NightWatch
For the Night of 15 January 2008
South
Korea: The presidential transition team for
President-elect Lee said that the new administration will close the Ministry of
Unification which, first as an agency and later as a ministry, has handled North-South
relations since 1969. The Ministry will be merged into the foreign ministry,
according to the team on 16 January. Four
other ministries would also be abolished as part of plans to cut 7,000 government
jobs.
The statement from the presidential transition team said,
“Inter-Korean exchanges and economic cooperation are no longer a monopoly of a
certain government agency, but a task to be tackled by all government agencies."
The Unification Ministry enabled the
President to conduct independent and usually not coordinated policies with
respect to North Korea and
the US.
The arrangement gave him flexibility but was cumbersome and confusing. Lee has promised to end the games and run the
government like a business. That seldom works over the long run, but he will
gain popularity by downsizing the public sector. Thus far he appears to be a
man of his word.
Pakistan: In an interview published today buy Spiegel
Online, Musharraf again went on the offensive against the US. He said the West should change its strategy
when dealing with the Taliban in Afghanistan and make
"political overtures" to win over the people it recruits from.”
"When I came on
the scene in 1999, I told everyone, including President Bill Clinton during his
state visit in Pakistan,
that the best strategy against the Taliban is to recognize them and try to
change them from within, Musharraf said.”Nobody agreed.”
“Then came the problems with Osama bin Laden. Everybody
asked me to help the West to get him arrested or deported, but by then it was
too late. I sent four or five missions to Mullah Omar from here, without any
result. You cannot ignore (the fact that) a majority of 55 percent of Afghans
are from the Pashtun tribe, and that the Taliban recruits the lion's share of
its members there. Afghanistan
has always been ruled by the Pashtuns. There should be a change of strategy
right away. You should make political overtures to win the Pashtuns over."
The change to a more critical tone and the selection of a
German publisher for this interview are the latest manifestations of a
swaggering, more defiant Musharraf. With Bhutto out of the way and Nawaz Sharif
stoking anti-American sentiment, Musharraf has become the central figure in
Pakistani history for now. … and he knows it. The price of everything the US wants from Pakistan is rising.
The swipe at President Clinton is retaliation for Senator
Clinton’s criticism of Pakistan’s
nuclear weapons security. His memory of the events of 2000 and 2001 also is
faulty. The US
tried carrots and sticks with the Taliban, as did the Chinese and the Iranians.
Strangely, only the Pakistanis ever seemed welcome in Kabul. Moreover, Karzai is a Pashtun and the
prominence of Pashtuns in his administration causes significant tribal tension.
Musharraf has his facts wrong.
Afghanistan: The Karzai government sealed a key border
crossing post with Pakistan today to protest Pakistani measures “to stop flour from being smuggled” into
Afghanistan. The incident that prompted the border closure at Chaman is
Pakistani seizure of 100 trucks loaded with wheat flour that were part of the
smuggling operation, according to Major General Saleem Nawaz, the local border
commander.
This is exquisitely
South Asian. Pakistan is experiencing a “flour
crisis,” a shortage so severe that it risks serious internal trouble. Pakistani
media reports are contradictory about the reasons for the shortage, but The
Nation says there is 1.8 million tons of wheat in storage, more than sufficient
for daily needs. It stressed the shortage is artificial caused by official
corruption and hoarding by flour mills to raise prices. The scheme began last
summer, but its effects are only now being felt.
In any event Pakistani border authorities have begun
cracking down on customary smuggling, which is big business for the tribes,
most of whom overlap the border. In the Federally Administered Tribal Areas,
traditional smuggling practices – cross border activities -- are protected by
the Pakistan Constitution, in the spirit of legalization is easier and cheaper
than law enforcement.
The Pakistani crackdown has created a shortage on the Afghan side of the
border, prompting official protests that Pakistan
is causing hardship in Afghanistan.
Thus, the Afghan argument is that Pakistan
should not enforce its laws if enforcement works a hardship on Afghanistan. As
for the Taliban, Pakistan
should enforce its laws because that benefits Afghanistan. Both sides are
convinced of their own righteousness.
Turkey-Iraq: Kurdish sources told the press that ten Turkish
combat aircraft today attacked suspected positions of Kurdish rebels in
northern Iraq.
The Turkish general staff confirmed the strike on its Web site. The strike was
the fourth attack into Iraq
since 16 December. No news service reported
results of the attack.
Yesterday, Deputy Chief of the Turkish General Staff General.
Ergin Saygun paid an unannounced visit to Baghdad
at the invitation of his Iraqi counterpart, General Naseer al-Abadi, a
statement posted on the General Staff's Web site said. The two commanders
discussed efforts to fight terrorism and long-term military cooperation between
the militaries of the two countries. Saygun also met US General Petraeus for
talks on the fight against terror.
The public projection is that the Iraqi government and the US command approved of Turkey’s violation of Iraq’s sovereignty, though no one
said the words. If that is not the case, the alternative interpretation is that
the Turks are not responsive to either the Iraqis or the Americans.
Lebanon: The bomb that targeted a U.S. Embassy vehicle
in northern Beirut
today was planted under garbage cans and was detonated by remote-control,
police said. A private car was demolished and a U.S. Embassy bulletproof sport
utility vehicle was damaged. Two embassy security employees were in the vehicle
when the bomb exploded; one of them sustained minor injuries.
The triggering mechanism is nearly conclusive evidence that
this was an attack against representatives of the US officials. Embassy cars are well
known in every city where the US
has representation. No group claimed responsibility, but all pro-Syrian and
pro-Iranian political factions in Lebanon
have denounced US
involvement in Lebanese politics. There still is no President of Lebanon.
France-UAE:
France and the UAE have signed a deal allowing France to set up a permanent military base, the
first in the Gulf for a Western power other than the US. Details are sketchy, but
apparently the agreement will permit up to 500 French military personnel to be stationed
in Abu Dhabi to
support French naval ships. The nearest French base is Djibouti on the Red Sea.
The two countries also signed a deal to develop peaceful
nuclear energy during a visit by President Sarkozy, the latest in a series of French
energy agreements with Arab states. The US Navy will soon have the French for
company.
Venezuela-Honduras: Prensa Latina reported
that Venezuelan President Chavez arrived in Tegucigalpa,
Honduras today from Guatemala,
where he attended the inauguration of President Alvaro Colom. Chavez promised he would travel by taxi to
support the taxi union which is hurt by high oil prices. Taxi drivers and popular
organizations planned street demonstrations to support Chavez and the
government of Honduran President Manuel Zelaya Rosales.
Honduras
is generally friendly to the US,
but the high price of oil gives Chavez a welcome, if he will help. He never
misses an opportunity to meddle.
NightWatch Public Service Item:
Germany: Academics and manuscript experts at Heidelberg University library believe they have
solved the centuries-old mystery of the identity of the "Mona Lisa"
in Leonardo da Vinci's famous portrait. Lisa Gherardini, the wife of a wealthy
Florentine merchant, Francesco del Giocondo, has long been seen as the most
likely model for the sixteenth-century painting.
Experts at the Heidelberg
University library say contemporaneous
notes scribbled in the margins of a book by its owner, a friend of da Vinci, in
October 1503 confirm once and for all that Lisa del Giocondo was da Vinci’s model
. A manuscript expert at the library discovered the notes two years ago in a
copy of the orations of Cicero,
but the discovery received no public attention.
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