Russian terror strike talk seen worrying Georgia
By Mark Trevelyan, Security Correspondent
Reuters
Sept 8 2004
BERLIN, Sept 8 (Reuters) – Comments from a top general that Russia will
pre-emptively strike “terrorist bases” anywhere in the world will send
a shiver of alarm through former Soviet republics, especially Georgia.
Western analysts said Wednesday’s remarks from Chief of Staff Yuri
Baluevsky carried echoes of the U.S. doctrine in the “war on terror”
of countering threats by launching first strikes, instead of waiting
to be attacked.
But they said Russia’s sharply limited global reach meant the general’s
warning — days after a bloody hostage siege by militants demanding
Chechen independence — would apply in practice to former Soviet
republics in the Caucasus and Central Asia which Moscow still regards
as its sphere of influence.
Beyond that zone, Russia could not launch full-scale military action,
although it might attempt hits on individual militants via operations
like February’s assassination of a prominent Chechen separatist
in Qatar.
“In practice this doctrine can only apply to the countries adjacent to
Russia which are not part of a global alliance,” said Jonathan Eyal,
Russia analyst at the Royal United Services Institute in London.
GEORGIA IN FRONT LINE
Georgia would be in the front line, he said, but neighbouring Armenia,
Azerbaijan and the five Central Asian states could also be seen by
Moscow as legitimate theatres for military action.
Tensions between Georgia and Russia are already high over Tbilisi’s
efforts to reassert control of its breakaway region of South Ossetia,
where it recently accused Russian forces of being involved in attacks
on Georgians.
Russia, which maintains two military bases in Georgia, has periodically
accused Tbilisi of allowing Chechen rebels to operate from the Pankisi
Gorge, which borders Chechnya.
Analysts said Moscow might revive such charges in the climate of
heightened tension since last week’s bloodbath in which at least
326 people — around half of them children — were killed after a
three-day siege at a school in Beslan in Russia’s North Caucasus.
“To some extent the military here are looking to see what advantage
they can take from the mood following the attack down in Beslan,”
said Roy Allison of Chatham House, a London-based think-tank.
He said Baluevsky’s comments were “very provocative” and seemed out
of line with the views of President Vladimir Putin.
It was not clear whether Baluevsky was speaking with Putin’s backing
but such a senior general would rarely express such views without at
least the tacit approval of the president.
ISRAELI BACKING
But they met with understanding in Israel, which has its own long
history of pre-emptive and reprisal strikes against militants both
inside its borders and abroad.
“There is no other choice when dealing with terrorism. This is an
international threat that has to be tackled everywhere and anywhere,”
a senior official said.
Asked if Israel would help, he said: “Israel and Russia have strategic
agreements, which include intelligence-sharing, and I am sure this
issue will come up in our next bilateral meeting.”
According to Israeli intelligence, some Chechen separatists have
trained at camps in Lebanon and have ties with the militant Hizbollah
group there.
There are significant Chechen emigre communities in Jordan and Turkey,
and Russian officials say they have frequently intercepted and killed
Turkish fighters in Chechnya.
Eyal said not even the “most mad general in Moscow” would contemplate
a military strike in NATO-member Turkey.
But he said Russia might well attempt further operations abroad like
the assassination of former Chechen leader Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev in
Qatar in February. A Qatari court convicted two Russian spies of the
murder, in which Moscow denied involvement.
(Additional reporting by Dan Williams in Jerusalem)

No small talent
Ventura County Star, CA
Sept 8 2004
Nick Noroian is comfortable with his height — and the ribbing from
teammates — because he’s proven he can stand tall on the football
field
By Joe Curley, [email protected]
September 8, 2004
The Stump. The Load. The Cinderblock with Feet. Nick Noroian has
heard plenty of ’em throughout his football career.
But it is the nickname that his Cal Lutheran University football
teammates and coaches have given him that he admits to being his
favorite.
” ‘4×4’ has to be the best,” said Noroian. “Everyone just seems to
get a kick out of it.”
Like many Kingsmen football players, 4×4 — nicknamed so because he’s
“4 feet tall and 4 feet wide” –is a former two-way prep football
star with an affinity for both the game and his studies.
It’s that he happens to be a 5-foot-4, 230-pound starting defensive
tackle that has him on his way to being a cult hero on the Thousand
Oaks campus.
“It’s been something I’ve had to deal with my whole life,” said
Noroian. “It’s no big deal for me.”
Such dimensions don’t fit the stereotype of an athlete, but Noroian
is fit as a fiddle. He can bench press 340 pounds and he can squat
press 550 pounds. CLU coaches say he’s one of the quickest players on
the team over 10 yards.
And his ability to take a little ribbing from teammates is world
class. He understands that his height just happens to be in the cards
that he’s been dealt, it doesn’t have to be the hand that he plays.
“I’m a big guy, but I’m short,” said Noroian. “I embrace it.
“I don’t have any regrets at all. I can’t. I’m too busy in my life to
worry about being taller.”
Noroian is the shortest member of his Armenian and Swiss family,
including his two sisters, Nicole and Noel. He hasn’t grown since
middle school, when he took a turn as the center on the basketball
team.
“But his size has always been something he’s been able to tackle,”
said Noroian’s father, Chuck, who is 5-8, 280 pounds.
This “4×4” is multipurpose. In his final high school game in Salinas,
the 2001 CIF-Central Coast Section Division I championship game, he
ran for 142 yards and a touchdown as a halfback while piling up eight
tackles, two sacks and an interception at linebacker.
“That was the best game I’ve ever played,” said Noroian.
Listening to Jeff Carnazzo, Noroian’s high school coach at Palmas
High in Salinas, it sounds like Noroian was the smallest, yet biggest
piece of a developing prep football dynasty on the Central Coast.
“He’s a surprise, because when you look at him physically, you don’t
expect what you get out of him,” said Jeff Carnazzo, Noroian’s high
school coach. “But, simply put, I would say he’s the most gutsy
player to come out of this area, the Central Coast, in ages.”
Salinas is a place known for John Steinbeck and the agricultural
industry, but lately it’s become a hotbed for prep football. Palmas
won its first two Division I sectional titles when Noroian was a
junior and senior. The Chieftains won it again this past year, making
it three titles in five seasons.
They even scheduled Bay Area power Concord-De La Salle this season,
in hopes of becoming the team to break the national-record 12-year
winning streak, which ended last weekend in Washington.
“Nick was the player who took his team and carried it on his
shoulders,” said Carnazzo. “He’s set the tone for this program. We
won it again last year and I attribute it a lot to him.”
His highlight film is a classic. It includes plays like “The Mole
Pass,” Noroian’s halfback pass, and games like the time against
Gilroy when he missed the first half with an sprained ankle and came
off the bench to rush for 150 yards in the second half.
“It’s some of the most amazing video that you’ll ever see,” said
Carnazzo. “It’s filled with him bowling over kids (on offense) and
stopping kids behind the line of scrimmage (on defense).
“I stick that tape in and watch it when we’ve got our kids in here. I
say, ‘Watch Nick, this is what we want out of you.’ ”
Carnazzo used it to sell programs like UC Davis, Sacramento State and
Cal Poly San Luis Obispo on his star. But when it came time to put
pen to paper, the assistant coaches retreated, saying they couldn’t
make a scholarship commitment to a 5-foot-4 football player. Several
Division III teams, including local school Menlo College, recruited
Noroian, who chose CLU because of his interest in social sciences. He
plans on becoming a teacher and coach.
“He’s got a place in my heart,” said Carnazzo, “I’ll tell you this,
someday he’s going to take over for me here as the head coach. But I
wouldn’t be surprised to see him coach at a higher level.”
Rehabilitation from a knee injury slowed him as a freshman at CLU. As
a reserve linebacker last year, he scored one of CLU’s two defensive
touchdowns on a fumble recovery.
One of the first phone calls new defensive line coach Damon Tomeo,
formerly a graduate assistant at Arizona, made when he was hired
during the summer was to Noroian. As coaches are likely to do at a
fresh job, Tomeo had been scouting his own team and had a glimpse
into the future. He knew he needed a veteran defensive tackle.
“We had a hole and we wanted it filled by a veteran,” said Tomeo.
“Nick is a natural football player. He’s the epitome of what we’ve
got here. Guys that want to play hard, want to win games and do well
in school at the same time. It’s just all rolled in a smaller package
than we normally have.”
Tomeo asked Noroian if he was willing to make a move towards the line
of scrimmage, from linebacker to the defensive line.
“I just told him it was something I was willing to do,” said Noroian.
“Anything to help the team.”
The CLU defensive line has been an important part of the program in
recent years. The Kingsmen led the SCIAC in sacks last season (30)
and defensive end Quinn Longhurst led the conference individually
with 11.
“It’s an honor. We have some guys that are really good on this line,”
said Noroian. “The toughest thing about the transition has just been
putting my hand on the ground and getting out of my stance. It’s been
a change for me.”
But there was no concern on the coaching staff that a 5-foot-4 body
wouldn’t hold up at the point of attack? The undersized defensive
tackle on film must look like a giant bullseye for opposing coaches
to target.
“He’s an athlete. You’d be amazed at the plays he’s capable of
making,” said Tomeo. “He understands body positioning and leverage.
He maximizes his (size) and effort on every play. His tenacity and
relentlessness is off the charts. He just won’t quit.”
CLU tailback Charlie Brown, who has gone up against Noroian in plenty
of drills during training camp, can attest to his ability to get the
job done.
“I’ll be in a hole and I’ll just get blindsided by him,” said Brown.
“He’ll come out of nowhere.”
Brown’s words serve fair warning to CLU’s opponents — overlook this
“4×4” and prepare to be blindsided.
,1375,VCS_137_3167393,00.html

Putin, the prisoner of the Caucasus
by Vladimir Rozanskij
AsiaNews.it, Italy
Sept 8 2004
After the Beslan massacre, an expert analyzes where Russia and the
West is going in the confrontation with Islamic terrorism
Moscow (AsiaNews) – A famous novel by Pushkin tells of the dangers
and perils that Russian travellers could expect in the early
19th century, among the gorges and harshness of those ancient and
mysterious lands that rise as southern guard of the Asian continent.
The novel is entitled “The Prisoner of the Caucasus”, and has never
before seemed so prophetic of the condition in which the president
of that very Russian state, Vladimir Putin, currently finds himself.
His ascent to the head of government and, 5 years ago, to the Russian
Federation itself, had in fact been conditioned by the explosion of
terrorist bombs that had sown so many victims, not only in the lands
of the south, but also in Moscow itself, giving a final blow to what,
by then, was the teetering throne of Yeltsin and clearing the way
for a new “strong man”.
Putin’s leadership was subsequently confirmed, almost by acclamation,
in the general elections of March 2000, effectively making any
political or administrative consultation redundant: in fact, he
and his candidates are absolutely unbeatable; theirs is the same
cast-iron probability of the single-party candidates of Soviet memory.
The reason for such absolute pre-eminence has always been tied
to the deep drama of events: Russia needs to use force to resist
the destructive attack of the forces of evil. Today as yesterday,
the inhumane face of terror stands out against the silhouette of the
Caucasian mountains, and calls all of Russia to unite as one person in
its response, making its leader a banner for revival and liberation.
Certainly, Russian citizens are ever more asking themselves why,
after 5 long years, this dramatic issue has gone from bad to worse,
why it has gone from destroyed homes to devastated cities in the entire
Chechnya, in a ferocious conflict with no holds barred on both sides,
up to the slaughter of hostages in the Dubrovka Theatre of Moscow, and
now even the slaughter of the innocents of Beslan. Grozny, with the
assassination of its leaders, has been a revolving door of generals,
mediators, puppet-governments; draconian measures have been taken
in the entire country to the point that civil liberties have been
limited almost more than in the Soviet period. The ever-present
police continues its surveillance and the use of violence, if not
physical at least psychological, against any passer-by whose skin
is in the least bit olive-tinged. Yet underground train stations
continue to be a place of fear and mutual suspicion, when not of
actual pain and desperation. Certainly, there has been American’s
September 11th, which confirmed what Putin himself has been saying
since 1999: there exists a network of international terrorism that
has declared war on advanced countries, uniting even Russia and
America in a single axis of evil, like at the times of German Nazism.
Wars come along in Afghanistan and Iraq, with all their contradictions
and open questions, making Russians think that, after all, the worst
is elsewhere, and the Americans too are able to pass themselves off
as wicked. Yet there is no respite from dismay, there can never be
enough force to ward off terror, a sense of resignation and anguish
starts to take hold, there is no possible future on the horizon.
And then Beslan, the worst of horrors, worse than the Twin Towers,
worse than any Iraq or any Palestine, mothers that shoot at children.
Resignation is becoming tangible not only in Russia, but in the
entire world where, more than fighting terrorism, there are those
who, by now, are seeking to exploit things in the name of partisan
interests: Russia against America, France against England, the right
against the left. The time has come perhaps to say unequivocally
that there is no clash of civilizations underway, there is no war
of Islam against Christianity, of the poor against the rich or of
moderates against radicals: war is only a tragedy of men against
men, in which the losers are but human beings, the most weak and
defenceless. The Caucasus symbolizes this distraught world; however
much one tries to compartmentalize reality, it is impossible in that
land to draw the line of one against the other, of Orthodox Ossetians
against Muslim Ingush, or Buddhist Kalmuckians, or Jewish Daghestan,
or Gregorian Armenians. There is no limit between moderate Islam
and international fundamentalism, between nationalist Cossacks and
pro-American Georgians. The sociology and history of religion become
a card game to deal out on the green table of cynical international
politics, raising the stakes on the basis of what is convenient for
the arms trade, the petroleum market and the poppy fields, if not
for holding on to the petty seats of some national or continental
parliament. Causes are invented to defend vested interests;
recriminations are made to hide one’s own lies.
Putin’s attackers are trigger happy, this is clear. A bit like
American cowboys, they are not standing by waiting for a smoking gun:
they prefer to shoot first. The Russian President himself has little
faith in the search for dialogue and consensus: he grew up in the
school of unique thought and armed peace; many shortcomings can be
attributed to his colleague in Washington, certainly not a champion of
multicultural tolerance. But, it is hard to imagine that others in
their place would have done better, above all those who preach easy
pacifism and the embrace of diversities, when the problem is losing
one’s own identity in the tragedy of a war that started long ago.
There is no anti-Putin in Russia, there is nowhere in the world an
anti-Bush capable of putting an end to all this horror with the shake
of a hand and calls to mutual understanding. Putin’s speech to the
nation, following the tragedy, made his powerlessness dramatically
clear: in promising yet another security service reform, he called
on citizens of the Russian Federation to give proof of unity and
solidarity. In the name of what, he was no longer able to say, nor
was he able to put on display the anger of early days, when he would
promise to conquer all enemies. Solidarity among people is not a
product of promises or ideals, it needs to be lived day after day,
bowing one’s head in the face of pain, learning from wounds not to
judge, as not to be judged; fighting evil, from whatever side it
arrives, without professing to be the incarnation of Good. He who
said to be so was not, in fact, a prince of the world: He was a Man
on the cross.

OTE boss says restructuring plan afoot
Kathimerini, Greece
Sept 8 2004
Financial results will begin to improve in a year’s time, Vourloumis
says, adding that all company ventures abroad are now profitable
Restructuring is key to the future of OTE Telecom, its Chairman and
CEO Panayis Vourloumis said in a press conference in Thessaloniki
yesterday.
“(OTE’s) recovery will arrive through the restructuring we are planning
and which will affect a lot of activities. This (restructuring) is
not something unheard of, it is something other big fixed telephony
providers have undergone. Provided it starts immediately, it should
begin having an impact on the group’s financial results a year from
now,” Vourloumis said.
OTE, once the monopoly telecoms provider in Greece, has lost close
to 15 percent of the fixed telephony market since its deregulation
in 2000.
Mobile telephony started in 1993 and, while OTE was a late entrant
in the market, its subsidiary, CosmOTE, is a market leader.
OTE’s profits have been falling in recent years and management has
attributed this to three reasons: the competition that has naturally
risen in the fixed telephony segment; the low fees it says it has been
forced to charge its competitors for using its fixed-line network;
and extraordinary costs and write-offs in some of its acquisitions
abroad, especially in Romania.
Vourloumis estimated that profits from fixed telephony will continue
to be weak “for quite some time.”
Asked whether OTE will implement a voluntary retirement program,
Vourloumis replied that its plans for one are still at an early
stage and emphasized that the management will seek the employees’
consensus before proceeding with such a program.
Referring to OTE’s activities abroad, Vourloumis said that all
companies in which OTE participates, either as a majority or minority
shareholder, are profitable.
He referred to the legal tangles in Serbia, where OTE holds 20 percent
of Telekom Srbija, and Armenia, where it holds 90 percent of Armentel,
as “festering wounds.”
“Our strategy is to normalize our relations and to close the wounds
without a loss,” Vourloumis said. He appeared confident that a
solution will be found in Serbia, whereas he did not exclude an
eventual withdrawal from Armenia, where OTE has had to compete
with pirate telephony providers, but “on favorable terms and with
a big profit.” The mobile telecoms firms under CosmOTE’s management
in Albania, Bulgaria and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia
are “operating smoothly,” Vourloumis said. In Romania, according to
Vourloumis, “Romtelecom is doing well now but certainly OTE will not
recover its losses over the past few years soon.” He added that the
group is considering whether to reactivate their mobile telephony
subsidiary, Cosmorom.
“We must make a decision soon because, if we delay for a few more
months, there will be no place for us in the (Romanian) market,”
he said.
OTE’s chief said that the company’s successful handling of telecoms
services during the Olympic Games had imbued the company “with a new
self-esteem,” which must be used “to recover the ground we lost in
the past few years.”

Azer Tag, Azerbaijan State Info Agency
Sept 8 2004
BILL “ON STATE SECRET” PASSED
[September 08, 2004, 13:01:59]
At the sitting of the Milli Majlis held on 7 October, as
correspondent of AzerTAj informs, the deputies have made protest
against participation of the Armenian officers in the forthcoming
action of NATO in Baku and have demanded, that Milli Majlis has
expressed attitude to the mentioned question.
Chairman of Milli Majlis Murtuz Alaskarov has noted, that the
Azerbaijan state cooperates with the NATO within the framework of
a number of programs. The organizer of action to be carried out in
September of this year in Baku is the NATO and consequently, official
Baku cannot interfere with the given question. Murtuz Alaskarov has
stated that in this connection the question will discuss with the
head of state and heads of other corresponding organizations.
Further, have been discussed and accepted the bills “On state secret”
(in the third reading) and “On protection and development of the
Azerbaijan carpet art”.

Russian Children’s Fund sends psychologists to Beslan
ITAR-TASS, Russia
Sept 8 2004
UNITED NATIONS ORGANISATION, September 8 (Itar-Tass) – A group
of specialists in emergency psychology has come to Beslan on the
initiative of the Russian Children’s Fund. Academician Valeria Mukhina
is leading the group, which includes a number of doctors and candidates
of sciences, Albert Likhanov, head of the Russian Children’s Fund,
told Itar-Tass on Tuesday. The group starts work on Wednesday morning.
“Those people are professionals in the field. They worked with me
in Armenia, during the Spitak earthquake, and later in Budennovsk,”
Likhanov continued. He came to New York to attend the 57th World
Conference of U.N.-associated Non-governmental Organisations.
“Psychological aid is what North Ossetia needs most today. The famous
Dr. Leonid Roshal has just returned from there. When I asked him what
assistance is needed in North Ossetia as a matter of priority, he said:
‘Send psychologists there,” Likhanov said.
In the opinion of Likhanov, actually all the Beslan children are in
need of psychological assistance. “Psychological help should be given
to them, in order to help them overcome the shock,” he said. The work
will take several months.
Assistance to the parents, who lost their children, will be a special
sphere of work for the emergency team. “It will be even more difficult
to do, because there is no consolation for a mother or a father in
this situation. But we sent professionals there, and they are going to
stay in North Ossetia for some time,” Likhanov said. According to his
information, Moscow specialists will train the local psychologists,
who have higher education, but who have no experience of work in
emergency situations.
The head of the Russian Children’s Fund is sure that any revenge,
any actions in retaliation for what happened in Beslan “will trigger
conflagration in the Northern Caucasus.” “We must prevent it, because
guiltless people will become its victims, the people who have nothing
to do with the Beslan developments,” he stressed.
“Let us pray, pray and help those who remained alive. That place of
the suffering of children should remain in the history not only for
North Ossetia, but also of the whole of Russia,” Likhanov said.

School siege victims receive humanitarian aid
RosBusinessConsulting, Russia
Sept 8 2004
RBC, 08.09.2004, Rostov-on-Don 10:50:12.Hospitals in Beslan are
still receiving humanitarian aid from abroad. According to the
Russian Emergencies Ministry, in particular, Italy has sent 7 tons
of medicines, the USA has sent 25 tons of medicines, an X-ray device
and an automatic lung ventilating machine. Norway and Azerbaijan have
sent 20 tons of medicines; Armenia has sent 200kg of donated blood.
Some 318 people injured in the school siege in Beslan remain in North
Ossetian hospitals.

Russian mobile telecom firms target CIS for growth
By Julie Tolkacheva
MOSCOW, Sept 8 (Reuters) – Russia’s top mobile phone firms, fearing
a domestic boom may slow, are looking to grow in other former Soviet
states to add new high-margin business, analysts said on Wednesday.
Analysts and firms believe 2005 will be the last year of strong market
growth in Russia when mobile operators can add 2 to 3 million new
subscribers a month.
Russia’s mobile penetration has almost doubled over the past 12
months to 38 percent, according to the AC&M market research group,
meaning growth rates must slow as the market matures.
Market leader Mobile TeleSystems (MTS) said recently that 30 percent
of Russians will never own mobile phones as they are too poor or live
in such remote areas that operators would lose money by serving them.
Last month Russia’s No.2 operator, Vimpelcom, bought a mobile firm
in neighbouring Kazakhstan and said it was in acquisition talks with
firms in all countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).
In July, MTS bought an Uzbek mobile phone firm, adding to its existing
operations in Ukraine and Belarus.
“I will be very much surprised if in a year or two Russian companies
do not cover most of the CIS,” said Alfa Bank telecoms analyst Andrei
Bogdanov.
GOOD MARGINS
Russia is the biggest and wealthiest of the CIS states with a
population of 140 million. Kazakhstan is the CIS’s second wealthiest
state, where gross domestic product per capita is the same as in
Russia. But its population is just 15 million.
Neighbouring Uzbekistan has 26 million and economic reforms there have
been shaky. Ukraine’s economy is now on the rise but its population is
about 48 million while Belarus is one of the CIS’s poorest countries
with a population of 10 million.
But analysts said small economies and population would not discourage
mobile operators.
“In absolute terms these markets will never be comparable with Russia
because their size is smaller. They will never see such penetration
levels as developed states, or even Russia,” said an analyst with a
Western bank.
“But they require little investment, low advertising costs, small
dealers’ commissions, and subscriber acquisition costs are low.”
WIDE MARGINS
MTS reported that its EBITDA margin, a key figure showing a company’s
efficiency, was 57 percent both in Russia and Ukraine in the second
quarter of this
year.
The purchase by Vimpelcom, majority owned by Alfa Group, of KaR-Tel
in Kazakhstan was its first acquisition outside Russia.
“I would note Ukraine as Vimpelcom’s next potential acquisition
target. And there is Belarus,” said Olga Zhilinskaya, a Renaissance
Capital analyst.
Belarus is now holding a tender for a third mobile phone service
licence and a Belarus government official has said Alfa Group planned
to participate.
The Western bank analyst said mobile firms would primarily look at
states with low penetration: “Penetration shows growth potential,
which is the key criterion for such fast-growing companies as MTS
or Vimpelcom.”
According to data from UFG investment bank, CIS states with the lowest
penetration levels are in Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan in
Central Asia and Armenia in the Causasus.
Analysts said that Russia’s third biggest mobile firm, MegaFon, was
unlikely to join the expansion rush as a row between its shareholders
deprived it of credit.
Bogdanov said foreign firms were unlikely to oppose Russian expansion
in the CIS as foreigners would be reluctant to match high acquisition
price levels established by Vimpelcom and MTS.
“For Russians it is natural exposure,” he said. “For international
firms CIS markets are not such a priority.”
09/08/04 02:54 ET

Proposed Program Would Remodel Foreign Aid
By GEORGE GEDDA
The Associated Press
09/08/04 01:54 EDT
WASHINGTON (AP) – Secretary of State Colin Powell calls it the most
promising development in foreign assistance in decades. That is quite
a claim for a program that has yet to disburse its first dollar. But
it is clear that President Bush’s Millennium Challenge Account, first
proposed 2 1/2 years ago, represents a fresh approach to helping
countries overcome economic backwardness.
The fund’s premise is simple: If a poor country demonstrates a
commitment to govern justly, promotes economic freedom and invests
in its people, it may be entitled to U.S. dollars.
In other words, the Bush administration view is that little good
comes from pouring aid into a country that pursues bad policies.
Starting up a new program can be labor-intensive. Bush first proposed
the Millennium Challenge Account in March 2002. Only now are the
first outlays on the horizon.
Of 70 countries that meet administration eligibility requirements
based on need, 16 made the cut for receiving aid: Armenia, Benin,
Bolivia, Cape Verde, Georgia, Ghana, Honduras, Lesotho, Madagascar,
Mali, Mongolia, Mozambique, Nicaragua, Senegal, Sri Lanka and the
Pacific Island nation of Vanuatu.
They will get to share in the $1 billion Congress has appropriated
for the first year, assuming that Washington approves the projects
they design.
All 16 are small and poor. Eight are African, where a half-century
of development assistance has done little to improve the underlying
problems of hunger, disease and poverty.
Africa also is the prime beneficiary of another major administration
foreign aid initiative: $15 billion proposed over five years to
combat HIV/AIDS.
To the extent that much of Africa still lives in misery, Jeffrey
Sachs, a development expert at Columbia University, says lack of U.S.
foresight is partly to blame.
“In recent years, America gave a negligible $4 million a year to
Ethiopia to boost agricultural productivity but then responded with
around $500 million in emergency food aid in 2003 when the crops
failed,” Sachs wrote recently.
Nancy Birdsall, president of the Center for Global Development,
believes the Millennium program could become a development
breakthrough.
“If implemented effectively, the resulting program could fundamentally
improve the quality and quantity of U.S. aid and become a model for
other donor countries,” she said.
Her colleague at the center, Steven Radelet, welcomes the initiative
but criticizes other aspects of Bush’s policies toward low-income
countries. By supporting huge subsidies for American farmers in 2002,
Bush “undercut the livelihood of poor farmers around the world,”
Radelet said.
Paul Applegarth, a veteran of the World Bank and Wall Street, runs the
government agency that administers the Millennium Challenge Account. He
says successful reform in poor countries will attract not only the
fund’s money but also foreign investors, which he describes as the
key to long-term prosperity.
Applegarth also says there has been a notable uptick in debate over
reform in some poor countries as they try to position themselves to
join recipients of the U.S. program.
But Rep. Donald Payne, D-N.J., a member of the House International
Relations Committee, says an advantage of the traditional approach to
aid is that the poorest countries were always assured of getting help.
“Qualifying for Millennium Challenge funds has nothing to do with
how bad problems are in your country,” Payne says. He worries that
desperately poor Haiti, as one example, never will be eligible for
the program.
Under Bush’s plan, the Challenge is a supplement to the traditional
assistance vehicle, the Agency for International Development, founded
in 1961. Its budget is about $10 billion annually.
If Congress goes along, Millennium Challenge Account funding will
rise from the current $1 billion for this year to $2.5 billion in
2005 and then go to $5 billion annually by 2006.
USAID will continue providing development assistance. The agency is
credited with carrying out highly effective programs in such areas
as oral rehydration therapy, which has saved the lives of millions
of children with such diseases as dysentery; population and family
planning; and help for fledgling entrepreneurs.
USAID has its detractors, however. Former Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C.,
charged that AID’s programs had minimal effect and were “only lining
the pockets of corrupt dictators, while funding the salaries of a
growing, bloated bureaucracy.”
EDITOR’S NOTE – George Gedda has covered foreign affairs for The
Associated Press since 1968.

Stichting Falkor I.C.Y.
P.O. Box 1649
9701 BP Groningen
Netherlands
[email protected]
www.falkor.o rg
‘Aerials rock night’ in Simplon:
Groningen, Odense, Tbilisi, Yerevan: local heroes come
together
Young rock musicians, film makers, DJ’s and VJ’s from
Armenia, Georgia and Denmark come together in
Netherlands and join a group of Dutch young
musicians. Together they will make new music, films
and perform at the end of their stay, 10 days later.
This concert will take place on Friday 24 September in
Simplon, Groningen.
(For details see )
>>From Georgia we will welcome in Groningen among others
Young Georgian Lolitaz, Bakur Burduli and Madi
Serebriakova, from Armenia The Kings’ Cross,
Alter Ego, Belka and Foreverchild. Denmark will be
represented among others by the reggae band Scientific
Feet. From Groningen members from Go!
Revolution Go!, JetSetReady, Believe is a Doubt and
Sjunya will join the project.
Rock, pop, trip hop, grunge, folk, reggae,
post-hardcore… all different music styles and
cultural backgrounds will be combined and presented at
one
colorful and surprising evening at Simplon.
The project in Groningen is organized by ‘Groningen
One World’, ‘Groverpop’ and Falkor I.C.Y.
-Groningen One World is experienced in organizing
international cultural youth exchanges, with young
artists from Eastern and Western Europe.
-Groverpop is the organisation promoting and
supporting the Groningen pop-scene. Groverpop offers
free concerts of Groningen bands under the name ‘Local
Heroes’.
-Falkor I.C.Y. is initiator of the Aerials project.
Falkor offers exchange projects for young enthusiastic
people in/with Caucasus.
The partner organizations abroad are ‘Caucasus Center
of Contemporary Art’ from Georgia, ‘Ynternet.org’ from
Armenia and ‘Odense Youth House’ (‘Ungdomshuset’ )
from Denmark.
After this project, the intention is to organize the
second part of the exchange project in Georgia in
2005. All participants will then be invited to play at
a festival in Tbilisi.
The project is funded by the EU Youth program and the
city authorities of Groningen.
‘Aerials’ is the name of a popular song by System of a
Down (famous Armenian/ American rock band): ‘Aerials,
in the sky, when you lose small mind, you free your
life.’
——-
For more information:
Falkor: Janita Top, +31 (0)6-54647084,
[email protected],
Groverpop/Simplon: Patrick van Lint, +31 (0) 6
53199622,
[email protected], ,