View previous stories
	Just saying no by Alain Gresh Le Monde Diplomatique France   September 2005   Beijing and Moscow signed an agreement, at the Vladivostok conference on 2 June, to settle their border differences; India confirmed its plans for investing in the Russian oil industry with $1bn for the project Sakhalin I. The Chinese, Russian and Indian foreign ministers meeting there also issued a statement condemning double standards in international relations, a clear reference to the United States.   Because of massive opposition in the US, China’s CNOC oil company in August withdrew its offer for the US oil giant Unocal; the global free circulation of capital lost to security imperatives. Also in August, Iran rejected the proposals of France, Germany and Britain, with US backing, that Tehran should abandon its uranium enrichment activities (under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, it has a right to this technology). In Tehran, where memories of foreign intervention, from the Russians in the 19th century to the CIA in 1953, are strong, the current preference is for national sovereignty.   There were other, not unrelated, events: frequent visits by Chinese leaders to Africa and Latin America; trade tensions between the US, Europe and China over textiles, aircraft and agriculture; South Korea’s recognition of North Korea’s right to a civilian nuclear industry (in contradiction to the position expressed by the US). Cumulatively these suggest the contours of a geopolitical situation far more complex than is generally imagined, which cannot be reduced to the onward march of globalisation and economic liberalism. Nationalisms, cultural specificities and ambitions rooted in history are alive and well; and more and more people are refusing to accept the terms of the new world order.   There is no sign of a supra-imperialism that might end the competition and rivalry. The US, as the Unocal affair showed, has no hesitation in defending its own interests; while from Beijing to São Paulo, from Seoul to New Delhi, there is a growing economic and political patriotism, and a determination that independence should be defended. At the World Trade Organisation meeting in Cancún in September 2003, 20 countries of the South, including India, Brazil and South Africa, blocked proceedings when their demands were not met. In France recent strong opposition to PepsiCo’s planned takeover of the food group Danone was the result of similar views.   To Francis Fukuyama, the end of history meant not only the triumph of globalisation, but also of the model of economic liberalism represented by the US. But the past 10 years have shown that globalisation and liberalism cannot win hearts and minds. In 1789 the ideas of the French revolution were popular in Europe and beyond; later the Soviet revolution served as an ideological and military challenge to the West. But while the armed might of the US grows to unprecedented power, US popularity around the world has slumped. Washington’s image abroad has never been so negative. As the International Herald Tribune put it: “Even China’s better”.   It is unlikely that any country will emerge to rival the US during the coming decade in the way that the Soviet Union did in the second half of the 20th century. Yet, despite its unrivalled military power, the US is still bogged down in Iraq, facing a resistance movement whose few thousands of fighters successfully tie down 148,000 US soldiers. The scandals of Guantánamo Bay and Abu Ghraib, torture and the erosion of civil liberties, undermine the claims by the US and some in Europe (the double-act called “the West”) that they alone are capable of defining universal values of human rights, democracy and liberty and have the authority to decide between good and evil, between which regimes are acceptable and which not, which are to have sanctions imposed on them and which not.   Everywhere there is a rejection of the media-promoted attempts of “the West” to impose shortsighted views of the world and dubious definitions of legality and morality. The success of satellite television channels in the Arab world, particularly Al Jazeera, and the launch of the Telesur satellite in South America, prove people’s unwillingness to be subjected, and this is evident in all areas of political, economic and cultural life (although it sometimes takes the deviant form of religious or national extremism, feeding the idea of a clash of civilisations).   In the early 18th century Europe was able to impose its hegemony on other powers. History has shown that this primacy derived from a particular conjuncture of advantages afforded by the colonial possession of North America and by trade. This translated into a military supremacy that enabled the old continent to impose colonialism on the rest of the world. Europe sought to legitimate this domination by a claimed millennial superiority of its values and thought, particularly Greek philosophy, despising all other cultures as barbaric or inferior. Now it seems that the US, and sometimes Europe, have returned to these earlier prejudices. They should remember that, no matter how developed or advanced, the colonial empires all eventually vanished.   (Translated by Ed Emery)
	Democratic Reforms must begin immediately in Myanmar: UN Rights Expert by Paulo Sergio Pinheiro United Nations Myanmar / Burma   28 September 2005   Citing the persistence of political imprisonment, violations against minorities and squelching of opposition voices in Myanmar, a United Nations human rights expert calls for democratic reforms to begin immediately in that country in his new report to the General Assembly.   “The transition to a full, participatory and democratic system in Myanmar can no longer be postponed,” writes Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, the Special Rapporteur on Myanmar for the Commission on Human Rights. “Political and constitutional dialogue must begin without delay.”   “By instituting values of democracy and human rights,” he adds, “the Government will send a clear signal to the people of Myanmar and the international community that it is actively committed to facilitating the creation of a stable and democratic future for the country.”   The Special Rapporteur has not been permitted to conduct a fact-finding mission to Myanmar since November 2003, he states, and based his information on “a variety of independent and reliable sources.”   Opposition parties were excluded from the national political convention in March and there remain over 1,100 political prisoners in the country, Mr. Pinheiro writes, adding that he remains very concerned at the practice of administrative detention, particularly in the case of the head of the National League for Democracy (NLD).   “It is deeply regrettable that NLD General-Secretary Daw Aung San Suu Kyi celebrated her 60th birthday under house arrest. Her virtual solitary confinement and lack of access to NLD colleagues run counter to the spirit of national reconciliation,” he says.   In regard to minorities, he writes that widespread reports of forced labour, rape and other sexual violence, extortion and expropriation by Government forces continue to be received.   This past July, Mr. Pinheiro had welcomed the release of 249 political prisoners – including politicians, an editor and political party members – from various prisons throughout the South Asian country.   In the current report, he says that the good news of that release has been tempered by the subsequent continuation of arrests, detention and harsh sentences for democracy advocates and other civilians.
	View more stories