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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Hawkmoon who wrote (54526)	10/24/2002 8:23:54 PM
From: LindyBill	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

If you want to live in Paradise, and still have an urban, 21st Century environment, join me in Waikiki. Insider notes from United Press International for Oct. 24... The U.S. war on terrorism is taking its toll on American equipment, and Washington has had to ask a number of allies to return specialized hardware. Washington even approached Britain, its number one ally, to ask for the return of eight Chinook HC3 Special Forces transport helicopters to replace the ones lost by Special Forces in Afghanistan and the Philippines. Equipped for extended-range operations the choppers were scheduled to go into service with British armed forces in 2000, but were delayed due to a dispute over specifications and difficulties experienced in integrating them into British weapons systems. To soften the blow, the United States has offered Britain eight of the new Boeing MH-47G Special Operations Chinooks -- the latest in the series. One small problem: the new replacement chopper won't be available until later this decade, but the British need new the helicopters now. In last year's Exercise 'Saif Sareea II' in Oman the eight HC2s were only operational 62 percent of the time. -0- Taiwan's opposition parties are calling for the resignation of Foreign Minister Eugene Chien, but the reason is more important than anything to do with his conduct of the country's foreign policy: it's about loss of face. According to media reports, President Chen Shui-bian's wife Wu Shu-chen, who is wheelchair-bound, was body-searched by airport security when she flew from Washington to Los Angeles last month while visiting the United States. Vice Foreign Minister Kau Ying-mao said "the U.S. government immediately apologized," and that the incident was caused by "the poor communication between the US authorities and the personnel in charge of security checks at the airport." U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell personally phoned President Chen to apologize. But that didn't stop Lee Chuan-chiao of the leading opposition Kuomintang (KMT) from making a little political hay. Chien was ultimately responsible for Wu's trip going smoothly, and should quit, he says. "The first lady represents the country. We should not tolerate this humiliation," he declared. -0- The battle of el Alamein has gone down in history as an undisputed British victory -- in fact, Britain's shining hour in the North African campaign in World War II. It was at el Alamein that Gen. Bernard Montgomery and his Desert Rats checked the momentum of Field Marshal Rommel's advance towards Cairo. After that British and U.S. forces pushed the German-Italian Axis all the way back to Tunis. But after a joint memorial service honoring the fallen in the battle Tuesday, Mirko Tremaglia, the Italian Minister for Italians abroad, astonished everyone by declaring in a television interview," At el-Alamein our (Italian) soldiers deserved to win, I've said it and I repeat it." Stay tuned. -0- Nicolas Sarkozy is the government minister the French media love to hate. As interior minister he's the man Jacques Chirac chose to deliver on his campaign promise of a vigorous war against crime. His new crime bill bristles with tough measures against not just criminals but beggars, squatters, prostitutes and young demonstrators who overstep the line. Not only is he pushing prison sentences for beggars and squatters, but he wants to arrest johns who go with prostitutes who are crippled or pregnant. His proposals for regulating immigration are the toughest in Europe. Sometimes he sounds like the hardline interior minister in his native Hungary -- before the collapse of the communist regime. But the press loves him. Le Monde describes his relations with the media as Sarkomania. Why? For one thing, his toughness is tempered with charm, humor, and a lot of media savvy. For another, he knows that tough law and order measures will go down well with a public that considers crime the country's biggest problem. But the other is that he shines in another wise remarkably low-key -- to put it kindly -- cabinet lineup, led by Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin. -0- Washington spinmeisters are acknowledged to be among the best in the business. Yet the government of Pakistan has reached outside the Beltway and hires a small Detroit-based company to improve its U.S. image. For $600,000 a year, Islamabad hopes that the Sterling International Consulting Corporation can make Americans feel warm and friendly to the country that bred and supported the Taliban, harbors al Qaida (and possibly Osama bin laden himself), and sold North Korea the equipment to enter the nuclear race. Sterling boss Dan Pero notes that Islamabad wanted a smaller PR firm located in the heartland, and with a side-slap at Washington insiders, says, "We have a very different perspective from those living inside the Beltway." Pero is ambitiously developing a "media calendar" and promises to "stimulate a grassroots campaign via e-mails, letters-to-the editor, one-on-one communications and newsletters," he says. Beltway South Asian specialists are still scratching their heads about the choice; as one pundit noted, "It is unusual, to say the least."