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Politics : Clinton -- doomed & wagging, Japan collapses, Y2K bug, etc -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: SOROS who wrote (24)	8/31/1998 3:02:00 PM
From: Les H	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1151

dawn.com Bombed factory made pharmaceuticals: German envoy BONN, Aug 29: The Sudan factory hit by US missiles did not make components for possible chemical weapons but only pharmaceuticals and veterinary products, Germany's ambassador to Khartoum was quoted on Saturday as saying. "The factory mainly produces antibiotics, medicaments against diarrhoea and malaria, preparations for transfusions and veterinary products," Werner Daum was quoted by the German news magazine Der Spiegel as saying in an internal report to his government. The magazine quoted from a leaked five-page report by Bonn's mission chief to Sudan on the strike against the plant, which Washington claimed had been making chemical elements of the nerve gas VX. Sudan has vehemently denied Washington's claims about the activities of the Al-Shifa plant which was destroyed in the August 20 US attack, saying it produced only pharmaceutical products. "In no way can the plant be described as a chemical factory," the German envoy was quoted as saying in Monday's edition of Der Spiegel, an advance copy of which was made available. "A number of pharmacologists and business representatives visited the enterprise daily," he said. "All the raw materials came from China and Europe." A source close to the German government confirmed that Daum had faxed a note to Bonn on the night of the US attack. But the source said that it had been a hurried draft "written without knowledge of the facts and the general circumstances." German foreign ministry spokesman Martin Erdmann had no comment on the reported message by the Khartoum ambassador. Der Spiegel itself said that after the German government had given its backing to the US raids on the Sudan factory and an alleged terrorist base in Afghanistan, the Bonn foreign and defence ministries had not taken the ambassador's report too seriously and had treated it as "subjective." The raids were in retaliation for terrorist bomb blasts at US embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam which claimed 257 lives, including those of 12 Americans. Sudanese President Omar el-Beshir launched an appeal on Saturday for "resistance" against the US. "The United States has made a grave mistake in declaring war against us," Beshir said.-AFP

To: SOROS who wrote (24)	9/7/1998 9:09:00 AM
From: SOROS	Respond to of 1151

Electronic Telegraph - London - 09/06/98 By Philip Sherwell HELMUT Kohl owed his improbable electoral victory in 1994 to support from the east - now the former communist region seems set to end his 16-year reign as chancellor. His ruling conservative coalition is slowly eroding the Social Democrat lead in the opinion polls as a lacklustre campaign heads for a cliffhanger finale. But easterners have turned against the "father of unification" who helped to liberate them from communism and gave them the Deutschmark. Their volatility is likely to open the door for the Social Democrats' Gerhard Schr”der to replace Europe's longest-serving leader. "Kohl has lost the east," a former adviser to the Chancellor said last week. "It's almost 10 years since the changes. Gratitude does not last long or count for much in politics. They have had enough of him." Despite the economic ravages that the region suffered after unification in 1990 as bankrupt factories closed, Ossis (easterners) stayed loyal to the Chancellor in 1994 to re-elect him. But the latest opinion polls show that, despite a recent revival, his Christian Democrat-Christian Social Union alliance is trailing the Social Democrats by more than seven per cent in the east. Catcalls and whistles have accompanied his campaign trips through eastern Germany. It was his reception in Leipzig last week that brought home the changes. More than 250,000 people jammed the streets when Mr Kohl made his first visit in May 1990 to the birthplace of the peaceful revolution that toppled the old communist regime the previous year. His rally last week attracted about 10,000. Indeed, the jeers and chants of "liar" and "Kohl must go" often drowned the cheers and applause of the faithful. For Irene G”tz, it brought back memories of rather different protests. "This is how it all started in 1989. Except that then they were chanting 'Honecker must go'," said the pensioner, referring to the demonstrations against the then East German leader. "I was all for Kohl and I voted CDU in 1994. But I won't be doing that again. It's time for him to go." His speech did little to enthuse the crowd as he dwelt on the past: two world wars, Nazi and communist dictatorship, and unification. In his one encounter with Mr Schr”der during the campaign, a televised parliamentary debate on Thursday, the Chancellor harked back to "16 very good years" and sought to make political capital out of the Russian crisis by playing on his record as an international statesman. But the SPD candidate dismissed him as a man stuck in the past and said voters had priorities other than Russia. In east and west, the Chancellor is seen as too old (he is 68) and too long in the job. "Kohl will be remembered as a man who outstayed his welcome," said the ex-adviser. "He showed a sense of history in 1990. But now he has forgotten his history. Nobody can reign forever." In eastern Germany, there is also a feeling of betrayal. When Mr Kohl portrayed himself as a modern miracle worker and promised "flourishing landscapes", they believed him. Many feel that he deceived them. Quite a few disillusioned voters say they would still vote Christian Democrat if a younger man was at the helm. Senior CDU politicians say privately that they wished that the Chancellor had handed the reins to his lieutenant Wolfgang Sch„uble, a wheelchair-bound but energetic 55-year-old. Last week the two men attempted a show of solidarity after appearing at odds over whether Mr Kohl would serve out a full term if he won this month. The SPD's Mr Schr”der shed crocodile tears as he watched the spat from the sidelines. But the Chancellor is motivated by the taste for history that he developed after unification and then championing the single European currency. He insisted on a crack at an unprecedented fifth term to oversee the birth of the euro on Jan 1, the Government's move from Bonn to Berlin later next year and the millennium celebrations. The concerns of most easterners are rather more mundane. Although German unemployment has fallen by 600,000, the tally still exceeds four million (about 11 per cent of the population). The regional figures show the true national divide: at almost 18 per cent, the jobless rate in the east is double that in the west. The depressed industrial district of Plagwitz in Leipzig brings home the scale of economic devastation. The streets are lined with derelict factories and warehouses, their windows broken. A handful of small businesses and shops has moved in, but otherwise it is a desolate sight. Infrastructure in the east has been hugely improved thanks to giant cash transfers from Bonn. But for all the money and changes, Ossis still complain that they are second-class citizens. Even the clash of personalities - the dynamic, youthful Mr Schr”der versus solid dependable Mr Kohl - is failing to enthuse the electorate. It is little wonder that opinion polls show that more than a quarter of voters are still undecided just three weeks before the ballot. The Chancellor's last chance is to win over the waverers. It seems a forlorn hope.