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To: Bobby Yellin who wrote (21301)	10/9/1998 6:41:00 PM
From: goldsnow	Respond to of 116836

May 1999? Oil $25? Hawk Sharon Named Israel's New Foreign Minister 11:48 a.m. Oct 09, 1998 Eastern By Paul Holmes JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu named cabinet hawk Ariel Sharon as Israel's foreign minister Friday and said he would lead talks with the Palestinians on a final peace settlement. Netanyahu announced the move days before the start next Thursday of a crucial summit in the United States on a possible new interim peace deal with the Palestinians that would clear the way to so-called ''final status'' negotiations. Sharon, a champion of Jewish settlement in the West Bank and the architect of Israel's 1982 invasion of Lebanon, will join Netanyahu at the summit with Palestinian President Yasser Arafat and President Clinton. Sharon was forced to quit as defence minister in 1983 after an Israeli inquiry found him indirectly responsible for the killing of hundreds of Palestinians by Christian militiamen at the Beirut area Sabra and Shatilla refugee camps, which were surrounded by Israeli soldiers. ''I believe that in my role as foreign minister I can assist in advancing Israel's policy which is striving towards peace while maintaining and protecting Israel's national and security interests,'' Sharon said through a spokesman. His appointment could placate right-wingers crucial to Netanyahu's coalition who oppose ceding land to Palestinians, though their initial reaction Friday was cautious. Palestinian negotiators reacted with dismay. ''By appointing him, Netanyahu is telling the world he's canceling the final status stage and that he chose the way of no peace and bloodshed,'' chief negotiator Saeb Erekat said. But one senior Palestinian official said privately that the pugnacious former general may be the only member of the cabinet with the clout in Israel to pull off a settlement. ''This is a good thing for the peace talks because he is the one who can make tough decisions in the Israeli government,'' the official, who is close to the negotiations, told Reuters. In Washington, White House spokesman Joe Lockhart said Sharon's appointment was ''an internal matter for Israel.'' ''We'll work closely with the new foreign minister,'' he said. Sharon until now held the post of national infrastructure minister, which he will also retain for a further three months, but has wielded influence way beyond his portfolio as one of three ministers in Netanyahu's ''inner cabinet.'' Netanyahu had held the foreign ministry portfolio himself since January, when the divot incumbent David Levy resigned in anger over the slow pace of peace moves and social issues. ''Minister Sharon will be responsible for running the foreign policy of Israel, including the negotiations on a final status, of course in coordination with me,'' Netanyahu said. He called the burly warrior-politician ''the most appropriate man'' to take the job. ''He brings a wealth of experience, creativity, and a proven track record. And I think he knows well the damage of war and the fruits of peace,'' Netanyahu told a news conference. Clinton hopes next week's summit at the Wye Plantation retreat outside Washington will secure agreement on a deal to resolve all the outstanding issues from past Israeli-Palestinian peace deals and end 19 months of peacemaking deadlock. The core issue will be a U.S. proposal for Israel to withdraw from a further 13 percent of the West Bank in exchange for measurable Palestinian steps to curb anti-Israeli violence. Though the two sides now appear to have agreed on the amount of land involved, Sharon has in the past argued vocally against a handover of any more than nine percent of the West Bank, saying Israel's security would be compromised. But some Israeli commentators suggest only Sharon can get a majority of Israelis behind a future deal on difficult ''final status'' issues with the Palestinians such as the future of Jewish settlements, borders, Jerusalem and refugees. Opposition Labour legislator Yossi Beilin, one of the architects of the Oslo interim accords, disputed that view. ''It's bad news for Israel, bad news for the peace process,'' Beilin told Reuters. ''The most extreme minister in the cabinet is becoming the mouthpiece of Israel and that decreases the prospects for any positive developments in the near future,'' he said. Copyright 1998 Reuters Limited.

To: Bobby Yellin who wrote (21301)	10/10/1998 11:35:00 AM
From: goldsnow	Respond to of 116836

World: Europe <Picture> Duma debates Armageddon <Picture> The Duma disputes Armageddon's suitability for Russian audiences <Picture> By BBC Russian affairs specialist, Malcolm Haslett Russia's State Cinema Committee chief has been summoned before the Duma to explain why he allowed the distribution of the American action film Armageddon. Some members of Russia's lower house of Parliament, the Duma, think Armageddon "mocks the achievements of Soviet and Russian technology," but its distributors are claiming a huge success with Russian audiences. The film depicts how an American super-hero, played by Bruce Willis, saves the planet from destruction - with a little help from his friends, including Russians. But one scene depicts a dilapidated Russian space station manned by incompetent cosmonauts which disintegrates because of a leaky pipe. This has sent nationalist MPs in the Duma, led by the chairman of its Geopolitical Committee Alexei Mitrofanov, on the warpath. "For five years the Americans have used our Mir space station and now they send us this insult," he is quoted as telling a Reuters correspondent. Mr Mitrofanov is the foreign affairs spokesman of Vladimir Zhirinovsky's ultra-nationalist Liberal Democratic Party. He is associated with strongly anti-western positions and consistently argues against any Russian co-operation with the West. Among Mr Mitrofanov's favourite ideas is the need to block anglo-saxon domination of the world by the creation of two Russian-led alliances - one Germany and Japan, the second with India and China. Some of his views are a bit extreme even for most Duma members. But there is some sensitivity about the way Russia is portrayed in certain western films, and the Duma has voted to summon Armen Medvedev, head of the State Cinema Committee to explain himself. The film's distributors, however, argue it's been a box office hit with Russian audiences. They underline that in this, like several other recent western films, Americans co-operate with Russians to save the world. news.bbc.co.uk