country?

TEXT: The Houston Chronicle, is voicing concern about the way criminals and officials appear to be siphoning off millions -if not billions of dollars-from Russia's treasury.

VOICE: Allegations that unidentified Russians laundered billions of dollars through the Bank of New York have raised questions about the value of U-S aid and "who lost Russia?" As to the last question, Russia was not lost by the United States or any U-S administration. Russia was lost by its succession of communist leaders who refused to allow the freedom and democracy that made the West prosperous after World War Two. . Even if Russian officials and U-S aid are found to be involved in a massive money-laundering scheme, the United States has little choice but to make similar modest efforts to stabilize the Russian economy, just as it could not ignore Russia after the collapse of the Soviet Union puts tens of thousands of nuclear warheads . up for grabs.

TEXT: Lastly, one of the great technological innovations of late 20th century turns 30 years old today. And in Nebraska, The Omaha World Herald takes note.

VOICE: . Today can reasonably be said to be the 30th birthday of the internet. It was on September second, 1969 that two computers first "talked" to each other. The term itself says a lot. Computers communicating with other computers don't talk in the strict sense, but all computer jocks [users] use the term. Computers and the "Net-global-mail, in particular- have become so much a part of so many lives that it's hard not to attribute human characteristics to them. . For ill or for good, there is no going back. We're going faster. We're learning more, learning it earlier, sharing it more thoroughly, and finding answers to problems in all disciplines at a pace that scarcely could have been imagined a generation ago.

TEXT: With those reflections from The Omaha World Herald we conclude this sampling of comment from the editorial pages of Thursday's U-S press.
NEB/ANG/KL 02-Sep-1999 12:11 PM EDT (02-Sep-1999 1611 UTC)
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Source: Voice of America

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