Fw: November 1999: Le Monde Diplomatique

[Michael Pugliese <debsian@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I haven't ponied up the $24 dollars to sub. If anyone here has post the the
Catherine Samary piece. She has a Monthly Review Press book entitled ,"The
Dismemberment of Yugoslavia," and has written for International Viewpoint,
the Mandelite Fourth International journal.
                         Michael Pugliese
----- Original Message -----
From: Le Monde diplomatique <dispatch@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: English edition dispatch <dispatch@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Monday, November 15, 1999 12:44 AM
Subject: November 1999


>
>    Le Monde diplomatique
>    -----------------------------------------------------
>
>
>                                November 1999
>
>
> LEADER
>
> The Pakistan threat *
>
> by IGNACIO RAMONET
>
>      There are ill-starred months in the history of the world and
>      October 1999 will probably turn out to be one of them. It revived a
>      fear that had almost been forgotten: the threat of nuclear
>      disaster. It started on 1 October with the accident at the
>      Tokaimura factory in Japan. And continued with the overthrow of the
>      democratically-elected government of Pakistan on 12 October.
>
>            <http://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/en/1999/11/?c=01leader>
>
>                                                   Translated by Ed Emery
>
>
> SEATTLE PREPARES FOR BATTLE
>
> Trade before freedom *
>
> by SUSAN GEORGE
>
>      The European Union has agreed on Commissioner Pascal Lamy's
>      negotiating mandate for the ministerial conference of the World
>      Trade Organisation (WTO). The mandate may be summed up as agreement
>      to an all-round liberalisation of trade, but with some restrictive
>      clauses concerning respect for cultural diversity, the
>      precautionary principle and dialogue with the International Labour
>      Organisation (ILO) on minimum social standards. In other words,
>      free trade remains the rule and derogations the exception. The
>      dismal legacy of five years of trade deregulation since the 1994
>      Marrakesh accords should be enough to call the principles of the
>      WTO into question. Europe refuses to do so, even though millions
>      are mobilising in Seattle and around the world.
>
>            <http://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/en/1999/11/?c=02george>
>
>                                          Translated by Malcolm Greenwood
>
>
> FIVE HUNDRED YEARS OF EXPROPRIATION AND RESISTANCE
>
> The plight of Chile's Mapuches
>
> by JAIME MASSARDO
>
>      The Chilean government is tenaciously stepping up the pressure on
>      Spain and the United Kingdom to spare General Pinochet the trial he
>      has been rightly promised. As a sign of displeasure towards Madrid,
>      President Eduardo Frei, backed by his Argentinean counterpart
>      Carlos Menem, has threatened to boycott the 19th Ibero-American
>      summit in Cuba on 15-16 November. Meanwhile, mobilisation by the
>      Mapuche Indians, abandoned to the greed of national and
>      international business, is being mercilessly repressed.
>
>                                          Translated by Malcolm Greenwood
>
>
> FORMER COMMUNIST COUNTRIES BRACED FOR CHANGE
>
> Eastern Europe heads into the unknown
>
> by CATHERINE SAMARY
>
>      After selecting five Eastern European countries (the Czech
>      Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Poland and Slovenia) as "first-wave"
>      candidates for accession to the EU, the European Commission decided
>      in mid-October to begin negotiations with all the candidates. While
>      this apparent raising of the barrier could delay accession for some
>      of the original five, it does not necessarily involve a commitment
>      to the others. The sudden change of policy is explained in part by
>      the problems enlargement is creating for the Fifteen, but it also
>      reflects growing concern about the outcome of transition in the
>      East. Despite the undoubted gains in democracy, the peoples of
>      Eastern Europe are experiencing a social crisis of unprecedented
>      proportions. And as disillusionment grows, enthusiasm for Europe is
>      waning.
>
>                                               Translated by Barry Smerin
>
>
> REDEFINING THE WORK ETHIC
>
> US workers demand 'quality time'
>
> by MARK HUNTER
>
>      In the United States an erosion of private life is gathering
>      momentum - at the demand of market forces and made possible by new
>      technology. The medical consequences of work-related "stress" are
>      worrying the leading US financial papers. This reality contrasts
>      sharply with the current media line which would have us believe
>      that US employees, in considerable demand, are able to dictate
>      their conditions to employers. Moreover union-busting is still a
>      very real deterrent.
>
>                                              Translated by Harry Forster
>
>
> CRACKS IN THE CAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA
>
> Moscow's designs on Chechnya
>
> by JEAN RADVANYI
>
>      Russian troops have been moving into Chechen territory since the
>      beginning of September, in flagrant violation of the
>      Chernomyrdin-Maskhadov agreement of 23 November 1996. Officially,
>      they are after the "Islamist terrorists" wanted for causing trouble
>      in Dagestan in August. But the limited offensive has become an
>      all-out war, with the civilian population bearing the brunt,
>      particularly in Grozny.
>      What do President Boris Yeltsin and his latest prime minister hope
>      to achieve? To rescue a government caught in the toils of a series
>      of scandals and desperate to win the next elections? True, Vladimir
>      Putin has gained a measure of popular support by exploiting the
>      nationalist consensus and the bloody terrorist attacks. But there
>      is no indication that this comeback will enable him to present the
>      Yeltsin party with a majority in the Duma in December, let alone
>      beat Yevgeny Primakov in the presidential elections in June 2000.
>      There is plenty of time before next spring for the Russian army to
>      become bogged down in Chechnya, for the West to condemn the
>      escapade in even rounder terms, and for Russian opinion to swing
>      back.
>      If, apart from ulterior electoral motives, the Kremlin is seeking
>      to defend Russian interests in the region, it is still a huge
>      gamble. This war could rebound on its instigators, destroy any
>      prospect of renewing the Federation or relaunching the Commonwealth
>      of Independent States and play right into the hands of the forces,
>      headed by the United States, that are bent on weakening Moscow's
>      influence on its own southern borders. -- D.V.
>
>                                             Translated by Barbara Wilson
>
> Taliban stir up regional instability
>
> by AHMED RASHID
>
>                                              Translated by Harry Forster
>
>
> APARTHEID BY ANY OTHER NAME
>
> Creeping annexation of the West Bank *
>
> by EITAN FELNER
>
>      One step forward, five steps back. After much humming and hawing
>      Ehud Barak has decided to dismantle 10 of the 40 settlements built
>      by the right in the months before the Labour Party and its allies
>      came to power. But by maintaining 30 of them - on top of the 145
>      others - the Israeli prime minister is disregarding the resolutions
>      of the UN Security Council, making it harder to have an independent
>      Palestinian state and reinforcing the system of discrimination in
>      the West Bank.
>
>            <http://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/en/1999/11/?c=08israel>
>
>                                                 Original text in English
>
>
> CIVILIANS RALLY BEHIND HIZBOLLAH
>
> South Lebanon resistance fights on
>
> by WALID CHARARA and MARINA DA SILVA
>
>      While Syria and Israel continue to bargain over a possible
>      resumption of peace negotiations, Ehud Barak has announced that he
>      intends to withdraw his army from South Lebanon. Yet this September
>      the Israeli air force flew close to 100 sorties against Lebanon, a
>      record since Operation Grapes of Wrath in 1996. The bombing goes
>      unnoticed by the international media, but it does nothing to shake
>      the population's dogged resistance to Israeli occupation.
>
>                                              Translated by Harry Forster
>
>
> IN SEARCH OF DÉTENTE ON THE 38TH PARALLEL
>
> Political reform eludes South Korea
>
> by DANIEL VALLOT
>
>      On 17 September, after a period of high tension, Washington
>      announced the partial lifting of the 46 year-long embargo on North
>      Korea in exchange for a suspension of long-range missile tests.
>      This easing of tension has not, however, been felt inside the
>      famine-stricken country. Meanwhile in South Korea, President Kim
>      Dae Jung is having trouble reforming anti-communist legislation
>      that is the legacy of the cold war and dictatorship.
>
>                                                   Translated by Ed Emery
>
> Glimpses of North Korea
>
> by our special correspondent ILARIA MARIA SALA
>
>                                                   Translated by Ed Emery
>
>
> MIGRATION OF PEOPLES, DISINTEGRATION OF STATES
>
> Africa's frontiers in flux *
>
> by ACHILLE MBEMBE
>
>      Regional migrations, disintegrating states, geopolitical
>      restructuring: Africa is constantly pulling itself apart and taking
>      on new shapes under the combined effects of demography, massive
>      urbanisation and the economic, military and religious ambitions
>      being pursued. These conflicts and movements rarely fit into a
>      pattern based on the state and they are hard to pin down. Yet the
>      mosaic makes up a picture on which the continent's new frontiers
>      are being drawn.
>
>            <http://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/en/1999/11/?c=12africa>
>
>                                         Translated by Derry Cook-Radmore
>
>
> BACK PAGE
>
> A culture of peace
>
> by RAMÓN-LUIS ACUÑA
>
>      If a government is more concerned with strategic security than with
>      that of its citizens and gives priority to military spending to the
>      detriment of social expenditure, the result is human misery. Which
>      two countries had the highest ratio of military to health and
>      education spending in 1980? In descending order they were Iraq (8
>      to 1) and Somalia (5 to 1). How effective is Unesco in trying to
>      reverse these priorities?
>
>                                          Translated by Malcolm Greenwood
>
>
>
>
>            English language editorial director: Wendy Kristianasen
>
>      _________________________________________________________________
>
>      (*) Star-marked articles are available to every reader. Other
>      articles are available to paid subscribers only.
>
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