Western European News Digest
Tony Blair 'Mortally Wounded' by Iraq WMD Deceit
The Blair government is "hunkering down," to prevent a "full public inquiry" into the "Iraqi weapons of mass destruction" deceit, but, one way or another, Prime Minister Tony Blair is being "mortally wounded" by the whole affair, Cambridge University Professor Corelli Barnett commented to EIR this week. See INDEPTH for the full story of the revolt against Blair.
Italian Press Cover LaRouche in Vicenza, Milan
Interviews with Lyndon LaRouche continue to appear in the Italian press, in the aftermath of his recent trip to Vicenza and Milan. On Sunday, June 1, TeleNord ran a 20-minute segment based on an interview conducted by Guido Colombo on May 8, 2003, which focussed on LaRouche's proposal for a new international financial system and his opposition to the Chickenhawk faction in the USA.
Telenord is the TV station associated with the Northern League, the political movement which once heavily pushed for secession of Italy's North from the rest of the nation, and is now a (volatile) partner in Berlusconi's governing coalition. Although the LaRouche movement has repeatedly denounced the use of the League as a means of destabilizing the nation, there is apparently a significant level of circulation of LaRouche literature among some sectors of the party, as its activists are against globalization and One Worldism, and thus interested in the role of the international financial oligarchy in the global crisis. Excerpts of the interview were also published in the right-wing Rome daily Linea on May 23, under the headline "The United States: a country to be re-founded: the current economic system is doomed. Here is why."
U.S. Must Not Burn Its Bridges to Europe for Its Own Sake
Spain's El Pais daily carried an interview June 6 with the Director of the French Institute of International Relations, IFRI, Thierry de Montbrial, who strongly argues in favor of continuous dialogue with the U.S. and for not burning the bridges.
The U.S. must understand that it needs European allies, says de Montbrial. For example, the costs for the occupation of Iraq would be more daily than what they get from the daily sale of oil. It would be necessary to invest in the reconstruction of Iraq. The American people would not accept its 150,000 to 200,000 troops becoming victims of attack.
Finally, de Montbrial says, one must also see that this neoconservative administration in Washington will not be eternal. "It is much better to improve the situation in the Mideast with the help of a strong and united EU than without. The U.S. can divide us, but then they play against themselves, because this will play against them as a boomerang and they will lose allies."
India's Prime Minister Welcomes an Expanded G-8 Summit
Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee welcomed French President Jacques Chirac's proposal to expand the G-8 summit to a real North-South Forum. Reviewing his talks at Evian, Atal Behari Vajpayee said that the informal extended summit discussions have been "a pointer" in the direction of a new kind of dialogue.
The Evian meeting "has created a forum of communication at the highest level between the developed and the developing world. I think this idea holds great promise for a new kind of cooperative North-South dialogue."
Vajpayee lauded Chirac for the idea to arrange such an extended discussion round at Evian, adding that it might have been inspired by realizing that continuing the usual summit format was no longer efficient, that there was a real need for discussing problems such as poverty and development between the industrialized nations and those that are still industrializing.
Germany's Priority Is Growth Over Cutting Budget Deficits
German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder told a press conference in Berlin June 4 that "even at the Commission in Brussels, they agree that in order to stimulate growth, the budget criteria of Maastricht have to be used in a flexible way."
Schroeder said consolidation of budget deficits was a very important target that no one would seriously contest, but that it was also true "at times of economic stagnation, one should not act pro-cyclically, by cutting expenses, because in periods of economic weakness, growth impulses have to be created." He added the German government was "committed to stick to the European treaties (like Maastricht) as far as possible, naturally."
Russia, Europe Have Become 'Strategic Partners' in Space
Russia and Europe have now become "strategic partners" in space exploration, stated Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Yakovenko. He made his remarks after two important space developments had taken place: On June 2, the first-ever European mission to another planet, the Mars Express, was successfully started by a Russian Soyuz rocket from the cosmodrome at Baikonur, Kazakhstan. Russian space technicians also played a key role in planning the mission. Prior to that, on May 27, the European Space Agency (ESA) decided in favor of the "Soyuz to Kourou" plan, that is, to allocate 314 million euros to build a new launchpad at Kourou in French Guyanathe launch-site for the European Ariane rocketspecially designed for the Russian Soyuz rocket.
Yakovenko noted that these two events are providing the basis for a long-term collaboration in space between Russia and the European Union. "The ESA decision is not only important for the [space-launch] project, it can also be considered a key factor in paving the way to achieving a global partnership between Russia and Europe, including prospects for creating the space transport systems of the future." European space experts as well, said Yakovenko, have welcomed the decision to boost Russo-European cooperation as "strategically justified and politically important for Europe."
Yakovenko in particular emphasized the role played by French President Jacques Chirac in promoting the "Soyuz at Kourou" plan. He said the project showed that Russia and France were set to become "strategic and commercial partners in such high-technology areas as space exploration, ... with long-term prospects in a wide range of Russo-French relations."
In a background report to these developments, AFP points to a radical shift in the prospects for the Russian Space Agency. Until recently it saw its funding collapsing, and it had to offer rides to the International Space Station (ISS) to Western businessmen at $20 million a throw. But following the failure of the new Ariane 5 rocket last December, and the disaster of the U.S. Space Shuttle Columbia, the Russian government announced in April that it would allocate additional funding to build spaceships to service the ISS. On June 4, the Russian Space Agency announced that it will have at least 20 domestic launches this year.
In recent months, Russia has been increasingly developed its space cooperation with regional allies China and India.
Investigation into Death of Juergen Moellemann
In an interview hours before his death June 5 in a skydiving incident now under investigation, German politician Juergen Moellemann was interviewed by Welt am Sonntag, giving no indication of depressive or suicidal tendencies. The interview will be run in the June 8 edition.
In that interview, he sounded like the usual Moellemann, combative, provocative, optimistic. He said health problems that were still being reported had been resolved, that his family fully backed what he was doing, and that he was indeed working on the project of a new political party. He said that the logistics and funding for such a project would have to be very carefully prepared, but by late summer 2003, the project would be ready, he hintednot typical of someone considering suicide.
As of now, the police investigation continues into his death.
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