BAGHDAD, Dec 28: An Iraqi weekly has named President Saddam Hussein "man of all years" because of his courage and .....more

India, Britain postpone
strategic talks

LONDON, Dec 28: India and the United Kingdom have put off their crucial year end strategic dialogue planned to thaw ties between the two....more

Attack on Iraq jeopardise US-Russain defence relations

MASCOW, Dec 28: The recent U S attack on Iraq has jeopardised defence collaboration programmes between the United States and Russia.....more

Arab MPs slam US
strikes against Iraq

AMMAN, Dec 28: Participants in an extraordinary meeting here of members of parliament from 16 Arab countries condemned ...more

Russian offer intended to undermine US dominance

WASHINGTON, Dec 28: Russian Premier Yevgeny Primakov’s offer to form a strategic triangle along with India and China is indicative of Moscow’s determination to undermine US’ strategic importance in a unipolar world,..more

India, Britain postpone strategic talks

LONDON, Dec 28: India and the United Kingdom have put off their crucial year end strategic dialogue planned to thaw ties between the two close trading partners, clouded in the aftermath of India’s nuclear tests in May last.

The talks, between convenor of India’s newly set up National Security Council Brajesh Mishra and top British Foreign Office officials, scheduled for this month, have been put off till mid-January, officials here said.

This would have been the first major high level contact between the two sides, a year, which saw British interest in India slump to an all time low since independence, with trade and investments failing even to reach 1997 levels.

India’s tests were not the only factor to cast a shadow on bilateral ties, the South Asian financial meltdown, followed by the currency crisis in Russia, South Africa and Latin America, seem to have made investors inward-looking.

The dialogue was obviously aimed at breaking the ice between the two countries with Mishra expected to have detailed talks with Foreign Secretary Robin Cook and his deputies.

Except for a brief dialogue between now Minister of External Affairs, Jaswant Singh and Foreign Secretary Robin Cook there was no direct contact between India and Britain throughout 1998. Though a host of Indian Ministers including Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha, Environment Minister Suresh Prabhu, Urban Development Minister Ram Jethmalani, Human Resource Development Minister Murli Manohar Joshi and Minister of State for External Affairs Ms Vasundhra Raje Scindia passed through London, they had no meetings with their British counterparts.

On the contrary, British Minister of State in the Foreign Office Derek Fatchett paid a courtesy call on Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif during his private sojourn here prompting remarks about the Goverment’s pro-Pakistan tilt.

Fatchett, who media reports say is heavily dependent on voters of Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) in his leeds west constituency created a stir when he had an official meeting with PoK puppet premier Sultan Mehmood, in a sharp departure from past practices.

Fatchett’s meetings with Pakistani leaders came in the wake of stepped up lobbying by pro Pakistani Kashmir groups, demanding third party mediation on Kashmir and implementation of 1948 U.N. resolutions on Kashmir, which India says are outdated.

However, by the year end Pakistani lobbying on Kashmir received a major setback with ninety nine per cent of Kashmiri Muslims from the Valley here disassociating themselves from the Pakistani in and reviving their own group, the Kashmir Association of Great Britain. (PTI)

Attack on Iraq jeopardise US-Russain defence relations

MASCOW, Dec 28: The recent U S attack on Iraq has jeopardised defence collaboration programmes between the United States and Russia.

Mr Leonid Ivashov, Head of Department of Military Cooperation in the Russian Defence Ministry said the anti-balistic missiles system war games and peace-keeper 1999 exercises programme may not materialise.

In an interview to the daily ‘Nezavisimaya Gazeta’ he said the future of military cooperation between the two nations would now depend on the unfolding events in Iraq.

Talking about developments in Kosovo which had been the scene of ethnic conflict between the Serbs and the Albanians he regretted NATO’s refusal for Russia’s reconnaissance in Kosovo.

NATO’s attitude towards the course of events in Serbian province of Kosovo is determined mainly by the U S, he said. Russia does not want cooperation in the framework of NATO-Russia permanent joint council to turn into a " screen feigning welfare " Mr Ivashov who is also a Russian Defense spokesman said while expressing Kremlin’s growing concern over the current trend of military interference in different parts of the world.

"When Kremlin’s opinion is ignored, what cooperation between Russia and the West can we speak of ?," Mr Ivashov asked. Actions by Washington and Britain against Baghdad " will only escalate further tension around Iraq", he said.

He demanded replacement of Mr Richard Butler as Chief of U N Security Council Commission for Iraq saying " he has lost the moral right to hold the post and must immediately resign ".

Mr Ivashov said Kremlin must review its attitude towards international security and " amend its military-political vector " while expressing deep concern over the prevailing political situation in the world brought about by the U S in its role of sole super power.

He said time has come to think about creating alternative security system in Europe and all over the world so as to ward off the dangers of"diktat pursued by certain states ". (UNI)

Russian offer intended to undermine US dominance

WASHINGTON, Dec 28: Russian Premier Yevgeny Primakov’s offer to form a strategic triangle along with India and China is indicative of Moscow’s determination to undermine US’ strategic importance in a unipolar world, media reports said here today.

The proposal, assumes significance, the Washington Times said, in the light of recent unilateral US strikes on Iraq that culminated in Russia withdrawing its envoys from London and Washington as a mark of protest, for the first time since end of cold war.

The offer was very revealing of Moscow’s determination to play a greater geo-strategic role, the paper quoted Ted Galen carpenter of the Cato Institute, a leading think tank, as saying.

This reaction suggests Russian hostility to what it sees as American global hegemony...And an escalation of its determination to undermine US’ strategic hegemony, he said.

Analyst Ariel Cohen called the proposal a vision that seeks to consolidate an enormous land block in Eurasia by Russia as a counterweight to democratic nations in the world’s oceans and on the fringes of Eurasia.

Cohen’s remarks surprised analysts who pinted out that at least two members of the proposed bloc — Russia and India — are democracies. Only one, China was a communist state.

While India responded in a lukewarm manner to the proposal, China dismissed it out of hand.

India and China, the times said, are major regional rivals in Asia, and Indian leaders have openly expressed alarm at China extending its naval reach into the Indian Ocean and its influence into neighbouring Burma and Thailand.

India has also expressed anger over China’s reputed aid for Islamabad’s nuclear programme and sale of missiles to Pakistan. India is convinced China will continue to back Pakistan, while building up influence to the North and East.

The paper quoted Peter Rodman of the nixon centre as saying though Indians and Chinese despise each other and this cannot be a durable rangle, India and Russia are traditional allies while China is a new one.

It is but natural for Russia to mediate between them.

Even if, Russia does not succeed in forging a strategic triangle, it can succeed in being an arbiter between them, it said noting that India was turning more towards Moscow as its ties with the US have cooled.

In fact, Michael Wihbey of the institute for advanced strategic and political studies, a Washington-based think tank, said, Primakov is already taking advantage of Russia’s pivotal role to vastly increase its influence across Asia.

Primakov, he said, correctly assessed strategic opportunities for Russia in this region. He has assessed the security vacuum in the subcontinent, which has been partly caused by America’s neglect of India.

The paper noted that US outrage over India’s nuclear tests had set off a wave of anger in India, with the media claiming that the US was turning a blind eye to China’s formidable ballistic missile buildup. (PTI)

Saddam named ‘man of all years’

BAGHDAD, Dec 28: An Iraqi weekly has named President Saddam Hussein "man of all years" because of his courage and popularity among the Iraqi people.

He alone... And nobody else lives in our hearts and symbolises our dignity and pride,’’ said Al-Musawir Al-Arabi weekly in a front-page editorial yesterday. A picture of Saddam, wearing a cowboy hat and holding an AK-47 assault rifle, appeared next to the editorial.

"Who has the courage to keep the whole world busy?" said the editorial, adding that Saddam enjoyed "patience and forgiveness" and "does not fear but the creator."

Like all publications in Iraq, the weekly is Government- controlled.

US President Bill Clinton and Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr were named time magazine’s "men of the year" last week. (AP)

Arab MPs slam US strikes against Iraq

AMMAN, Dec 28: Participants in an extraordinary meeting here of members of parliament from 16 Arab countries condemned British and US air strikes against Iraq and called on their governments to work for the lifting of UN sanctions.

But they stopped short of endorsing calls by Iraq for Arab Governments to defy the embargo imposed after Baghdad’s 1990 invasion of Kuwait and resume trade unilaterally.

The MPs "roundly condemned the unjust British-US aggression against Iraq and demanded that the UN Security Council guarantee that it would not happen again," in a final statement issued after the meeting.

They also "backed Iraq’s legitimate demand for compensation for human and material damage" caused by raids.

The MPs decided to send an Arab Parliamentary Delegation to Iraq to "declare its support for the country and assess the impact of the aggression."

They also called for the ending of no-fly zones enforced by Britain and U.S. In Northern and Southern Iraq saying they had no basis in UN resolutions and "damage the unity and sovereignty of Iraq."

They only "invited arab governments to work for a lifting of the embargo against Iraq and to put an end to the suffering of the Iraqi people," in their final statement.

Iraqi deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz had called on political parties across the Arab yesterday world to "work from now on to put pressure on governments to break the embargo." (AFP)