DOORS OPENING WIDER FOR EXXON--Moscow TImes/New WMW

[Gloria]

Full excerpts, links up now at http://www.zianet.com/insightanalytical
Tomorrow at Buzzflash.com

WORLD MEDIA WATCH FOR OCTOBER 13, 2003

1//The Independent, UK--BLAIR ACCEPTS HE WILL BE ‘CALLED TO ACCOUNT’ FOR DECISION ON IRAQ WAR (Mr Blair accepted the warning of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, who said last week that the Prime Minister would be "called to account" for his actions…But he backtracked over the issue of weapons of mass destruction, stopping short of claiming that they would be found by the Iraq Survey Group which is searching for evidence of Saddam's covert weapons programme. He said that his main case now was that Saddam's regime was engaged in a "huge operation of concealment".)



2//Daily Yomiuri, Japan--BASRA LIKELY SITE FOR SDF IRAQ DISPATCH (The government is working to finalize a plan to dispatch Ground Self-Defense Force personnel to Iraq under a special law enacted in July to extend support for the reconstruction of postwar Iraq, with Basra, a key city in southern Iraq, as a probable location for the GSDF mission, government sources said Saturday.)



3//Arab News, Saudi Arabia--IRAQ: LIBERALIZING A SHATTERED ECONOMY (The recent plans announced by the interim Iraqi Governing Council to fully liberalize the economy and open all sectors except oil to 100percent foreign ownership have raised alarm among different Iraqi groups. Many rejected the reforms as being premature and may end up with foreigners controlling and/or owning the country’s economic infrastructure sold at low prices. The reforms were announced ahead of a donors’ conference for Iraq scheduled for Oct.23 - 24in Madrid with the hope of raising some $ 70billion to finance reconstruction over four to five years…The new rules are subject to “adoption or replacement” by a future, elected Iraqi government. Given the shock expressed by many Iraqi businessmen at the speed and scale of the reforms, one should not rule out the possibility that a future regime may choose to reverse these changes.)



4//Asia Times Online, Hong Kong--JAPAN: THE RAPID RUN ON DOLLAR ASSETS (The yen has surged through the psychological barrier of 110:US$1, creating a sense of crisis as the run on dollar assets gains momentum. Japanese authorities are cautious about intervening heavily before Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi reaches an understanding on the currency in his meeting with US President George W Bush on October 17-18 in Tokyo…The flight of global investors from the dollar has serious implications, not only for the health of markets such as Japan's, but because of the peril to the US economy and thus the global economy as well, for which the United States has acted as economic engine and importer of last the resort. The US must take in $55 billion per day in investment in government paper and securities to fund the enormous deficits in its fiscal budget and its current account, the total balance of goods and services it trades with other countries.)



5//The Moscow Times, Russia--DOORS OPENING WIDER FOR EXXON (But with Yusufov apparently giving the nod of approval for Exxon to come in just one day after law enforcers stepped up the pressure on Yukos CEO Mikhail Khodorkovsky in new raids, many observers were left scratching their heads as to what the Kremlin's endgame is. In those raids, investigators seemed determined to leave their mark, emptying entire filing cabinets and even kicking through a wall to seize a computer in the company's business compound in the elite Moscow region village of Zhukovka…Chevron is also rumored to be considering buying a stake as a race heats up between multinationals for a chunk of Russia's reserves.)