In this issue:

Wolfowitz Threatens Indonesia, Others With U.S. Hit Teams

Thai Government: Asia Wall St. Journal Account of Bali Bombing Untrue

Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Disappearing In SE Asia

Australian Paper Slanders Megawati for Opposing Police State Measures

Anti-Development Greenies Blast Mekong Plan

Karzai Fires Provincial Chiefs to Save Wobbly Government

Tajikistan Bridge Opening Facilitates Delivery of Aid to Afghanistan

Tamil Tigers Making Further Concessions in Talks

North and South Korea Accelerate Economic Cooperation

From Volume 1, Issue Number 36 of Electronic Intelligence Weekly, Published November 11, 2002
Asia News Digest

Wolfowitz Threatens Indonesia, Others With U.S. Hit Teams

American Deputy Secretary of Defense, and former U.S. Ambassador to Indonesia, Paul Wolfowitz clearly wants to be America's "Rafi Eytan," the Israeli spymaster for the Jabotinskyite fascists who ran the secret "terror against terror" assassination teams that terrorized Europe in the 1970s, and then moved on to control the LEKEM spy network that deployed Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard against the U.S. in the 1980s. In a series of interviews, Wolfowitz warned Indonesia that the Nov. 2 assassinations in Yemen by U.S. forces, will be coming to their country.

Wolfowitz, who is an accused member of the "X Committee" that controlled Pollard, is claiming victory in getting the U.S. to adopt the Israeli "preemptive assassinations," policy of dealing with suspected terrorists. There is an added danger in this, since Wolfowitz has also set up an unsupervised intelligence agency inside the Pentagon under Israeli agent, Douglas Feith, Assistant Secretary of State for Policy. Therefore, it is possible that the Defense Department's "Wolfowitz Cabal" can be policeman, prosecutor, judge, jury and executioner all-in-one, in the new assassinations policy.

The Jakarta Post of Nov. 7 reports that Wolfowitz, the Deputy Secretary of Defense, glorified the U.S. assassinations in Yemen, and warned that we'll go "everywhere," specifically naming Indonesia, where he had been Ambassador from the U.S.

In a CNN interview Nov. 5 with Maria Ressa, Wolfowitz called the Israeli-style assassination, hitting a car with a Hellfire missile from a drone, killing six "suspects," (including one American citizen, according to late reports), "a very successful tactical operation." He added: "So we just got to keep the pressure on everywhere we are able to, and we've got to deny the sanctuaries everywhere we are able to, and we've got to put pressure on every government that is giving these people support to get out of that business." These imperial threats were heard clearly in Indonesia, especially since Wolfowitz addressed Indonesia directly in the CNN interview: "I still think there are a far too many Indonesians who haven't quite heard the call yet," he said. "I think they should stop being in denial and stop pretending there's no terrorist problem and stop pretending that this is just something the Americans invented and get on with developing good, solid democratic methods [!] for dealing with these people."

In an interview with another Indonesian TV station, Wolfowitz said: "If Indonesians don't do something to stop terrorism in Indonesia, it's going to have really terrible consequences for democracy in that wonderful, important country that I love so much."

Asked about the fact that many Indonesians believe the US is responsible for the Bali bombing, Wolfowitz snapped back: "That is just totally unbelievable fantasy. I can't believe that anybody rational actually believes that. The evidence is so clear that al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden and the terrorist organizations that are connected to them have been behind a whole series of horrible attacks on innocent people and they claim credit for it. In fact, if you go to some of their web sites, they're boasting about the attacks in Bali. It's inconceivable that this was done by the United States, and I can't imagine anybody informed or educated believing that."

Thai Government: Asia Wall St. Journal Account of Bali Bombing Untrue

On Nov. 7, Indonesia President Thaskin blasted a report in the Asian Wall Street Journal (AWSJ) that asserted that the Bali bombing was planned at a meeting in Southern Lebanon in December, 2001. "How would the media know that it was planned in Thailand?" said Thaksin, adding "It is nonsense, the quality of the foreign press is much lower today than it used to be." He pointedly added that the Thai government had been provided no information on the meeting in southern Thailand in December 2001, where, the AWSJ claims, Hambali (the accused mastermind of Southeast Asian terror operations) held a meeting, which decided to hit "soft targets" such as tourist spots.

The incident demonstrates yet again how the U.S. utopian warmongers use the media to run their unilateral operations, thus avoiding the need for "evidence" or official justification for actions such a country on a terrorist watch list. As EIW has reported over the last month, Indonesia and Malaysia were placed on immigration watch lists, unilaterally by the U.S., in evaluations based partially on false media reports.

The Journal's story was the first suggestion that Muslim-majority southern Thailand was a staging ground for "international terrorism" -- opening up a "new front" in the region's campaign against terror. The AWSJ said it illustrated how al-Qaeda "has exploited Southeast Asia's porous borders to plan operations" as well as Hambali's ability to move around the region undetected, despite being one of the world's most wanted men.

Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Disappearing In SE Asia

Thailand and Malaysia, two of the strongest economies in Southeast Asia, have reported the collapse of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) to their countries over the course of 2002. For the first six months, manufacturing FDI to Malaysia was down about 75% from the previous year, at less than $600 million. The Malaysian Industrial Development Authority announced that it will henceforth report FDI quarterly rather than monthly, due to low figures. In Thailand, FDI plunged 93% in the first seven months of this year according to Bank of Thailand data, from US$2.14 billion in 2001 to US$143 million this year.

In the far more distressed economy of Indonesia, FDI is down by 40% for the first half over last year, From $4.2 billion to $2.5 billion, while last year was only one-third of the pre-crisis levels.

The open subversion of the Southeast Asian economies through "travel warnings" and related fear mongering since the Oct. 12 Bali bombing will certainly make these figures even worse for the remainder of the year.

Australian Paper Slanders Megawati for Opposing Police State Measures

Australian Financial Review's Geoffrey Barker on Nov. 8, heated up the already existing tensions, noting that Australian officials are enraged by the open attacks by Indonesian leaders against the fascist measures being implemented in Australia against foreigners, especially Indonesians. Baker writes: "Senior politicians and officials now regard Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri as incompetent and divorced from reality." He says that these officials told him that "the ongoing deterioration will become irreversible if Indonesia does not tone down its attacks on Australian travel advisories and the recent ASIO-AFP [intelligence and police] raids on Muslim households."

Indonesian complaints, he argues, raise "questions about whether the Indonesian body politic is really determined to pursue terrorism." When the Indonesian charge d'affairs in Australia, Imron Cotan, said that the raids were unnecessary and threatened the existing cooperation on the investigation into the Bali bombing, Barker quotes an unnamed official: "It was an outrage, the sort of thing you would expect from Saddam Hussein or the Taliban, not from any self-respecting government." He quotes another unnamed official regarding President Megawati: "This was someone with no sense of the occasion, no capacity to show political leadership ... where the hell is this turkey coming from?" AFR is one of the leading establishment papers in Australia.

Anti-Development Greenies Blast Mekong Plan

A U.S.-based environmentalist group, the International Rivers Network has gone into mobilization against Mekong Development, immediately following the ground-breaking international conference on the Mekong subregion.

On Nov. 2, China and the 5 other members of the Asian Development Bank's Greater Mekong Subregion project held their first-ever summit meeting Nov. 2, endorsing an ambitious plan of overlapping grids for power generation, road, air, communications, and water transportation. Key to the whole project is a US$4.5bn power grid, based on hydropower, which is targeted for completion by 2019, and would be an historic first-ever comprehensive power grid in the region's history.

In the statement issued at the GMS meeting, the governments of China, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam declared: "Our vision is of a GMS that fulfills its vast potential, freeing people from poverty and providing sustainable development for all."

But the U.S.-based International Rivers Network is going berserk against the GMS, and specifically, the dam projects being developed in cooperation among China, Laos, and Myanmar. Some 500 activists were reportedly in Phnom Penh, where the ASEAN meetings took place.

Karzai Fires Provincial Chiefs to Save Wobbly Government

In a move to extend his power beyond the capitol of Kabul, Afghan President Hamid Karzai has fired about 20 provincial and military chiefs across the country, accusing them of corruption and abuse of power. This is his first attempt to exert his authority beyond Kabul, where he has to be guarded round-the-clock by American military bodyguards. Those who got fired belong to Nangarhar, Balkh, Kandahar, Uruzgan and Herat provinces. Some of the officials, particularly those from Nangarhar province, were sacked because of drug-trafficking.

The Kabul government has already made clear that the sacking of these civil and military personnel may spark trouble. President Karzai is banking on the weather: as Winter sets in Afghanistan, it is unlikely that the warlords, and other enemies of the Karzai government, will unleash a major offensive. There are reports that a large number of Taliban and pro-Taliban fighters, backed by former anti-Soviet Afghan mujahideen Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, have assembled along the Afghanistan-Pakistan borders. These forces are also being helped by the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), some analysts claim.

In addition, it is evident that President Karzai is keeping his hands off of the top warlords, such as Ismail Khan, a Tajik warlord in Herat, despite repeated complaints against him by Herat's Pushtuns.

Tajikistan Bridge Opening Facilitates Delivery of Aid to Afghanistan

On Nov. 2, Tajikistan opened a bridge over the Pyandzh River provides a new route for aid and goods in and out of Afghanistan. The bridge, opened by Tajik President Imomali Rakhmonov and Prince Aga Khan IV, leader of the Shi'ite Ismaili Muslims, is the first vehicular bridge spanning the Pyandzh River. The facility provides the first access route for all Afghani exports, which all previously had to go through the Khyber Pass into Pakistan.

Vehicles can now be driven from the Afghan capital Kabul through northeastern Afghanistan, to Khorog in Tajikistan, then on to Kyrgyzstan and Russia. The bridge has been largely funded by Aga Khan, the 49th direct descendant of the Prophet Mohammed. Tajikistan also harbors a large number of Ismailis in the Pamir area.

Meanwhile, Afghan Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah, a Panjshiri Tajik, is in New Delhi, where he met with Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee. Abudullah obtained a $100 million grant from India, in addition to receiving Indian assurances on help in infrastructure development, and medical and health facilities. India is politically close to Afghanistan's Northern Alliance leaders, represented mostly by the Panjshiri Tajiks. India has also set up an air force base in Tajikistan close to the Afghan borders. The new bridge over the Pyandzh River will help both India and Russia to keep a closer contact with the Afghans.

Tamil Tigers Making Further Concessions in Talks

After dropping their demand for a separate Tamil nation during the first round of talks with the Sri Lanka government, held in September, 2002, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) moved further ahead, announcing further concessions, and declaring their intention to join the political mainstream. "In the course of time the political wing of Tigers might inaugurate a political party that will campaign democratically and face elections," chief LTTE negotiator Anton Balasingham said.

A final peace settlement may still be years away, but Sri Lankan analysts welcome the concessions. "It is very positive to note that the LTTE is now publicly saying that it will accept the framework of democracy and apparently will also accept Sri Lankan laws," said Jehan Pereira, a noted political analyst in Colombo, the nation's capital.

The peace negotiators have also formed three subcommittees. The first is to study, in-depth, the various issues involved, and work out models for political settlement. This subcommittee consists of three chief negotiators -- Prof. G.I. Peiris representing the Sri Lankan government, Anton Balasingham representing the Tigers, and Rauff Hakeem, for the Muslim minority.

The other two subcommittees would oversee and take decisions on relief and rehabilitation of the war-ravaged northeast, and also to look into military and security matters, with a view to demilitarizing the area.

North and South Korea Accelerate Economic Cooperation

North and South Korea agreed Nov. 9 to accelerate the pace of building the inter-Korean railways, constructing the Kaesong industrial zone, and in cooperating in maritime transportation. The agreement was reached after the third meeting of the North-South Committee for the Promotion of Economic Cooperation, which began Nov. 6.

The two sides will reconnect the eastern railway and road links in Mt. Kumgang area, and western railway and road links in the Kaesong industrial zone, as the first phase. The goal is to open Mt. Kumgang to visitors from South Korea. The two sides also agreed to make joint efforts to facilitate the North-South Committee for the Promotion of Economic Cooperation visiting North Korea.

However, at the same time, whether the U.S. intends to pursue war or peace with North Korea is still a question. The Washington Post reported on Nov. 7 that the former U.S. envoy to South Korea, Donald Gregg, held meetings with North Korea last week, and reported that the 1994 pact is "still viable" if the U.S. acts.

Gregg held over nine hours of talks with North Korean officials, who told him that the agreement was "hanging by a thread," due to the failure of the West to deliver on its promise for safe nuclear reactors in exchange for dismantling their existing nuclear plant and their weapons program. Gregg said the North Koreans demand a non-aggression agreement from the U.S. in exchange for giving up their nuclear weapons program at this time, since they "truly fear a US attack." Said Gregg: "I think they want the US to give them some assurance that we don't want to blow them out of the water."

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