Adamant: Hardest metal
Tuesday, March 25, 2003

Spanish court sends Chavez case to The Hague

CORRECTED 24 Mar 2003 21:16:44 GMT

MADRID, March 24 (Reuters) - A Spanish judge threw out a terrorism case against Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Monday because he had immunity from Spanish prosecution, but the case was passed on to the International Criminal Court.

A group of Spanish citizens brought the case against Chavez, alleging terrorism and crimes against humanity based on violence during a protest in Venezuela last April, in which three Spaniards were injured and one Spaniard died.

The allegations against Chavez were presented by lawyers acting for some of the families of at least 19 people who were shot dead during a huge anti-government march on April 11 that came close to the presidential palace in Caracas.

The killings triggered a short-lived coup against the populist president by rebel military officers. Foes of Chavez, who survived the coup, accuse the Venezuelan leader of deploying armed supporters and troops against the April 11 protesters.

Chavez and his ministers strongly deny these accusations and say opposition gunmen started the shooting, in which more than 100 people were also wounded.

The case also refers to injuries suffered by two Spaniards in Venezuela on November 4, when more than a dozen people were wounded, several by gunfire, when thousands of Chavez opponents demanding an immediate referendum on his rule were attacked in Caracas by supporters of the left-wing president.

Judge Fernando Andreu Merelles, an investigating magistrate at the High Court, said in an 80-page ruling that Chavez enjoyed the extraterritorial immunity from prosecution that is granted to heads of state, diplomats and other high-ranking officials.

However, the judge said that although the case could not be heard in Spain, it would be passed on to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague under provisions of the Statute of Rome for its consideration.

Court documents did not give further details. --Additional reporting by Pascal Fletcher in Caracas

Germany against new American world order

<a href=www.euobserver.com>EUObserver

JOSCHKA FISCHER - German foreign minister said: "I do not know, either in political theory or practice, a serious alternative [to the UN]."

German foreign minister Joschka Fischer said on Monday that his country is against a new world order after the war in Iraq where the United States would run the international community.

In an interview with Der Spiegel, Mr Fischer said: "A world order in which the superpower decides on military strikes only according to its own national interest cannot work."

"I cannot and do not want to imagine that we stand before a whole series of disarmament wars," he said with reference to fears that the US administration would now unilaterally set the world agenda, after failing to secure the UN route for the Iraq conflict.

"In the end the same rules must apply for the big, middle-sized and small countries," he stressed.

No real influence on Washington Referring to Spain and the UK, the US' strongest EU allies, the German foreign minister questioned whether they had any real influence in Washington's decision to start a military conflict.

"The important question is whether those countries which are now close allies of the USA have or had any influence at all."

London and Madrid are also likely to be irritated by his comments that by deciding to continue supporting US President George W. Bush, despite the huge anti-war sentiment in their countries, they had caused "major problems that bordered on the destabilisation of democratic systems."

Different histories One of the major reasons for the existing transatlantic differences is the different histories experienced by Americans and Europeans.

"Whoever is familiar with European history knows about the many wars here. In the USA there is nothing to compare with Auschwitz or Stalingrad or the other terrible symbolic locations in our history."

Mr Fischer pleaded the case for the UN, which many have seen as being irreparably damaged in the lead up to the Iraqi war.

"I do not know, either in political theory or practice, a serious alternative [to the UN]."

Joschka Fischer has not given up a European foreign minister either. This person is "more necessary than ever" and would combine the roles of the High Representative for common foreign and security policy and the external relations commissioner.   Written by Honor Mahony Edited by Lisbeth Kirk

Indirect Losses of the World Economy from the War in Iraq May Amount to One Trillion Dollars

Pravda Ru 13:58 2003-03-24

According to the estimates of economists, the indirect losses of the world economy from the war in Iraq may amount to one trillion dollars, says the research done by the Sheikh Sayed Coordination and Monitoring Centre in Abu Dhabi, an information body of the League of Arab States.

According to this research, the cost of rehabilitation work and the modernisation of the Iraqi economy, including the oil industry, will amount to 120 billion dollars. As a consequence of the war, the document forecasts turbulence at the world stock exchanges, a trade war between Europe and the United States, the dropping of the dollar exchange rate, a sharp lowering of investment activity and also an outburst of terrorist activity in the world.

The restoration of Iraq's oil potential and the removal of international sanctions from it will allow Baghdad to quickly increase its oil exports, which in turn will negatively affect the oil prices and the incomes of the OPEC member countries, points out the document.

The return of Iraq to the international oil market will take place at the expense of the OPEC countries, mainly the Saudi Arabia, Venezuela and other key oil producers which will have to lower the level of their production, giving way to additional Iraqi deliveries, says the document.

Taking into account the slow growth in oil demand due to the slow development of the global economy, the oil prices will sharply fall, which will force oil producers to continue lowering their oil extraction. Quite possible that a new price war will start between the OPEC members, because this organisation will be forced to change its policy to defend its share on the world market, underscores the research.

"Storming the New Seat of Power"

The Narco News Bulletin March 25, 2003 | Issue #29  

Reporting on the Drug War and Democracy from Latin America Remarks to the Mídia Tatica convention Text of speech by Al Giordano In Sao Paulo, Brazil March 24, 2003

Boa Noite, Sao Paulo, e obrigado às pessoas legais do Mídia Tática: Thank you very much for the opportunity to borrow this microphone and speak with so many creative artists and workers who share our passion at Narco News for Tactical Media.

The title of this talk, The Masses vs. The Media: From May 1968 in Paris… to April 2002 in Caracas… to the Immediate Present, implies that I am going to speak in an historic line that begins in 1968 in Paris through to the present. Some of you have been reading the new translation, in Português, of Raoul Vaneigem's The Revolution of Everyday Life, which is translated as A arte de viver para as novas gerações. It's a Situationist book, an important book by a revolutionary whose own use of the mídia tática called coherent writing was central to the mass actions in 1968 in France. This is a wonderfully dangerous book. I read that book, quit my job as a political reporter in Boston, and left the United States. It's a jailbreak book.

Read the complete speech and take your own conclusions

Korea: Think tanks downbeat about postwar economy

Read more... By Yoo Cheong-mo cmyoo@koreaherald.co.krStaff reporter 2003.03.25 A quick and decisive end to the war in Iraq may not lead to an immediate rebound of the Korean economy, local think tanks warned yesterday, guarding against budding post-war optimism.

The Korea Development Institute (KDI), the Samsung Economic Research Institute (SERI), the Korean Economic Research Institute (KERI) and two other leading think tanks said that despite a possibly early ending of the war, the North Korean nuclear standoff and domestic labor disputes sitll pose serious obstacles to the nation's economic recovery.

Further deterioration of North Korea's economy and additional local labor confrontations could scare away foreign investors and lower the nation's economic growth rate as low as 3 percent this year, said senior economists at the five institutes. In particular, they expressed fears that President Roh Moo-hyun government's labor-friendly policies will likely antagonize foreign investors, as well as local employers.

"North Korea's nuclear problem is the biggest concern for foreign investors interested in the South Korean market," said Shim Sang-dal, a senior fellow at the KDI, calling for more fundamental measures to ease market jitters. "In addition to the strengthening of an alliance with the United States, the Korean government is supposed to explain the North Korean issues to the global community through regular overseas roadshows," said Shim.

SERI also warned that an annual economic growth rate of 4 percent may not be attainable this year, as long as the specter of North Korean concerns loom over the Peninsula, and further dampen the possibility of a recovery in consumption and investment. "Due to the North Korea factor, the current economic situation is far worse than in the 1997 economic crisis," said a Samsung economist, calling for the government's stimulus measures.

Huh Chan-kook, a senior economist at the KERI, also warned about possible surge in oil prices, saying that a number of factors, including the Iraqi war and a walkout crisis in Venezuela, could prevent oil prices from falling below $20 a barrel.

Economists at the Hyundai Research Institute said that policy consistency by the Roh government would be vital to the continued inflow of foreign investments, while the LG Economic Research Institute cautioned that this year's economic growth would tumble to the 3 percent level.

"Even a short conflict in Iraq may fail to rescue the U.S. economy from a slump," said a SERI economist who called for governmental stimulus measures.

You are not logged in