Transcripts For WHUT Worldfocus 20100306 : vimarsana.com

tonight on worldfocus a vote in the house of representatives sparks outrage in turkey. what will it mean if the government in average ankera stop cooperating with washinon? large protests after parliament concludes new measures. will the germans bail out the greeks? you ve heard how the chinese restrict internet access. tonight, a different take on state-sponsored chinese television. the premier using the internet to talk to ordinary citizens and promote democracy. and from egypt, a government-sponsored ad campaign to stop smoking. let s just say it s not getting a rise out of folks there. from the different perspectiv of reporters and analysts from around the globe, this is worldfocus. major support has been provided by rosalind p. walter. and the peter g. peterson foundation, dedicated to promoting fiscal responsibility and addressing key economic challenges facing america s future. and additional funding is provided by the following supporters good evening. i m daljit dhaliwal in new york. welcome to worldfocus. we begin tonight with a fallout from the committee vote in the u.s. congress, which has sparked outrage by one of america s key allies. the country is turkey, which supports the united states in the wars in iraq and afghanistan and has had a long and close military relationship with the u.s. yesterday, by a vote of 23-22, the house foreign affairs committee passed a nonbinding resolution calling the world war i era killing of armenians by ottoman turks genocide. hiorians estimate that as many as 1.5 million armenians were killed, but turkey says the death toll has been inflated and that those killed were victims of civil war and unrest. ironically, the vote comes as relations between turkey and armenia have recently improved. in tonight s lead focus, the quick and forceful reaction by turkey and analysis of it, starting with a report by tariq bazeley of al jazeera english. reporter: a comedy vote the verdict of one turkish newspaper. the u.s. congressional decision front-page news. the draft resolution to label as genocide the world war ii killings of armenians by ottoman turks placing a new strain on u.s./turkish relations. the turkish government has warned the resolution, could derail if it normalized ties with armenia. we re going to do whatever we can for this process to be successful, but i want to mention, again, the decision will not only carry a risk of slowing down the process but also of stopping it. reporter: ankara has re-called its ambassador to washington over the issue. it s largely symbolic but is intended to send a signal. this is a warning shot across the bow, that the even thought it has passed through the committee, it shouldn t be brought to the house of representatives. reporter: turkey has long accepted that armenians were killed by ottoman turks at the beginning of the 20th century, but it has consistently denied the deaths number 1.5 million and that it amounted to genocide. turks on the street in istanbul backing that position. translator: great efforts were made to prevent this vote from passing. our government played all its cards right, including threatening to pull our ambassador out and the stopping weapons deal. i condemn the united states for passing this resolution. translator: i think this is all about benefits. we re turkish, after all, and we ll never accept this. and as a turkish youth, i ll do everything in my power to denounce such claims. the united states is biased when it comes to this issue. reporter: now attempts to prevent the genocide resolution from coming to a full vote in congress have failed, the obama administration is eager to limit the damage. turkey is a vital supply line for u.s. troops in iraq and has it own troops on the ground in afghanistan. a reminder that almost a century after the killings, the divisive potential remains strong. tariq bazly, al jazeera. for a better understanding of just why the issue of armenia is so sensitive in turkey and the political implications of yesterday s vote, we re joined by buland arariza, the director of the turkey project at the center for strategic and international studies in washington, d.c. thank you very much for joining us on the program. thank you for inviting me. why is it that a nonbinding congressional vote over a 100-year-old episode provokes such outrage in turkey? well, turkey has been a long-standing ally of the united states, and, as you say, this is something that occurred many, many years ago and for the legislature of an ally, turkey s most important ally, to take up this issue and to, in effect, say, yes, the ancestors of the present-day turks in the ottoman empire had actually committed this horrible crime is regarded, at the very least, as an unfriendly act by the turkish government, as interference in the ongoing process of normalizations between turkey and armenia, and is something that is not conducive to good u.s./turkish relations. why do the armenians want to have these killings classified as genocide? well, clearly the armenians feel very strongly about this. it wasn t only turks. it wasn t only armenians who died. it was also turks. this is in the middle of the first world war. and clearly the armenians wish to get as many countries as possible to recognize that something horrible was done to them. but they re doing this at a time when there is, as i said, an ongoing process towards normalization between turkey and armenia for the opening of the border, and i m not sure whether the normalization process can actually proceed when such efforts are being made which the turks find offensive. what about the likely impact of this vote in terms of causing any real damage to the united states, its relationship with turkey, is that a real likelihood? indeed. turkey s already withdrawn its ambassador from washington, and there was a turkish parliamentary delegation who observed the proceedings in the house foreigaffairs committee. they will now be returning with the ambassador, and the turkish government has made it clear there will be additional steps once the consultations with the parliament and the ambassador are complete. turkey has the option of reducing the level of cooperation that it engages in with the united states on a range of issues. the use of the important interlick base in southern turkey, which is important for the u.s. effort in iraq as well as in afghanistan is one possibility. but at a broader level, turkey was chosen by the current administration as an important part of its effort to reach out to the islamic world, because it s both a member of the western alliance and the islamic world, and strains in the turkish/american relationship are likely to have repercussions far beyond the bilateral relationship. okay, thank you very much for joining us. thank you. in armenia, there was also, predictably, reaction to the vote in congress. in the capital, there was a genocide monument where an eternal flame burns. there is also a genocide museum, and its director spoke there today. when we speak of the armenian genocide, we have to keep in mind that the armenian genocide subject is firmly and clearly connected with the history of many nations in the world. and the u.s. and american people must respect this history and memory while recognizing armenian genocide. also in that part of the world, today was a day of protest in greece against a new round of spending cuts and taxes approved by the greek parliament. the austerity package is aimed at helping greece out of its economic crisis and preventing a ripple effect across europe. but this was the reaction in athens today. the most violent protests since the debt crisis escalated last year. as many as 7,000 demonstrators gathered outside parliament and riot policused tear gas and fought with them after some protesters attacked military guards. late today, greece s prime nister, george papandreou, met with chancellor angela merkel of germany, which would play a key role in any financial bailout of greece by the european union. in the middle east, there was more violence today in the west bank sparked, in part, by rising anger over israel s decision to add two west bank shrines to its list of national heritage sites. there was rioting outside the al aqsa mosque in jerusalem as muslim oneshippers threw stones at policemen. riot police moved in, firing stun grenades and tear gas. fighting also broke out in hebron as palestinians protested outside one of the sites israel included on its national heritage list. that site is known to jews as the cave of the patriarchs and to muslims as the ibrahimi mosque. as we turn to asia and the global environment, japan says that it will defy any ban on trade in atlantic bluefin tuna. conservation groups say the fish is at risk of extinction if current catch rates continue. the united states announced its support of the ban this week, but the fish is prized for sushi in japan, where 80% of the atlantic bluefin tuna ends up. an international conference on endangered animals and plants will vote on giving the tuna endangered status at a meeting that begins next weekend. we would like to know what you think about this issue. our question tonight what would be an appropriate response from the international community if japan were to defy a ban on trade in an endangered species? give us your opinion by going to the how you see it section of our website at worldfocus.org. china s premier delivered his annual policy speech today saying this will be a crucial year for continuing to deal with the global financial crisis. wen jiabao said that more needs to be done in china to create jobs and to narrow the wealth gap between rich and poor. china escaped the worst of the global economic downturn by pumping $1.4 trillion into bank lending and government stimulus. wen said such measures would not be renewed. well, that is one view of the chinese premier. we found quite another as we looked at coverage today by the english langge service of china s state television. there he was, wen jiabao, taking part in, of all things, an online chat. it was, of course, a sign of the times and an acknowledgment of the importance of what the chinese call netizens, citizens connected to the internet. this, despite all the negative attention the chinese have received recently for their efforts to control and censor information on the internet. tonight, how their television covered the use of the web as a tool of democracy, chinese-style. chatting about politics and people s life with netizens is getting popular among the mc deputies and members, many of whom can collect firsthand information from the general public. they think it s good for the process of democracy. translator: online chat is a very good step towards the reforms of the political democracy. voices of the citizens are the voices at a grassroots level. premier wen jiabao chatted online with netizens last saturday. netizens raised some questions, including ones on housing prices, medicare, education, and many other issues. the internet in this way has become a direct channel of dialogue between ordinary citizens and top leaders. the premier says he cherishes the portunity. translator: i may not answer the questions completely, nor solve the problems of everybody, but it gives me a chance to get help from the people. public opinion is important to value the effectiveness of policies. i don t feel nervous about the chat. microblogging is spreading faster because of its convenience and immediacy. netizens take advantage of this approach to express their concerns about social issues, their life, as well as contribute to the economic development of the country. sigquonet, its citizens exceeding 40,000 the very first day. there are more than 400 million netizens in china so far. they come from all walks of life and participate actively in social affairs. their presence has helped to set up a solid foundation for the platform of online involvement in politics. about 4,000 mpc deputies and members participate in the two sessions every year before, but starting from this year, the number has definitely increased dramatically. cctv, beijing. as iraq prepared for its parliament elections on sunday, iraqis ling abroad cast their ballots today. this is how it looked as iraqis voted in iran. there was voting, as well, in jordan with people getting their fingers dipped in ink to show they had cast their ballots. and that brings us to our friday roundtable discussion. we want to look more closely at this sunday s elections in iraq and to take a deeper look at iraq and the middle east region seven years after the iraq invasion. we re joined once again by gideon rose, managing editor of foreign affairs magazine, and rasheed khalidi, edward saed professor of arab studies at columbia university, and author of the cold war crisis, american dominance in the middle east. welcome to both. nice to see you. thank you. thank you. rasheed, let s start with you. talk about this sunday s elections in iraq. what do you think will be the likely outcome? well, there will be a government that will reflect the sectarian structure that was imported into iraq after the american invasion and occupation. there will continue to be dominance by parties that are largely shiite. whether they re more sectarian the election will determine. is that one of the most interesting parts of the election, whether there will be, gideon, more secular or more sectarian? is that something we can sort of count as a small step in the progress, if they rn out to be more secular? i would personally like to see the stronger showings of the secular parties, but the more interesting question to me is not the specific results but how the parties will behave in the aftermath. the real question at stake here is, can the different communities in iraq and the politicians representing the iraqi communities and people mage to get along without actually dissolving into civil war? and that s something that is demonstrably unclear at this point, especially if the americans withdraw. well, let s look at the broader picture seven years on after the invasion. just today the british prime minister, gordon brown, came out and said that he regretted he had not been more successful in pushing the united states to rebuild iraq post the invasion. talk a little bit about the sort of broader issues of whether both of you think that we stand seven years on not just politically but in terms of the everyday lives of iraqis compared to, say, two years ago, even seven years ago, rasheed. well, compared to seven years ago, the country has basically gone through the destruction of the existing institutions and the construction of new institutions. authoritarian institutions were destroyed, and sectarian institutions, much more democratic, fortunately, have been created. on the other hand, the iraqis have gone through the torments of the damned in terms of the civil war between sunnis and shia and that took place, in terms of maybe one in six or one in five iraqis becoming internal or external refugees, and in terms of the enormous unemploynt and other problems that the country still faces. so in certain ways the country is better off, but i think many iraqis wonder was it really worth the terrible cost or was it necessary to go through all of this to get some of the positive things that they have now. when you say you think it s better off, give me a couple of quick examples. well, a terrible authoritarian regime was removed. that s a positive thing. on the other hand, institutions of the iraqi state that went back to ottoman times, went back to the monarchy, some of which were absolutely necessary to hold this very diverse country together, were destroyed and there was total chaos in the aftermath. in addition, the dominance of the baath party and the dominance of sunnis was replaced by the dominance of the majority, the shia. gideon, do you i would slightly disagree with rasheed, not entirely, but essentially it was just that the old state had destroyed. it collapsed and hollowed out the old state hollowed out during the saddam era and collapsed in the war and essentially we now know the only thing functional about saddam s regime was the repressive apparas. when the americans and everybody else got there afterwards, they found complete chaos and were then then totally unprepare to deal with it. so there was then this period of rampant insecurity in which a whole variety of sectarian identities and oth problems hardened, and people responded to the chaos by bringing out their worst selves. i would disagree with you on two points dissolving the security forces in a country that has this divisiveness was a monumental effort. i would, secondly, disagree with you about the entirely sectarian nature of iraqi politics even before the overthrow of the saddam regime. yes, sectarianism was there, yes, it was a problem, yes, there was oppression of the shia and the kurds. but the united states institutionalized a regime. i think secular iraqi politics were possible and i hope again are possible. i thk we ve seen a detour. i agree in that regard. the real question, though, is whether the chaos was the thing that drove people to sectarianism or the creation of new institutions along sectarian lines. this is something we could debate for a long time. but let me move it away from sort of the political structures and to what this actually means to the lives of ordinary iraqis on the ground in terms of have their lives got better in terms of the various kind of services that are now being delivered? are they going out more? is there more freedom of movement? has the position of women changed? give me your feedback. it comes back to politics, though, and this is what i think we may actually agree on, which is that the ordinary lives turn out to be dependent on two things one, an actual state that maintains public order and security, and, two, a lack of open civil war among different factions. and so, the economic progress, the personal progress, the freedom of life, that is actually partly a function of these security and political issues that have so dissolved. so things are much better right now, but that s than they were a couple years ago because the civil war had essentially abated, which is one side won, actually. i m not sure that s entirely correct beyond creating something of a balance and the shia won with some auxiliaries. the shia basically won, with the kurds basically riding along with them. that might not have been inevitable but need not to have followed that sectarian path. some refugees are returning. but you still have a couple million, perhaps more, iraqi exile, people who partly are there becausthe situation is bad and partly because they re afraid of the sectarian nature, the continuing sectarian nature ofraq. we ve got about a minute or so left. so, let s talk about sort of the broader ramifications for the middle east. what did iraq mean in terms of the consequences for the region as a whole? i have a concern, which is that i m not sure this is the best demonstration of the benefits of democracy. have your country destroyed, have one in five people turned into a refugee and you, too, can come out of it with a sectarian but democratic system. my hope is the people in the middle east will see that they do not have to go through chaos and misery in order to get democracy. and i m afraid that the authoritarian regimes that unfortunately blight most of the arab world take pleasure in this. yes, you really want democracy, you ll get the chaos that was iraq. that is true in the short term but may not be true in the long term. if the iraqi people and the politicians can get their act together and create something resembling a stable state that is not a repressive authoritarian regime and that s not highly sectarian. and that is y representative and provides a better life for its people, in the long run, after a lot of water under the bridge, it s possible that some of the benefits could be achieved. gideon rose, rasheed khalidi, thanks for joining us. thank you. thank you. finally tonight, a revealing story we came across today from our partner global post. it s from egypt. a variation on that pilar of western-style marketing that sex sells. but as you re about to see in john jenson s report, it s being used to promote better health and in the process it s also breaking some taboos. reporter: if a picture is worth a thousand words, why are so many egyptians speechless over this image? many people embarrassed about this picture. reporter: this warning label of a limp cigarette was released on all packs at the end of january. intended to alert men to the potential for tobacco-induced impotence. but in a conservative culture like this one, the less th subtle reference to sex is somewhat taboo and it s left many egyptians confused, embarrassed, and downright shocked to even talk about. the limp butt is the latest in a series of graphic warnings from egypt s ministry of health, only recently getting serious about a growing epidemic. with 40% of adult men smoking, egypt is the number one consumer of tobacco in the arab region. and changing the culture has been a bit of a challenge. a recent law banned smoking in some public places, but with almost zero enforcement, even tm convinced it will work. i cannot really tell you that 100% are following through. on the streets, many people doubt that the government is that concerned about smoking. and the limp butt? smokers here don t seem convinced. with almost 80 million people in egypt, procreation doesn t seem to be a problem. and so far, the image of a limp cigarette butt has not impacted the manhood of these smokers. and in this day and age, there s a solution to every problem, big or small. he s referring to this ad on tv in egypt for a popular little pill that gives men that extra boost. yep, you nailed it. that was jon jansen of global post reporting the. and that is it from us for this week. a reminder you can find more news and analysis at worldfocus.org, including ongoing coverage of the iraqi elections this sunday. i m daljit dhaliwal in new york. for me and the rest of the team, have a great weekend and we ll see you back here on monday. good-bye. major support for worldfocus has been provided by rosalind p. walter. and the peter g. peterson foundation, dedicated to promoting fiscal responsibility and addressing key economic challenges facing america s future. and additional funding is provided by the following supporters