sf.indymedia.org by repost • Thursday January 30, 2003 at 07:32 PM

For me this is mostly a chance to hear some general impresssions of the forum, stats, changes, etc. It seems strange in its organization as an essay - leaving the message until the last couple of paragraphs, not really trying to answer its own questions, and staying focused on the negatives. Stories like this need to spend 3/4 on suggestions for improvement or on educating about the success of differerent formats and offer info on how to achieve that. But this is important and good info, regardless.

Published on Thursday, January 30, 2003 by the Globe & Mail/Canada What Happened to the New Left? by Naomi Klein

The key word at this year's World Social Forum, which ended Tuesday in Porto Alegre, Brazil, was "big." Big attendance: more than 100,000 delegates in all! Big speeches: more than 15,000 crammed in to see Noam Chomsky! And most of all, big men. Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, the newly elected President of Brazil, came to the forum and addressed 75,000 adoring fans. Hugo Chavez, the controversial President of Venezuela, paid a "surprise" visit to announce that his embattled regime was part of the movement.

"The left in Latin America is being reborn," Mr. Chavez declared, as he pledged to vanquish his opponents at any cost. As evidence of this rebirth, he pointed to Lula's election in Brazil, Lucio Gutierrez's victory in Ecuador and Fidel Castro's tenacity in Cuba.

But wait a minute: How on earth did a gathering that was supposed to be a showcase for new grassroots movements become a celebration of men with a penchant for three-hour speeches about smashing the oligarchy?

www.commondreams.org/views03/0130-03.htm

www.wmtw.com Friday,January31,2003,7:14 AM By NewsRadio WMTW 870/1470 AM and 106.7 FM

WASHINGTON -- Senator Snowe is renewing her fight to force car manufacturers to improve fuel economy on SUVs.

Sen. Snowe and Senator Dianne Feinstein introduced a bill Thursday that would require SUVs and light-duty trucks to average 27.5 miles per gallon by 2011. It's a bill Snowe first introduced two years ago -- and she says we'd all be better off now if it'd passed the first time around.

"Consumers would have choices in the next model year for more fuel-efficient SUVs had we passed that legislation, not to mention the very volatile situation when it comes to our energy, with the strike in Venezuela, the situation in Iraq making an already volatile market more precarious," Snowe said.

SUVs and light trucks now make up almost half of the passenger vehicles on U.S. highways.

boston.com By Jorge Rueda, Associated Press, 1/30/2003 22:05

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) With many opponents of President Hugo Chavez preparing to return to work, Venezuelans leading a 60-day-old strike shifted tactics Thursday, diving headlong into an initiative to shorten his six-year term with international help.

After two grueling months, strike organizers have agreed to let shopping malls, banks, franchises and schools reopen next week. Meanwhile, production continues to creep upwards in the vital oil industry, where the walkout has been strongest.

As diplomats from six nations headed to Caracas on Thursday to push for early elections, opposition leaders were planning a petition drive to support several measures, including a proposed constitutional amendment that would:

Cut presidential terms from six years to four;

Hold new presidential and congressional elections this year;

Create a new elections council to organize any vote;

Get the Supreme Court to determine when, exactly, a recall vote on Chavez's presidency can be held;

Allow Chavez and legislators to seek re-election.

Similar ideas were floated by former President Jimmy Carter during a recent visit to Caracas. The government said it was studying the opposition's proposal but won't allow it to shorten Chavez's term.

Diplomats from the United States, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Portugal and Spain dubbed the ''Group of Friends'' of Venezuela planned a private dinner meeting late Thursday with Cesar Gaviria, secretary general of the Organization of American States. Gaviriahas mediated talks here since November.

The envoys, including Curt Struble, acting U.S. assistant secretary of state for the Western Hemisphere, planned meetings with Chavez and the opposition on Friday.

Gaviria said the diplomats can monitor compliance with any electoral pact and reduce tensions that have led to six deaths since the strike began Dec. 2. ''The country can't sustain more tension,'' he said.

Strike leader Manuel Cova of the Venezuelan Workers Confederation said Thursday a new presidential election could be held as early as March.

''To do this we need the guarantees of the international community,'' Cova said. ''If we don't do it this year, we'll be in prison, or in exile, there won't be press freedom. ... We must do it this year.''

Chavez had welcomed Carter's ideas about early elections. But he also has threatened to abandon the OAS-mediated talks, saying he won't negotiate with ''terrorists.''

Chavez failed to expand the ''Friends'' to include governments more sympathetic to his populist revolution. He has since warned the diplomats not to interfere in internal affairs.

The opposition called the strike to demand a nonbinding referendum on Chavez's rule in February, as petitioned by 2 million Venezuelan voters. It later upped the ante to demand Chavez's ouster.

But the Supreme Court, citing a technicality, indefinitely postponed the referendum. Chavez, elected in 2000 to a six-year term, shows no signs of leaving.

The deadlock has hobbled production in the world's No. 5 oil exporter. Analysts predict the economy will shrink 25 percent this year after an 8 percent contraction last year.

The government has cut its $25 billion 2003 budget by 10 percent and announced Thursday it will cut the state-owned oil monopoly's $8 billion budget by $2.7 billion to offset oil losses. Oil accounts for half of government income and 30 percent of Venezuela's $100 billion gross domestic product.

Chavez says oil production has reached 1.4 million barrels a day, and exports 1 million barrels a day a third of pre-strike export levels.

Dissident oil executives say production is about 1 million barrels and exports half that. Venezuela still must import gasoline.

The oil company said a key loading terminal in Puerto La Cruz, in east Venezuela, had resumed automated operations, meaning it will likely boost its output. The terminal, which loaded 800,000 barrels per day before the strike, has been loading just 30,000 barrels per day.

Also Thursday, Amerada Hess Corp. said a refinery it operates with the oil monopoly in St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands had received its first shipment of Venezuelan crude since December.

After spending more than $70 million a day to support the bolivar currency, the government suspended sales of U.S. dollars until it unveils currency controls next week.

The bolivar, which has weakened 25 percent against the dollar this year, may be fixed at 1,600 per dollar, with monthly devaluations afterward, said Ricardo Sanguino, a member of Congress' finance committee.

The dollar has reached 2,500 bolivars on black market trading.

reuters.com Thu January 30, 2003 03:18 PM ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) - World oil prices headed higher on Thursday as the United States signaled that its diplomatic efforts to persuade Iraq to disarm were unlikely to last much longer.

U.S. light crude CLc1 closed 22 cents higher at $33.85 a barrel, building on Wednesday's surge of nearly a dollar which was fueled by the twin worries of Iraq and falling U.S. oil stocks.

International benchmark Brent crude stood 22 cents higher at $31.24.

Prices pushed higher after the White House said the final diplomatic push to force Iraq, the world's eighth biggest oil exporter, to disarm would last weeks not months.

"The president is using this window now to engage in very busy and active diplomacy. This will take place in a period of weeks not months," White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said.

Energy traders said the comments had confirmed the market's conviction that war was imminent.

"There is not a single oil trader who believes that an attack on Iraq will not happen soon," said Nauman Barakat, trader at FIMAT Banque.

"These latest U.S. comments confirm it's not a question of if but when, and that it will be sooner rather than later."

HIGH PRICES HIT STOCKS, ECONOMY

The threat of war in the Middle East, which supplies 40 percent of world crude exports, has pushed up prices by 35 percent since November, raising concerns over the impact of high energy costs on the world economy.

The effect of war fears has been compounded by a 60-day oil strike in Venezuela, which normally supplies over 13 percent of U.S. oil imports, which has deepened worries over oil supplies.

U.S. government data showed on Wednesday that a two-week freeze across the eastern United States had lopped about 8 percent off the country's heating oil stocks last week.

The effect has been felt dramatically in crude oil prices, which are rising despite oil cartel OPEC's January decision to add 1.5 million barrels per day to global supplies. OPEC President Abdullah al-Attiyah said the group was now helpless.

"We are all concerned that high prices will hurt the consumer and ultimately world economic growth. But there is nothing OPEC can do about it," he said. "OPEC has no magic wand to solve the political problems and stop the rise in price."

Venezuela's two-month old strike appeared to falter as the government said production was now up to 1.4 million barrels per day (bpd), recovering steadily from lows of 150,000 bpd in December.

Striking oil workers said the output was only just over one million bpd, barely a third of pre-strike production.

www.forbes.com Reuters, 01.30.03, 2:33 PM (The following statement was released by the rating agency)

NEW YORK, Jan 30 - The fourth quarter continued to be a time for reflection and planning, as continued strength in oil and natural gas prices failed to create much ratings activity, according to a report published today by Standard & Poor's Ratings Services.

For refiners, the fourth quarter offered a little reprieve from an otherwise forgettable year, as margins improved in December due to a drop in distillate inventories--especially gasoline--and the prospect for further tightening as refineries in Venezuela were closed. (But, the improvement vanished in January.)

"Companies in the service sector, aside from seismic services and a couple of other exceptions, continued to successfully weather the decline in drilling activity, while many of the larger exploration and production companies seem to be maintaining conservative capital budgets despite the strength of commodity prices," said Standard & Poor's credit analyst Paul Harvey.

This position begs important questions regarding the depth and quality of the industry's North American natural gas prospect inventory and the potential for a sustained bout of above-normal prices. The majority of rating actions resulted from the failure of companies to improve or maintain adequate capital structures for their rating.

The report, titled "Fourth-Quarter 2002 Global Oil & Gas Ratings Round-Up," is available on RatingsDirect, Standard & Poor's Web-based credit research and analysis system. Members of the media may obtain copies of the full report by contacting Gregg Stein at (1) 212-438-1730 or by E-mail at gregg_stein@standardandpoors.com.

Standard & Poor's will be hosting a seminar titled "Determining Corporate Credit Quality in a Volatile Environment," on Feb. 2-4, 2003, at the Grand Floridian Resort & Spa, Orlando, Fla. Standard & Poor's senior analysts and invited industry leaders from the corporate, banking, and investment communities will discuss trends and current issues related to corporate credit quality. For complete seminar details and registration, please call (1) 212-438-2800, or visit www.standardandpoors.com/events/CRS. You may also send an E-mail to seminars@standardandpoors.com.