SOURCE: The St. Petersburg Times
DATE: Issue #800 (65), Tuesday, September 3, 2002
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TITLE: Rural School Gets Big-City Visitor
AUTHOR: By Andrei Zolotov Jr.
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: MOSCOW - Trying to bring something new to the tradition of visiting a school on the first day of classes, President Vladimir Putin went to a rural schoo on Monday to speak to teachers, children and their parents.
But even in Kostrovo - a village in the Istra district of the Moscow region - the subject was the same as every year in every school Russian leaders have visited: teachers' salaries, which are shamefully low and often not paid on time.
Putin said his order last December to raise salaries for state employees, including teachers, was intended to stir up local officials. He said he did not expect the Cabinet and governors to move so fast to carry out his wishes, and he was pleasantly surprised when they did.
"I did it especially to make everybody move," Interfax quoted Putin as saying.
Teachers and government officials at Kostrovo were evidently on the move Monday, scurrying around the president as he toured the school with an entourage of officials, including Moscow region Governor Boris Gromov and Education Minister Vladimir Filippov. ORT television reported that Kremlin officials had searched for a school outside of Moscow that would be typical, yet with a special charm, and they chose the Kostrovo school, which has 102 years of history and an energetic principal.
Putin watched as 22 first-graders recited the text of the national anthem, and he stopped by ecology and fine-arts classes for senior students. During the lunch break, he joined second-graders in the cafeteria, where he attempted to engage in a conversation with the kids, asking them whether they had wanted to go back to school after the summer break. ORT television showed how, except for one boy, who earned the president's praise by continuing to eat while Putin was in the room, others were so embarassed by the visitor that they could hardly speak. "Well, I won't bother you," Putin said and walked out of the cafeteria.
Later in the day, Putin returned to the topic of schools during a meeting in the Kremlin with top government officials. Deputy Prime Minister Valentina Matviyenko, who also began her day by visiting a school in Moscow, reported that, this year, all teachers were paid their salaries for the summer vacation on time, which was not the case before. "We managed to reduce the wage arrears by half," Matviyenko was shown saying on television.
Other officials also visited schools and colleges Monday, picking one to match their field of responsibility. While Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov spoke at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations, Emergency Minister Sergei Shoigu met with students at Fire Fighter's College No. 1. Patriarch Alexy II paid a visit to the first private full-time Orthodox Christian school, in southwestern Moscow, which celebrates its 10th anniversary this year.
In the capital of Ukraine, Russian Ambassador Viktor Chernomyrdin went to School No. 178 - one of only four schools in Kiev where all classes are taught in Russian. Rossiya televison, as RTR is known as of Monday, reported that the former prime minister taught a class on Russian-Ukrainian relations and recalled his school days and career in the natural gas industry.
"When you turn on the gas burner, know that part of this gas is mine," the Gazprom founder said.
TITLE: Chechnya's Schoolkids Face Different Tests
AUTHOR: By Yevgenia Borisova
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: GROZNY - For the children who returned to School No. 41 in the Chechen capital on Monday, the first test was finding their way through the rubble of four school buildings to the only building still in one piece.
The school, considered one of the best in Grozny, is located downtown, where most of the buildings were bombed to bits in the war. Shelling still goes on here, with machine guns and mortars breaking the silence, not only at night, but sometimes in the middle of the day.
But neither the little girls with huge constructions of ribbon in their hair and carrying bunches of flowers for their teachers, nor the nicely dressed little boys, nor the older students dressed casually, were daunted by the destruction around them.
They were listening to their teachers, who together with the pupils' own parents had painted classroom walls and tried to give the wrecked building a facelift for the first day of school. On Monday, colored balloons hung from the ceilings.
The first class bell rang and school life began for the first-grade pupils with a "peace lesson" in Russian, which some of them seemed to barely understand.
"What could you do to stop the war?" their serious and unsmiling teacher, Asya Metayeva, asked them. One girl guessed: "To study well."
"Why should you study well?" Metayeva asked, and then answered herself: "To work well afterward. If everyone works well, we will never have war in our republic."
The latest fighting has been going on since fall 1999, when Moscow again sent in federal troops, ostensibly to bring order to the republic. Despite the war, which has damaged one-quarter of Chechnya's 600 schools and destroyed 68 of them, 454 schools opened their doors to more than 190,000 Chechen children on Monday.
But many of the schools are in frightful condition, said Ilina Sadulayeva, chief expert in the Chechen government's department of social policies. The federal government allocated money for the large-scale reconstruction of only 14 schools, while lesser repairs were done to 48 schools, she said. According to her department, Chechen schools received 246,210 tons of paint, 60,000 tons of nails, 40,000 square meters of linoleum and other materials. But, Sadulayeva said, no figures are available on how much was really needed.
Grozny's School No. 41 has no electricity, running water or indoor toilets. The toilet is in the courtyard, and the classrooms will be heated by gas stoves that Russians call burzhuiki.
Conditions are the same in most schools in Chechnya, including many of the renovated ones, because municipal water and power have been restored only in certain parts of Grozny. Most schools have no science laboratories, and many have no basic equipment such as globes.
There also was no light or central heat in beautifully restored School No. 7 of the Leninsky district, which, together with School No. 16 in the Oktyabrsky district, was renovated by the People in Need Foundation of the Czech Republic, with funds provided by UNICEF and the U.S. State Department's Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration. But school director Khamzat Kukayev said conditions were great by current Grozny standards and he complained only that the school has only about one-quarter of the learning materials it needs.
But Khasanbek Astamirov, director of School No. 10, in the Staropromyslovsky district, which was just renovated by the local branch of the State Construction Committee on the federal government's tab, was outraged by the lack of thought that went into the repairs.
"Look at these doors," he said. "How could they make the doors with such thin glass in schools? Children will inevitably knock the glass out and hurt themselves."
Astamirov's neighbors at School No. 11 - also in the Staropromyslovsky district and named after its most prominent graduate, former Ingush President Ruslan Aushev - were much less fortunate.
Like School No. 41, they were provided with paint, wallpaper, roofing materials, nails and cement, but teachers and parents had to do almost all the repairs themselves. The city only helped the school by providing a patron, a local gas company, which sent a team to fix the roof.
Despite the obvious problems, the Chechen education minister, Lyoma Dadayev, painted a rosy picture. "The restoration of our republic is going on via the restoration of the education here," he said in an interview Friday.
Dadayev said the republic has all the classroom furniture it needs and almost 95 percent of the learning materials, and had gotten about 2,500 computers for its schools. Many of the almost 13,000 teachers had received special training, and "there is not a village in the republic that does not have a school," he said.
But Sadulayeva said that when her department's staff checked out the education ministry's reports, "we found out that not all is as rosy as they said."
Dadayev himself acknowledged that, despite the impressive number of computers intended for Chechnya's schools, most are still in the warehouse.
"I will only give the computers - about five per school - to those schools that have electricity, an armored door on the computer classroom and bars on the windows," the education minister said. Few schools in Chechnya fit the criteria.
"We were promised 20 computers," said Khanum Umarova, director of School No. 11. "But I am afraid to take the computers without the bars and a special door. I hope the city will help me with this and I think we also need a special guard."
School No. 3 in Argun, a city southeast of Grozny and known for the cruel sweeps conducted here by federal troops, does not even dream of getting computers. Its main concern is for the safety of its pupils.
The school is in the line of fire of two nearby checkpoints and is shelled quite often. Federal troops also like to use the school as a base for some of their operations, school director Zura Ismailova said. Tired of troops breaking in through the windows, the school bricked up the first-floor windows almost to the top, leaving only a slit for light, but Ismailova and the teachers do not believe it will stop the unwanted intrusions.
"Recently, in mid-August, the troops came here and broke down the doors," Ismailova said. "I shouted that I would open the doors, but they would not listen. They broke the lock into several classrooms on the first floor and even went to the bathroom there. They stole some of our equipment and even a big clock. I hope very much that it stops."
School No. 3 in Tsotsin-Yurt, in the Kurchaloi district, southeast of Argun, received no construction materials, and director Zaret Garsiyeva said the teachers had to put their money together and buy paint and wallpaper. On Sunday, Garsiyeva was still climbing chairs and gluing wallpaper herself. The school's windows have plastic instead of glass.
"We bought glass several times last year, but it was all destroyed in explosions. The last explosion was last week, and all the glass was destroyed. We just can't do this futile job any more. Explosions take place every day," she said.
Last year, gas stoves that teachers had bought themselves to heat the classrooms were confiscated three times by troops, she said.
Garsiyeva said that it was dangerous for children to come to school, and teachers also were taking a risk. Last year, three teachers were detained and beaten during cleansing operations, she said.
This year, several hundred children of displaced families who were relocated this summer from refugee tent camps in Ingushetia to dormitories in Grozny also will go to school.
Zarema Zakrailova, a mother of two who lives in a refugee center in the Grozny suburb of Mayakovsky, said she cannot afford to buy the 12 books, at 50 rubles each, that her children are supposed to have.
"My kids will have to go and just listen, and I can't help it," she said. The center, run by the Federal Migration Service, provided pupils with some notebooks and pens only.
The most worrying thing for almost every Chechen was not the conditions of the schools or availability of materials, but the state of education in the republic itself.
"In the last 10 years there has been no systematic education for our children," Sadulayeva said. "Many are illiterate. A whole generation has fallen out of the normal education cycle. Many 15 to 17-year-olds cannot read. I think our academics should sit down and urgently start working out what should be done with these children - because they are the future of our republic."
A 10th-grade teacher in one of Grozny's schools said her students have trouble understanding even ninth-grade math. For English lessons last year they used a sixth-grade textbook.
Teachers in many schools said they have to spend much of their spare time tutoring the slowest students to help them catch up.
"Basically what we have now is mainly based on the enthusiasm and hard work of our teachers," Dadayev, the education minister, said.
TITLE: Moscow Court Orders Sutyagin To Be Held
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: MOSCOW - A Moscow city court on Monday refused to free Igor Sutyagin, an arms researcher accused of spying for the United States, and ordered him held for another month.
Sutyagin was led into the brief, closed-court hearing with his hands cuffed behind his back.
A scholar at Moscow's respected USA and Canada Institute, he was arrested in October 1999 on suspicion of passing information on the development of new-generation submarines and the combat readiness of Russia's nuclear weapons and missile-attack-warning systems to a British company allegedly set up as a cover for the CIA. Prosecutors are seeking a 14-year sentence in a high-security prison.
Sutyagin has pleaded innocent, maintaining that the analyses he wrote were all based on open sources and that he had no reason to believe the British company was an intelligence cover.
The Lefortovo district court ordered Sutyagin held until at least Oct. 8, when another hearing in the case is planned, said his lawyer Vladimir Vasiltsov. Noting that his client has already spent nearly three years in detention, Vasiltsov called on the courts to take action in the case and to present their evidence.
He said he remained optimistic. "Hope still remains," he said after the hearing.
Sutyagin was moved to Lefortovo Prison in June from Kaluga, his hometown. A Kaluga court had been expected to issue a verdict in December but, instead, told prosecutors to continue investigating.
TITLE: German President Arrives in Moscow
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: MOSCOW - German President Johannes Rau arrived Monday in Moscow for a four-day state visit that includes a meeting with President Vladimir Putin and a trip to a northern cemetery where German soldiers who died during World War II are buried.
European Union expansion and the problems it will create for travel by Kaliningrad residents were also expected to be discussed during Rau's visit.
Economic ties, too, are on the agenda - Germany is Russia's No. 1 trading partner. Rau was scheduled to meet with young Russian managers who have trained in Germany.
Rau said that he hoped the trip "will further strengthen and promote the relations between the two countries, since we have so much in common."
Rau also said Russia could "play a special role of a bridge between Asia and Europe."
After his meetings in Moscow, Rau is to travel north to Novgorod for a two-day visit before he departs from Russia on Thursday. In the region, the scene of heavy fighting during the war, Rau will visit a cemetery where German soldiers are buried and a church is being rebuilt with funds from German industry.
Putin has met Rau twice before and met Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder 14 times, said Foreign Ministry spokesperson Boris Malakhov, Interfax reported.
TITLE: Making a Profit From Looking Like Putin
AUTHOR: By Sarah Karush
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: MOSCOW - Wherever he goes, Anatoly Gorbunov is greeted by awed gazes, whispers and requests for his picture. Gorbunov is just a regular guy - who happens to bear a striking resemblance to President Vladimir Putin.
Gorbunov, a businessperson from the southern city of Volgodonsk, is not related to Putin and has never met the former KGB agent, who was catapulted to the presidency 2 1/2 years ago.
"I'm told I look like him,'' Gorbunov said in a recent interview in Moscow. "What can I do? ... It's nature's joke.''
Gorbunov and Putin share the same sharp cheekbones, slightly flared nose and thin brown hair, but the resemblance is far from total. Gorbunov's sparkling blue eyes and warm grin contrast with Putin's gray eyes and steely countenance. Putin is also a decade older than the 39-year-old Gorbunov.
Thanks to Putin's unflagging popularity, Gorbunov's resemblance to the president garners him requests for autographs. Putin, over halfway through his term, enjoys high approval ratings.
Proof of public adoration is found in the number of Putin books, Putin portraits and Putin T-shirts. Even a new pop song, "Ya Khochu Takogo, Kak Putin," ("I Want Someone Like Putin") has teenagers swooning over the president's strength and reliability.
In the summer of 1999, Gorbunov's appearance went suddenly from unremarkable to the talk of the town - mirroring Putin's unexpected rise from the obscure post of chief of the Federal Security Service to prime minister.
Soon after that appointment, Gorbunov and a friend took a vacation at a resort known to be frequented by government officials.
"We got there and everyone started dropping dishes when we went to the restaurant,'' Gorbunov recalled.
Since then, Gorbunov, who runs two television channels and several radio stations in Volgodonsk, has learned to enjoy his stardom.
He recalled strolling with a friend on Red Square when a group of tourists from Siberia began staring at him, trying to figure out if he really was the president. Pointing to St. Basil's Cathedral, at the time enveloped in scaffolding, he said in his best Putin voice, "First we'll finish with St. Basil's, and then we'll do more repairs on the Kremlin.'' That seemed to convince the tourists, he said.
But, although he has fun with the attention, Gorbunov concedes it can sometimes be a burden - especially when he leaves Volgodonsk, where he is well-known. Since the incident on Red Square, Gorbunov says he avoids the center of Moscow, especially if he is dressed in a suit.
"Some people smile, some point,'' he said. "Some say, 'Yo, man! It's Putin!' That kind of thing is annoying and tiresome.''
TITLE: IN BRIEF
TEXT: Zhirinovsky in Trouble?
ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) - State Duma Speaker Gennady Seleznyov, said on Monday that Liberal Democratic Party of Russia leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky may be called to the carpet in the chamber for behavior unfitting of a deputy, Interfax reported.
Seleznyov told Interfax that, last week, Sergei Komkov, the president of the All-Russia Education Fund, lodged a complaint with him, saying that, on Aug. 26, Zhirinovsky and about 20 of supporters attacked the secondary school Serebryany Bor 2000, which belongs to the fund.
Komkov said that Zhirinovsky's group used force to occupy the school, despite resistence from school staff.
"This ugly episode from Zhirinovsky indicates that he seems to have forgotten that he is not only a deputy and the leader of his party, but her is also deputy chairperson of the State Duma," Interfax quoted Seleznyov as saying.
He added that, after checking he facts of the complaint, he sent a copy of the letter to the Duma's Ethics Commission and to the Security Committee.
Extra Billing
ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) - The investigation in the criminal case against former vice governor and head of the city administration Health Committee, Anatoly Kogan, was completed by the prosecutors office on Friday, Interfax reported.
Kogan is allowed access to the files from the investigation in order acquaint himself with the materials agains him.
On July 25, Kogan was charged with abuse of office for purchasing insulin for a city program at a price 2 1/2 times that stated in government contracts.
Investigators cay that Kogan's actions ultimately cost the city budget six million rubles ($190,000), Interfax reported.
Lightening the Load
ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) - About 65 of the 98 rolls of steel being carried by the cargo ship Kaunas have been lifted from the bottom of the Neva River, Interfax reported emergency workers as saying on Monday.
Each of the rolls cerried by the vesselo, which sank in the river on Aug. 15 after colliding with Liteiny Bridge, weighs from 18 to 20 tons. Work on lifting the remaining cargo was halted on Sunday, however, the news agency reported, due to heavy winds.
The sinking of the ship in the chanel led to the suspension of most cargo traffic on the river up until Aug. 23, whien emergency workers were finally able to remove enough of the upper part of the vessel to allow other ships to pass over it safely.
TITLE: Sistema Ousted from PC Plant
AUTHOR: By Alex Nicholson
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: ZELENOGRAD, Moscow Region - Just as the dust began settling at one major local enterprise, it began swirling at another.
On Thursday, a day after a standoff between rival general directors at local vodka monopoly Kristall ended, another erupted at Kvant, the biggest computer factory in Russia.
On one side of the conflict is IVK, a leading personal-computer manufacturer, and on the other is Sistema, a giant holding company that controls leading mobile phone operator MTS and has close ties to Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov.
Accounts of what happened vary, but what is clear is that IVK representative Vladimir Chepko took control of Kvant after a pre-dawn swoop on the factory, 30 kilometers north of Moscow, and has not left the compound since.
Sistema's Sergei Kabayev, who replaced Chepko as general director on Aug. 22, said by telephone Friday that two of his security guards were hospitalized after Chepko descended on the factory with dozens of armed men from the Interior Ministry and Zelenograd police department, but he could not name the hospital.
His deputy, Vasily Konstantinov, was quoted by Vedomosti on Friday as saying that he "barely got out alive."
Chepko denied that force had been used.
"I'm a civilian, not a military general," he said in an interview at the factory on Friday. "I can't control military divisions, let alone armed ones. I would like to know what kind of commander would allocate 50 to 60 soldiers to storm a civilian target."
Sistema and IVK have been exchanging legal blows to gain control of Kvant since 1998, when, according to Sistema, IVK used a forged power of attorney to capture 34.3 percent of Sistema's 69.6 percent of the voting shares in the company.
IVK, for its part, says that, before it got legal control of the 34.3-percent stake, Sistema used forged documents to gain a controlling stake. IVK says it now owns 53 percent of the factory, while Sistema owns 35 percent.
Whoever controls Kvant, controls some 20 percent of the country's PC market, which is enjoying one of the highest growth rates in the world. When operating at full capacity, Kvant's 3.5 kilometers of production lines can roll out 50,000 units per month. It also has lucrative government contracts to supply computers to various ministries.
While Chepko may now have physical control of the plant, Sistema has no intention of giving up the fight.
Immediately after Chepko's return, Kabayev ordered some of his men to block the factory's gates with their trucks.
Rodion Ulybin, Sistema's head of corporate restructuring, said the move was designed to keep Chepko from stealing company property.
The blockade, however, did not last long.
Ulybin said that some 40 local police officers in 10 police cars showed up Friday afternoon and had the trucks towed away - but only after smashing their windows and arresting the drivers, an accusation that could not be confirmed.
At 4 p.m., however, the scene outside the factory was calm.
Inside the sprawling plant, technical director Viktor Plekhanov said a major client, Fujitsu-Siemens, had called to ask "if there is a revolution going on" and whether production had been slowed.
TITLE: Boom Predicted for Consumer Lending
AUTHOR: By Victoria Lavrentieva
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: MOSCOW - A few months ago, Pavel wanted a washing machine, but he didn't think he could afford it.
At $500, the one he had his eye on was more than he makes every month at a small company selling thermometers and manometers to pharmacies.
But then he learned about credit.
Thirty minutes later, Pavel, at 23, had taken out his first consumer loan - a 15,000-ruble ($476) credit with monthly payments of around 3,000 rubles ($95) - and neither he nor his wife have had to wash their clothes by hand since.
"I have a family, so for me it was very convenient because I didn't have to borrow from friends or save for several months," he said.
Pavel didn't stop with the washing machine, however. Last month he took out a second loan to buy a television set, and then recommended the program to a fellow worker, who did the same. Now he and his co-worker, like thousands of other Muscovites, are quickly building a credit history - an integral part of life in the West that has yet to take hold in Russia.
Pavel's creditor, Russky Standart, the country's leading consumer lender, hopes to change all that.
"Our lending portfolio went up by a factor of eight last year, meaning that we doubled lending volumes every quarter," said Margarita Krakovskaya, head of the bank's communications department.
Founded in 1999, Russky Standart was the first bank in the country to focus on consumer loans. With the help of U.S.-based consulting firm McKinsey & Co., the bank launched its first lending program in March 2000 with $30 million in equity capital.
"As of today, we have issued $140 million in loans to 450,000 people, and demand is growing every day," Krakovskaya said. She said that the bank's collection rate is above 90 percent. Delinquent borrowers, she said, are referred to an in-house collection agency. "If someone forgets to pay back a loan, we remind them, and if they're crooks, we can sue them."
The bank's successful collection rate has caught the attention of international heavyweights and local players eager to cash in on the relatively unexploited niche market. The largest foreign investor in the country, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, loaned Russky Standart $10 million to support its retail program earlier this summer; and the private lending arm of the World Bank, the International Finance Corp., is currently in talks to buy a stake in the bank.
The competition has taken notice.
James Cook, vice chairperson of DeltaBank, part of the U.S. government-affiliated DeltaGroup, said that his bank recently decided to make consumer lending its core focus - in no small part because of Russky Standart's success.
"There are not many banks in Russia that are doing consumer lending," Cook said. "But in my opinion this market has great potential because now we have all the key factors for it to be successful."
DeltaBank's consumer loan portfolio has increased by $2 million in the last three to four months and demand is growing constantly, Cook said, adding that DeltaBank, too, has a collection rate above 90 percent.
The lack of a credit culture and the growing number of people with disposable incomes means that it's just a matter of time before the market really takes off, said Andrei Ivanov, banking analyst at investment bank Troika Dialog.
"Obviously, Russians are not used to living on banks' money," he said. But 10 percent of the economically active population, or about 6 million people, are already potential borrowers and the number is growing, he added. "Bearing in mind that there are practically no banks offering consumer lending products, the niche is wide open."
Russky Standart first began working with retailers about two years ago, and now coordinates lending programs with nearly 1,500 companies. Electronics goods and household appliances - mainly washing machines - account for the bulk of its lending portfolio, but there are 20 other categories of goods and services that it finances, including everything from cars, jewelry, furniture and clothing to tourism and dental work.
"We work mainly with large retail chains, and we have mutual interests in advertising lending products because it allows shops to increase their sales volumes by as much as 30 percent," Krakovskaya said.
"Customers can find out within 15 minutes of filling out an application whether or not they qualify for a loan. Our electronic scoring system can approve 2,000 loans a day," she said.
At electronics chain M.Video, for example, Russky Standart offers loans of between 5,000 rubles ($159) and 100,000 ($3,174) rubles with a 15-percent down payment. The loan is usually for six months at a fixed rate of no more than 24 percent, with an option to extend the repayment period up to one year. Under the M.Video plan, borrowers must make monthly payments of at least 10 percent of the outstanding balance every month.
Particularly enticing, borrowers need only to present a passport and either a driving license, insurance card or individual tax number.
Pervoye OVK, founded after the 1998 crisis by former SBS-Agro tycoon Alexander Smolensky, offers similar terms and conditions.
Working mainly through large furniture outlets, Pervoye OVK lends not less than 10,000 rubles ($317) for six months and up to 50,000 rubles ($1,587) for one year at 20-percent interest and a 10-percent down payment.
The country's largest retail bank, state-controlled Sberbank, has offered a consumer lending products for some time, but with stricter conditions.
One of its products is called an "emergency" loan, which can be used for any purpose. Such loans can be for up to five years and have annual interest rates of 22 percent in ruble terms and 13 percent in dollar terms, with the credit limit depending on the borrower's income.
TITLE: Intel Corp. Refocuses Investment
PUBLISHER: Combined Reports
TEXT: BANGALORE, India - Intel Corp. plans to ramp up its investments in China and Russia, the world's top maker of computer-processor chips said Friday.
"China and Russia are probably the two which will see the greatest percentage growth in our presence over the next several years," CEO Craig Barrett told reporters during a two-day visit to India.
Intel, which aims to invest about $100 million to $200 million in India over the next few years, is looking at neighboring China due to its manufacturing strengths, he said.
China's combination of manufacturing and engineering capabilities and Russia's engineering talent attracted Intel, which had earlier identified Israel, Ireland and India as its investment priorities, he said.
Intel has invested about $500 million in China in the last five years, company officials said. The U.S. chip giant plans to employ about 3,000 people in its Shanghai facility by 2004, up from more than 1,200 now.
Intel will focus its investment on research into chip designs and the development of other software, Barrett said.
Barrett said Intel plans to more than triple the number of engineers to 3,000 at its Indian software-design center in a few years while continuing to invest in manufacturing facilities in Ireland and Israel.
"That doesn't mean we will abandon our existing sites in countries such as Malaysia, the Philippines or the United States," he said.
"It is really suggesting that we will look for growth, going forward, in places such as India, Russia and China."
Russia's software-outsourcing market had total revenues of some $150 million last year, according to the Market-Visio/EDC research group.
India, meanwhile, is expected to gain $8 billion this year from the sector, up from $6.2 billion in 2001, according to the country's National Association of Software and Service Companies, or Nasscom.
(Reuters, SPT, AP)
TITLE: New WTO Chief Cautious On Prospects of Swift Entry
PUBLISHER: russia
TEXT: GENEVA - Russia needs to introduce more reforms in its economic structure before it can join the World Trade Organization, the new head of the body Supachai Panitchpakdi said on Monday.
Supachai, a former deputy prime minister of Thailand, was speaking at his first news conference after taking over as WTO director-general at the weekend from Mike Moore - who has long predicted that Russia would be in by autumn next year.
"One will have to be a bit cautious," said Supachai when asked by a Russian reporter when entry might come. "The road to full accession [for Russia] is still somewhat ahead of us..."
"It is up to Russia to go through the process, and some essential reforms are still on the cards," he said.
His remarks suggested that there was growing pessimism among WTO insiders that Russia - the largest major economy still outside the body - might be ready to wrap up almost 10 years of negotiations soon.
In recent months, senior officials in Moscow have voiced anger over demands by major powers in the 144-member WTO - especially the United States and the European Union - that it abandon what they see as key planks of the economy.
These include state subsidies to its aircraft industry, bringing domestic fuel prices into line with what Russia charges foreign customers, and fully opening up insurance and banking operations to foreign companies.
The Australian-coordinated Cairns Group of agricultural-produce exporters in the WTO, which includes many developing countries, are also refusing to agree to allow Russia to spend up to $17 billion a year on farm support once it joins.
Moscow's chief WTO negotiator, deputy economic and trade minister Maxim Medvedkov, said last month that his country could not accept demands that went beyond standard requirements for acceptance into the organization.
In an interview with a Moscow newspaper, he warned that any further substantial negotiations might now have to be postponed until 2005.
TITLE: New Chief To Head Troubled U.S. Airline
AUTHOR: By Dave Carpenter
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: CHICAGO - United Airlines' board of directors has called a special meeting for Sept. 1, amid reports that it plans to select an oil-company executive as its new chairperson and chief executive officer.
Glenn Tilton, the 54-year-old vice chairperson of ChevronTexaco Corp. and acting chairperson of struggling Dynegy Inc., has emerged as the front-runner to replace interim CEO Jack Creighton, according to several reports. He could be named to the job on Monday.
But both the company and union sources said Sunday that no final decision has been made.
United spokesperson Joe Hopkins called the reports speculation and said the airline does not comment on rumors.
The pilots union, which has a seat on the board of United parent UAL Corp., declined comment on Tilton's chances of winning the post. But a spokesperson said that the pilots have a positive view of him although he has no experience in the airline industry.
"Based on the reports we've seen, he's a good man," spokesperson Herb Hunter said Sunday. "We need leadership. Right now we're a ship without a rudder, going through some rough seas."
Tilton last year was named chairperson and chief executive officer of Texaco Inc., the country's second-largest oil company, shortly before it was formally acquired by Chevron Corp. He was named to the board of embattled Dynegy in January and became interim CEO in May. San Francisco-based ChevronTexaco holds a 26.5-percent stake in Dynegy.
His previous posts included president of Texaco USA, president of Texaco Refining and Marketing, and head of Texaco's Global Businesses unit.
The other finalist for the United job - John Walker, a UAL director and CEO of Weirton Steel Corp. - also has no experience running an airline. But financially ailing United, which is trying to avoid bankruptcy, has had no luck attracting an industry veteran since it began its four-month search.
Creighton has earned the respect of United's unions, but he turned 70 and had said he wanted to return to retirement. A UAL board member, he took the post last October when James Goodwin resigned under pressure.
The Wall Street Journal, citing unnamed sources, first reported on its Web site Saturday that Tilton had won the support of the UAL board, but not formal endorsement.
The Journal and two other publications, the Chicago Tribune and Crain's Chicago Business, said two other United executives are expected to depart at the same time as Creighton. They cited sources as saying that Rono Dutta, UAL's president, and Andy Studdert, the chief operating officer, would probably step down.
Both have been under fire from United's unions for more than a year.
UAL has posted losses of nearly $3 billion in the past 18 months and has threatened to file for Chapter-11 bankruptcy protection this fall if it can't get its costs down dramatically and win a government loan guarantee.
Creighton, who had vowed not to preside over a bankruptcy filing, set a Sept. 16 deadline for unions to agree on $2.5 billion in annual cost cuts for the next six years, including $1.5 billion from the unions themselves.
TITLE: Oil Prices Key to U.S. Policies
AUTHOR: By James Flanigan
TEXT: OIL plays a role in the U.S. determination to end Saddam Hussein's rule in Iraq - a role that goes far beyond the concerns that convulsed commodity markets over the last month.
The price of crude oil rose to more than $30 a barrel, a very high level, because of financial market concerns about a possible U.S. invasion of Iraq.
Prices then fell back when President George W. Bush threw cold water on the idea of an imminent invasion, even though he clearly indicated that a "regime change" in Iraq was what his administration wants. It's "in the interests of the world," Bush said.
Oil is one reason for wanting to remove the Iraqi regime, though the more important reason is the need for political and economic reform in the Middle East. But oil is part of that equation.
Bluntly put, the world will need Iraq's oil as the solution to a looming energy shortage. Iraq has the second-largest oil reserves in the world - after Saudi Arabia - and many experts put its potential as equal to that of the Saudi kingdom.
Yet because of a decade of sanctions and rules, OPEC member Iraq is producing far below its capacity, and even below its 2-million-barrels-a-day production rate of recent years.
That's why oil prices are unusually high, even without the "war premium" of $4 to $5 a barrel that nervous markets have added on.
In fact, because of sanctions against Iraq that cut development of new wells, and continued growth of oil consumption in Asia and elsewhere, OPEC countries' surplus of production capacity is down to 2 million barrels a day, from a surplus of 5 million barrels a day at the time of the Persian Gulf War 11 years ago, estimates Amy Jaffe in studies done for the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy at Rice University.
A smaller surplus makes for nervous markets, with traders pushing up prices at any hint of a disruption in supply. The International Energy Agency, the Paris-based organization of petroleum-consuming countries requested last week that OPEC raise its production quotas in September as a way of easing tensions in the markets.
Accelerating economic development in China, India, Russia and Central Asia will surely strain the capacity of OPEC and other oil-producing countries, which already have little spare capacity, say the Baker Institute studies. New oil development in Central Asia and Russia itself would not be enough to alleviate a potential shortage - and oil from those regions is projected to be very high-cost compared with the oil of Iraq, Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern countries.
Iraq's reserves total 112 billion barrels, compared with Saudi Arabia's 262 billion, and experts agree that more reserves remain to be discovered in both countries.
Two factors are complicating the oil situation and the outlook for the Middle East. One is an increasingly public quarrel between the United States and Saudi Arabia.
In recent weeks, a high-level Defense Department advisory panel heard a report from a Rand Corp. analyst calling Saudi Arabia `"the most dangerous opponent" in the Middle East. And Saudi private investors were reported last week to have shifted $100 billion in investments out of the United States.
However, Treasury securities traders at Payden & Rygel in Los Angeles and other firms discount the investment reports because no evidence of such massive shifts have shown up in the bond markets. At the end of the week, Saudi officials took pains to say that their country would hike oil production to prevent any supply disruption if the United States attacked Iraq.
The other factor that affects oil prices is that oil companies in general, and particularly independent refining companies such as Valero Energy Corp., Tesoro Petroleum Corp., Premcor Inc., are holding low inventories of oil these days. They are doing so because credit is less available to energy companies in the wake of Enron Corp.'s collapse and the widespread troubles of other energy firms, and because oil prices are volatile and refining profit margins thin. What that means for consumers, analysts say, is that gasoline, heating oil and jet fuel prices will go up.
What lies ahead? Oil will probably be in relatively short supply no matter what happens. Energy economist Philip Verleger warns against counting on significant additional supplies from a future Iraq. After Iran's wells were shut by sanctions in the 1980s, "they never came back to previous production levels," Verleger notes. Iran produces 3.4 million barrels a day, down from 5 million barrels a day at its peak.
But all economic projections hinge on the emergence of a peaceful and progressive Middle East. Dangers are obvious, experts note. Hussein, reacting to invasion or moves to oust him, could destroy Iraqi oil fields as he did a decade ago when he set fire to Kuwait's fields.
On the other hand, the replacement of Hussein's regime would spur the development of Iraq, a country with a large middle class and an educated population that could reform its country and benefit the whole region.
James Flanigan is a columnist for The Los Angeles Times, to which he contributed this comment.
TITLE: White-Collar Criminals Don't Get an Easy Ride
AUTHOR: By Herbert Hoelter
TEXT: LAST week, as I sat in federal court in Philadelphia anxiously awaiting the sentencing of one of my clients, I couldn't help but wonder if the political climate regarding white-collar crime among corporate executives - U.S. President George W. Bush proclaiming, "No more easy money for corporate criminals, just hard time" - would have an undue influence on the judge. My client was a lawyer who for more than two decades had provided sound tax guidance to a wealthy entrepreneur, but violated the law two years ago by helping him create documents to support improper deductions. For my defendant, it was an aberrant act in an otherwise productive and ethical career. He pleaded guilty and accepted full responsibility for his actions.
The Internal Revenue Service had been paid all taxes due, with penalty and interest. My client had lost his partnership in a blue-chip law firm and voluntarily resigned from the bar. His family had been humiliated and disgraced.
Notwithstanding the offense, this man, like many white-collar defendants, had lived a life of which most of us would be proud. He worked hard, paid his taxes, raised a fine family and spent years helping community agencies. Would the judge still be swept up in the fury that led Congress to pass and Bush to sign, on July 30, a law that, among other things, quadruples, to 20 years, the maximum prison sentence for mail and wire fraud, and creates a new felony - securities fraud - punishable by up to 25 years in prison?
I'd seen this sort of bandwagon rolling in the U.S. before, in the insider-trading cases of the early 1980s, the savings-and-loan cases later that decade and the antitrust cases in the 1990s. The recent "perp walks" choreographed by the prosecutors for Scott Sullivan, WorldCom's ousted chief financial officer, and the 6 a.m. televised raids on the homes of Adelphia executives - were exercises in deja vu. In the mid-1980s, FBI agents led traders off the New York Stock Exchange floor in handcuffs. It didn't matter that they were subsequently acquitted.
The debate is suffused with misinformation. One of the most distorted perceptions involving white-collar defendants - and the reason Bush stressed "hard time" - is that they get preferential treatment. Nothing could be further from the truth. After arrest, white-collar defendants are subjected to intense scrutiny of every aspect of their lives, from the art they have purchased to the restaurants in which they have dined. Their entire careers, not just the alleged criminal activity, become suspect. Pictures of their houses, their cars and even their families become news. Even before the trial, the negative publicity can ruin personal and professional relationships.
At sentencing, prosecutors aggressively seek severe prison terms, even for first-time white-collar offenders, arguing that with the stroke of a pen a defendant has stolen more money than the thief who just got sentenced to 10 years. Yet for the average, first-time nonviolent criminal defendant, prosecutors usually will accept a sentence of probation and a second chance. They argue that white-collar defendants are unworthy of second chances.
In non white-collar cases, prosecutors inevitably use a defendant's criminal background to argue for imprisonment. In white-collar cases, they argue that the defendant's background is meaningless. Notwithstanding their criminal conviction, many defendants have built stellar careers and have contributed time and money to their communities for decades. Fortunately, many judges still share the view that all of a defendant's entire life should be evaluated, not simply the period where their judgment was compromised.
Perhaps the most perplexing misinformation is the notion that white-collar prisoners serve their sentence in a "Club Fed," watching big-screen television, playing tennis and hanging out at the pool. This is preposterous. Having spent a good part of my career visiting clients in federal prisons, I can unequivocally state that there are no luxury rooms available.
Serving time in a minimum-security federal facility is imprisonment. Prisoners work at mundane jobs, get paid $0.11 an hour and are regularly subjected to strip searches, shakedowns and cellblock counts. When being transported they are handcuffed and shackled. Phone calls are recorded, mail is opened and inspected by guards and visitors are limited. To suggest that deprivation of liberty is somehow easier or compromised because there are no steel cells or barbed-wire fences is simply wrong.
Unpopular as it may sound, the most frustrating part of white-collar imprisonment is the incredible waste of resources. White-collar defendants, who pose virtually no risk of recidivism, are an incredible pool of talent. If presented with reasonable alternatives, some judges will accept community service and other sentencing options in lieu of prison. In some of the cases in which we have consulted on sentencing, defendants have built camps for children with spina bifida, tutored inner-city children, helped ex-offenders obtain employment or developed recreation programs at senior citizen centers. Given the tremendous needs of our society, spending $22,000 per year - the average cost of imprisonment - to have a white-collar defendant mow lawns or landscape the warden's house is ridiculous.
Punishment can and does occur in many ways, and using a combination of correctional resources, such as house arrest, community corrections centers (halfway houses) and community service can deprive a defendant of liberty while contributing to the community.
Fortunately, many judges are seeing the wisdom in this type of sentence, including the judge in my client's case in Philadelphia. Acknowledging the background and prior charitable work of my client and the collateral consequences already suffered, the court imposed a sentence of six months in a community corrections center, five months of house arrest, 250 hours of community service helping an agency which provides affordable housing for the elderly and a stiff fine. Calling it an "integrated sentence," the judge found it fulfilled the purposes of sentencing: punishment, deterrence and restitution.
Admittedly, my client's crime may pale beside the cases now under investigation. But I hope that judges will have the wisdom and courage to decide the sentence for each case based on its own merit.
Herbert Hoelter is chief executive officer of the National Center on Institutions and Alternatives in Baltimore; he specializes in white-collar sentencing. He contributed this comment to Newsday.
TITLE: Duma Deputy Killed for Politics or Cash?
TEXT: DEMOCRACY in Russia last week suffered yet another loss. State Duma Deputy Vladimir Golovlyov, a former member of the Union of Right Forces and more recently co-chairperson of Boris Berezovsky's Liberal Russia party, was shot dead near his home in Mitino.
"This sends a signal to the political elite of this country," Berezovsky said of the killing. "If you stray beyond the red flags that mark the boundaries set out for the opposition, we're going to open fire."
It's true. You couldn't call this killing anything but political.
In November 2001, the Duma partially stripped Golovlyov of his immunity from prosecution in connection with a criminal investigation into his activities as head of the State Property Fund's office in the Chelyabinsk region in the early 1990s. At that time, Golovlyov created a fund to turn state-owned enterprises into joint-stock companies, then required all significant businesses in the region to transfer 10 percent of the stock belonging to their employees to the fund. Golovlyov then quietly turned the fund into his personal joint-stock company and sold its stock on the side. Investigators estimate the market value of shares stolen from a single company, the Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works, at 22 billion rubles ($700 million).
Golovlyov's activities were nothing unusual for a bureaucrat and Duma deputy in those days. You almost wonder what all the fuss is about.
But Golovlyov was unlucky. His former cohorts in Chelyabinsk have since risen to the very top of the political ladder: Pyotr Sumin became governor of the region, Viktor Khristenko became deputy prime minister and Alexander Pochinok, labor minister. The Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works itself soon became the object of a heated battle that pitted the steel mill's current general director, Viktor Rashnikov, and his protectors - Sumin, Khristenko and Pochinok - against the aggressive Urals Mining and Metals Company, which has laid claim to a contested 30-percent share of the mill's stock.
It's obvious that the criminal case against Golovlyov didn't just happen. Russian law enforcement doesn't spontaneously leap into action. When it does get moving, it seems to target opponents of the Urals Mining and Metals Company just a little too often to be a coincidence.
It's patently obvious that Golovlyov couldn't have created his fund without a little help from his friends, and that he had fallen well behind his Chelyabinsk colleagues in furthering his career. His fellow Duma deputies put this down to Golovlyov's extremely thin skin, not to mention his fondness for blackmail. They say that, even when he was under investigation, Golovlyov asked Anatoly Chubais to give him the Chelyabinsk regional power plant. Chubais, of course, refused. Golovlyov then walked out of his office and announced that Chubais had been his partner in the fund - pure nonsense, to say the least, since the fund was strictly a local affair.
The criminal case against Golovlyov struck at the enemy's weakest link. Driven into a corner, Golovlyov began to squirm. He announced in open session at the Duma that he "could name names." Given that he had tried to blackmail Chubais, it's not hard to imagine what sort of threats he made to his real partners.
The case against Golovlyov was scheduled for submission to the courts in September. His testimony could have had the same effect as breaching a dam. The ensuing flood would likely have swept away not only high-ranking officials and the Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works, but also Golovlyov's accomplices, lesser officials who saw that they were next to be sacrificed. The chain reaction must have been something. Golovlyov's death has put a stop to it.
So Berezovsky is right: The killing of Golovlyov was undeniably political. The killing of a person expected to offer incriminating testimony against a deputy prime minister, a minister and a governor could not be otherwise.
Yulia Latynina is a journalist with ORT.
TITLE: Pleas for Balance in Paper and on Film
TEXT: Editor,
Having read another of your columnist's rants about George Bush/corporate evils/capitalism/insert left-wing demagoguery, I felt that I really must chide you for the slant.
Basically, The St. Petersburg Times is a superb read, and for the most part a joy to browse each issue. However, your lack of insightful political commentary can at times be tedious.
Whether it is Matt Bivens' rambling about corporations' greed, or Chris Floyd's vitriol concerning Mr. Bush, the overly broad generalizations and partisanship expressed through their commentary detract from the thrust of the points made.
Little in the way of meaningful - read interesting - communication is achieved with such rancor.
This is not to say that a left-wing columnist cannot be interesting. Personally, I find the range of opinions from either a Naomi Wolf or a David Broder to be refreshing, for little is to be gained in the world from being exposed only to those beliefs with which one agrees. The importance of their words, however, can quickly diminish without the counterpoint of the occasional George Will or Cal Thomas.
If it is a lack of money to pay a good conservative columnist that hamstrings you, know that I would do it for free, if only to irritate your otherwise close-minded regulars; either way, your readers deserve better.
Finally, I shall leave you to your work with one thought: The European liberal is much closer to the American conservative in ideology and deeds. Indeed, the European word for our liberal is "Socialist."
Timothy Bryan
Mesa, Arizona
Sinking the Facts
In Response to "New Ford Film Angers Russians" on Aug. 30.
Editor,
After seeing a program (on the Discovery Channel) about the events that took place on the Soviet Navy submarine K19, the heroic efforts of the officers and crew to save their own lives and their ship and listening to their own words in interviews with the producers of the program, I had been looking forward to seeing the new film "K19."
I am sorry to hear that so many veterans of the Soviet Navy find the portrayal of Russian submariners objectionable. I have also heard that the veterans are angry because they believe that the film portrays Russians "the way Americans want to see Russians".
Please consider that this film may be more typical of the way American film-makers - Hollywood - want to see Russians (or want Americans to see Russians), and not the way Americans as a group actually see the Russian people. Hollywood makes a mess of every story it tries to tell - sensationalism seems much more important to Hollywood than a true and heroic story well told.
Why this relative handful of people (compared to the American population as a whole) cannot simply tell the story of the K19 exactly as it unfolded, based on the actual accounts of the men who lived it, and tell the story of those courageous men who gave their lives for their fellow crew members (that is true courage - to go and do your duty when you know it means certain death!) is a mystery to me.
That would make a truly wonderful film but Hollywood, it seems, must always play games with the facts "to make it more exciting for the moviegoer."
To the veterans of the Russian Navy and, especially the surviving crew of the K19: Please understand that, past ideological differences aside, many Americans, many military veterans, admire and respect the heroic deeds of your crew.
Courage is courage - no matter what uniform it wears - and deserves respect and truthful retelling.
Michael D. Brickman
Denver, Colorado
Editor,
I've heard that former crew members of the K-19 are upset that Americans view them as incompetent, based on the recent movie "K-19: The Widowmaker". I want to assure you that we do not.
I was a sailor aboard a U.S. submarine during the 1970's, when we considered each other as adversaries. We had respect for you then, and we have even more now, since we've learned about the terrible tragedies your sailors had to endure in the submarine service.
Most Americans have learned to watch movies from Hollywood with a jaded eye. The portrayals in the movie about K-19 will do nothing to lower the esteem we feel for the Russian sailors.
Raymond J. Casella
Evans, Georgia
Intelligent Move
In Response to "Shipping Away a Generation of Intellectuals" on Aug. 27.
Editor,
In his article, Andrei Zolotov does an excellent job reminding us of a forgotten episode in Soviet history from the early years of NEP.
I am writing to note that the exiles included one astronomer, Vsevolod Stratonov, who, in 1921, had been elected dean of the physics-mathematics faculty at Moscow State University (MGU). In this role, he soon found himself at the center of the struggle for university autonomy. In January 1922, the physics-mathematics faculty voted to strike in protest against policies in the Commissariat of Education (Narkompros) that were beginning to limit self-governance at MGU. As faculty dean, Stratonov organized and led a general university meeting at which participants voted to enlarge this strike into a strike by the entire university. Frightened by this display of daring, Narkompros made concessions to defuse the situation and put an end to the strike. However, it was obvious from the beginning that these concessions were only a political move and would be reversed at the first opportunity.
Stratonov was arrested on 18 Aug. 1922, just two days after Nikolai Berdyayev, and was exiled to Germany in September on the first ship of deportees. Settling ultimately in Prague, Stratonov published his memoirs of the strike at MGU ("Poteria Moskovskim Universitetom Svobody," in Moskovsky Universitet, 1755-1930: Yubileiny sbornik, Paris: izd-vo Sovremennye zapiski, 1930). Although Berdyayev was deported because his views as a philosopher were not favored by the new Soviet state, it is clear that Stratonov was exiled not because he was an astrophysicist, but because of his role as an organizer and leader of the strike at MGU.
Ironically there is another famous astronomer-turned-political figure at the other end of the political spectrum from Stratonov: P. K. Shternberg, who, in 1917 was on the presidium of the Red Guard Central Staff at the Moscow Soviet and played an active role commanding Red Guard units in the armed Bolshevik uprising in Moscow in November 1917. The irony continues: in 1921, Stratonov established the Organizing Committee for the Principal Russian Astrophysical Observatory. After Stratonov's exile, this committee led to the establishment of what is now the Shternberg Astronomical Institute at MGU.
Once again, I wish to compliment Andrei Zolotov on an excellent article reminding us of this forgotten episode.
Robert McCutcheon
Hubble Space Telescope
Science Institute
Baltimore, Maryland
Faulting Floyd
Editor,
I find Chris Floyd's column very interesting and amusing. In fact, I look foward to it in every edition. He has a certain writing style in the vernacular that is refreshing, and delightful, if only it could be taken seriously.
With all due respect, if our government leaders are so diabolical, how come our standard of living, even among the least of us, is so great?
This is reality: Russia and America are friends. In fact, I firmly believe that we both will join forces militarily to defeat evil terrorists in the world.
Richard Papp Groton,
Massachusetts.
More Visa Woes
In Response to "Putin Puts Forward New Visa Proposals" on Aug. 30.
Editor,
I am a lawyer and U.K. politician with an abiding love of Russia. The worst experience anyone can have of Russia is the nightmare of trying to get into it. My recent (and hugely agreeable) visit could not get underway without a shambolic, day-long queue and scrum outside the Russian Consulate in London. It cost Pound120 ($186) for the pleasure of getting an entry ticket to the country.
Then, on arrival at Sheremetyevo, there was the familiar two-hour shuffle around two open (and three closed) passport-check windows.
Noone can have any doubt that loosening this bureaucratic burden would bring ever more visitors to Russia and provide a more realistic welcome to a country which is so much freer and less restricted in many ways than the United Kingdom.
Peter Wilding,
London, United Kingdom.
No Visa, No Moolah
Editor,
It seems to me that Russia and all CIS states would benefit greatly from dropping visa requirements and offering 30-day visitor passes to citizens of most Western countries.
The enormous amount of euros and dollars generated from the tourist trade would elevate the standard of living for citizens of most former Soviet countries manyfold in just a few years. Russia would have millions of summer tourists overnight. Each one would spend in a day what the average Russian citizen spends in a month.
I know many people who would love to explore Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States, but do not do so because of the strict visa regime.
Peter Dudley
New Durham, New Hampshire
What Efficiency?
In response to "Small Businesses Can Temper 'Big' Syndrome" a comment by Peter Boone and Denis Rodionov on Aug. 27.
Editor,
I was surprised at the comment written by Brunswick UBS Warburg analysts Boone and Rodionov. They laud the achievements of the oligarchs in raising efficiency. When I was studying economics, we were taught that an oligarchy is one of the least efficient social structures in distribution of income and wealth creation. From Portugal to Indonesia, oligarchic economies regularly underperform market economies.
The two analysts then go on to make Yukos the poster child of this efficiency, without defining it or explaining how it is measured, crediting management and technology. Yukos offices are on Sadovaya-Spasskaya, which bore the sign Menatepbank until the 1998 default, and, until 1994, it was Menatep, the Communist Youth League organization. To which management changes do our analysts credit this efficiency?
Buying oil internally at two-thirds the world-level market price and processing it with underutilized capacity does not appear so much good management as a no-brainer, and $27-per-barrel oil covers a multitude of sins. And what technology? It is certainly not refinery upgrades. Yukos is a laggard in modernizing its oil refineries of Angarsk, Syzran and Kuibyshev, and, to my knowledge, has no major projects under serious consideration. Other Russian majors are installing hydro- and cat-cracking, including state-owned companies Slavneft and Rosneft. Are we to conclude that, because these companies invest, they are less efficient?
Then, the two sanguine analysts extrapolate this to Russian "trickle-down" economics and the coming broad social benefits and small-business boom. "Household incomes are rising?" Prove that statement, and not just in Moscow. Perhaps these analysts should spend more time outside Moscow's Ring Road.
Mathew Listerud
Chief Consultant, Viterbo S.A.
Tortola, British Virgin Islands
Russia's Rights
In response to "Building Castles or the Future?" an editorial on Aug. 9.
Editor,
When trying to find the point of the editorial about the Konstantinov Palace, my conclusion was this: that the 3,000 workers and everybody else who is being paid to renovate the palace or who will earn a living from it in the future are considered inferior members of society because they don't have the right to get paid money that should be used for teachers, doctors and hospitals.
Following this line, it is also clear that, where Paris is proud of its Versailles and Vienna of its Schoenbrunn, St. Petersburg should be denied the right to be proud of its Konstantinov because it is restored with money "stolen" from teachers, doctors and hospitals.
What the editorial is doing is denying Russians the right to to be proud of things they have the right to be proud of, such as their craftmanship and architecture. Simply, Russia is denied the right to be what it is: a country of its own, with a history of its own and values and characteristics of its own. Of course there are still many things wrong in Russia, but those who regularly read Chris Floyd know that Russia is not the only country where this is the case.
Anneke van Ingen Schenau
The Netherlands
In response to "Police Arrest Supporters of the Dalai Lama Visa," on Aug. 23.
Editor,
It is regrettable that the Russian Foreign Ministry has succumbed to Chinese-government pressure and denied a visa to the Dalai Lama. Russia should have the courage to adopt its own independent stance, particularly on issues that are close to many of its citizens. The Dalai Lama is not only a Tibetan leader, but also the spiritual leader of several million Buddhists, including those in the republics of Tuva, Kalmykia and Buryatia in Russia.
This development may embolden the radical elements in the Tibet movement who feel the Dalai Lama's commitment to nonviolence is not achieving anything. It indicates that, unless one uses a medium other than nonviolence, governments, such as that of the Russian Federation, will suffocate you.
Bhuchung Tsering
Washington.
TITLE: Double Standards Make Enemies on All Sides
AUTHOR: By Salman Rushdie
TEXT: ON Sept. 5 and 6, the U.S. State Department will host a high-powered conference on anti-Americanism, an unusual step indicating the depth of American concern about this increasingly globalized phenomenon.
Anti-Americanism can be mere shallow name-calling. A recent article in Britain's Guardian newspaper described Americans as having "a bug up their collective arse the size of Manhattan" and suggested that "'American' is a type of personality which is intense, humourless, partial to psychobabble and utterly convinced of its own importance."
More seriously, anti-Americanism can be contradictory: When the United States failed to intervene in Bosnia, that was considered wrong but, when it did subsequently intervene in Kosovo, that was wrong too.
Anti-Americanism can be hypocritical: Wearing blue jeans or Donna Karan, eating fast food or Alice Waters-style cuisine, their heads full of American music, movies, poetry and literature, the apparatchiks of the international cultural commissariat decry the baleful influence of the American culture that nobody is forcing them to consume.
It can be misguided: The logical implication of the Western-liberal opposition to the United States' Afghan war is that it would be better if the Taliban were still in power. And it can be ugly: The post-Sept. 11 crowing of the serves-you-right brigade was certainly that.
However, during the past year, the Bush administration has made a string of foreign-policy miscalculations, and the State Department conference must acknowledge this. After the brief flirtation with consensus-building during the Afghan operation, the United States' brazen return to unilateralism has angered even its natural allies. The Republican grandee James Baker has warned U.S. President George W. Bush not to go it alone, at least in the little matter of effecting a "regime change" in Iraq.
In the year's major crisis zones, the Bushies have been getting things badly wrong.
According to a Security Council source, the reason for the United Nations' lamentable inaction during the recent Kashmir crisis was that the United States (with Russian backing) blocked all attempts by member states to mandate the United Nations to act. But, if the United Nations is not to be allowed to intervene in a bitter dispute between two member states, both nuclear powers of growing political volatility, in an attempt to defuse the danger of nuclear war, then what on earth is it for?
Many observers of the problems of the region will also be wondering how long Pakistani-backed terrorism in Kashmir will be winked at by the United States because of Pakistan's support for the "war against terror" on its other frontier. Many Kashmiris will be angry that their long-standing desire for an autonomous state is being ignored for the sake of U.S. realpolitik. And, as the Pakistani dictator Pervez Musharraf seizes more and more power and does more and more damage to his country's constitution, the U.S. government's decision to go on hailing him as a champion of democracy does more damage to the United States' already shredded regional credibility.
Nor is Kashmir the only South Asian grievance. The massacres in the Indian state of Gujarat, mostly of Indian Muslims by fundamentalist Hindu mobs, have been shown to be the result of planned attacks led by Hindu political organizations.
But, in spite of testimony presented to a congressional commission, the U.S. administration has done nothing to investigate U.S.-based organizations that are funding these groups, such as the World Hindu Council. Just as American-Irish fundraisers once bankrolled the terrorists of the Provisional IRA, so, now, shadowy bodies across the United States are helping to pay for mass murder in India, while the U.S. government turns a blind eye.
Once again, the supposedly high-principled rhetoric of the war against terror is being made to look like a smoke screen for a highly selective pursuit of American vendettas.
Apparently, Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein are terrorists who matter. Hindu fanatics and Kashmiri killers aren't. This double standard makes enemies.
In the heat of the dispute over Iraq strategy, South Asia has become a sideshow. (The United States' short attention span creates enemies, too.) And it is in Iraq that Bush may be about to make his biggest mistake, and to unleash a generation-long plague of anti-Americanism that could make the present epidemic look like a time of rude good health.
Inevitably, the reasons lie in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Like it or not, much of the world thinks of Israel as the 51st U.S. state, the United States' client and surrogate, and Bush's obvious rapport with Ariel Sharon does nothing to change the world's mind. Of course the suicide bombings are vile but, until the United States persuades Israel to make a lasting settlement with the Palestinians, anti-American feeling will continue to rise. And if, in the present highly charged atmosphere, the United States does embark on the huge, risky military operation suggested last week by Vice President Dick Cheney, then the result may very well be the creation of that united Islamic force that was bin Laden's dream.
Saudi Arabia would almost certainly feel obliged to expel U.S. forces from its soil (thus capitulating to one of bin Laden's main demands). Iran - which so recently fought a long, brutal war against Iraq - would surely support its erstwhile enemy, and might even come into the conflict on the Iraqi side.
The entire Arab world would be radicalized and destabilized. What a disastrous twist of fate it would be if the feared Islamic jihad were brought into being not by the al-Qaida gang, but by the president of the United States and his close advisers.
Do those close advisers include Secretary of State Colin Powell, who clearly prefers diplomacy to war? Or is the State Department's foregrounding of the issue of anti-Americanism a means of providing hard evidence to support the Powell line and undermining the positions of the hawks to whom Bush listens most closely? It seems possible. Paradoxically, a sober look at the case against the United States may serve U.S. interests better than the patriotic "let's roll" arguments that are being trumpeted on every side.
Salman Rushdie, the author of "Fury" and other prize-winning novels, such as "Midnight's Children," contributed this comment to The Washington Post.
TITLE: Vladimir Putin, the Man Who Wasn't There
TEXT: AFTER every new catastrophe in Russia, the sociologists announce, to great fanfare, that President Vladimir Putin's approval rating remains unchanged. Whatever the president does, and whatever the consequences of his actions, his rating holds at a steady 70 percent.
From the point of view of sociological theory, this is pure nonsense. But, in fact, the result depends entirely on the approach.
As sociologists themselves admit, Putin's approval rating varies between 13 percent and 72 percent, depending on how the pollsters formulate their questions.
What's more, it's not uncommon for a single respondent to lambast the president's foreign and domestic policies, while giving him high marks for job performance on the whole.
This can't be passed off as simple inconsistency or diversity of opinion. We are faced with something much more serious.
The fact is that, for some time now, Russians have based their assessment of Putin on his job title rather than his performance or his person.
Boris Yeltsin was loathed by many Russians, but he was, at least, a colorful and significant figure. You could love him or hate him.
Putin, on the other hand, is unprepossessing and faceless. He is little more than an appendage to his office. And the office can't remain unoccupied, after all.
As a result, when the pollsters ask if people approve of the president they are in effect asking if people believe that Russia needs a president at all.
Seventy percent of Russians regularly assert that they understand the established rules of the game and that they're ready to play by them. The "silent majority" might be unhappy with their lives, but they're not about to take to the streets in protest.
A trade-union friend of mine put it best: "Putin is president, and we have to support him no matter what we may think of him."
The very concept of a political alternative has disappeared during the past three years.
The opposition at least made a show of battling with Yeltsin. Today the opposition doesn't hide the fact that the battle is only for second place. It makes no claim to an independent political role.
Putin stands above the fray. It's pointless to compare Putin to other politicians in the absence of political competition. Whatever you might think of Putin as president, he's the only show in town. Even if he does absolutely nothing.
In the Yeltsin era, the public still believed that it elected the president. But, in 1999-2000, this belief was revealed to be an illusion.
The president arises in the bowels of the bureaucracy, the product of its secret laws. Elections have become nothing more than a gala before the inauguration.
Talk about a changing of the guard now resembles discussions of climate change. The political elite are like bad weather; you can curse them all you like but you won't change a thing. If you don't like the climate or the government, move to another country. If you want to live in Russia, learn to love her as she is - terrible climate, meaningless president and all.
The presidency loses all political significance in this situation. It has become nothing more than the top spot in the bureaucracy.
The president is no longer the leader of the country. He is the managers' manager, head of the bureaucratic horde. And the bureaucracy will always be with us. It cannot be changed, just like the roads and the fools, which, 150 years ago, Nikolai Gogol called the twin misfortunes of Russia.
Putin seems to understand his role and acts accordingly. He behaves like a conscientious department head, dutifully carrying out other people's orders. No one has given any instructions for three years now, but that's not important. Putin's department has grown to the point where it's commensurate with Russia itself.
When you get right down to it, anyone could be the president of Russia. The less significant and colorful the better. If the rules of the game are not changed, the next president of Russia could just as well be a trained ape.
Unless Russians decide one fine day to try to change the rules of the game.
Boris Kagarlitsky is a Moscow-based sociologist.
TITLE: Global Eye
TEXT: Global Eye would like to apologize for having inadvertently helped perpetrate a fraud upon the reading public. In doing so, it has - also inadvertently - facilitated the efforts of a criminal enterprise bent on plunder, conquest and the promulgation of a mad, inhuman ideology. These are heavy crimes and Global Eye, no doubt, will answer heavily for its complicity in them.
Over the past few months, this column has featured a number of items on the "debate" over the Bush administration's plans for military action against Iraq. Therein lies the fraud: The "debate" is a sham, a cynical con game, and Global Eye was suckered in, like the gawking country bumpkin it undeniably is. However, Global Eye can take some small comfort in that it was not alone in this classic yanking of chains - the world media has been increasingly absorbed by the "debate," which has relegated almost every other topic to the shadows.
The "debate" reached a climax last week, with a series of high-profile editorials by some of the most well-connected courtiers of the Bush family. Old hands from the first Bush presidency - like Brent Scowcroft, James Baker (last seen fixing election 2000 for Junior), and General "Stormin'" Norman "Bury Them Alive Before They Can Surrender" Schwarzkopf - weighed in from august podiums at The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, speaking with one voice to warn the current President Bush against rushing into war with the Malevolent Mustache of Baghdad.
These articles in turn produced a blizzard of anxious fluttering amongst the commentariat, which hung over the back fences gossiping about the "great battle" going on within the administration. The epistles of Brent, James and Norman were seen as coded messages from Bush the Father to Bush the Son, urging restraint. Bellicose speeches by Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld were seen as return fire in this "internal struggle" for the heart and mind of the president. Airwaves and inky columns were filled to bursting with speculations about the "titanic debate" that will determine the course of world history.
But the entire "debate" - especially the "Oedipal drama between father and son" - is, of course, nothing more than the odoriferous end product of a horse's digestive tract. It's a ruse, an elaborate bafflement, carefully scripted - why else would all the cautious courtiers speak "with one voice"? Doubtless they had the same ghostwriter - probably the same hack who provided Cheney and Rumsfeld with their warmongering words. The goal - entirely successful so far - is to divert public attention from the common criminality of the corrupt corporate hucksters in the White House.
The book-cooking, insider-trading, hand-jobbing hijinks at Harken and Halliburton were just beginning to nose their way into the mainstream press (after lying around in plain sight for years) when the great Iraq "debate" was suddenly ratcheted up to new levels. Who could be bothered with boardroom larceny, when the awesome question of war or peace hung in the balance? And why dredge through arcane financial records to expose humdrum malfeasance, when you could have a nice chinwag about the family soap operas of the high and mighty?
The truth is that, if Pa Bush wanted to warn L'il Spud about rushing into war with Iraq, he would have done so privately. After all, the two speak on the phone several times a week. They meet in person frequently - most recently during a long weekend together luxuriating in the family compound at Kennebunkport. George Senior has no need for surrogates to tell his son what he thinks.
And if even the editorial "warnings" were taken at face value, there is much less here than meets the eye. As analyst Norman Solomon has pointed out, none of the courtiers - or other cautioning kibitzers, like Henry Kissinger - have denied the desirability of military aggression against Iraq. They merely quibble over political fine points: Try to line up some allies to help cover the costs; get a blank check from the rubber stamps in Congress first; and, above all, be sure to mount a massive PR campaign before going in. The only important question - how the United States of America can possibly justify launching an unprovoked war of Hitlerian aggression against another country - is completely ignored.
All of this supposed hand-wringing in high places is designed to obscure the fact that the decision for war has already been made. (Indeed, it was probably made the day the Bush retainers on the Supreme Court gave the election to Spud-Spud.) The troops and materiel are already on the way to their staging areas. Indeed, the Financial Times reports that the Bush regime has even put out contract bids for humanitarian services to help mop up the bloody aftermath.
But the "debate" is crucial for the fall elections. So expect to see more "interventions" by Bush courtiers, more staged wrestling matches in the Cabinet - surely we're due for an ambiguous statement of seeming reluctance from Colin Powell any day now; that should guarantee at least a week of Harken-free headlines - and, of course, more complicity, witting and unwitting, bumpkinish or otherwise, from political commentators.
None of it will matter. The war will come. The oligarchs of Kennebunkport, Wall Street and Texas will at last control the vast oil fields of Babylon. As usual, the hapless American people will pay for it all, with their blood, their money and the continuing degradation of their liberty, their land and their communities - victims of the Bush family's firmly-held credo: "Tough luck, suckers."
For annotational references, please see the "Opinion" section at www.sptimesrussia.com
TITLE: Typhoon Devastates S. Korea
AUTHOR: By Paul Shin
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: SEOUL, South Korea - After spending two nights by candlelight, tens of thousands of South Koreans heaved shovels Monday to clear mud and debris from homes devastated by the worst typhoon to hit the country in 40 years.
The government's National Disaster Prevention and Countermeasures Headquarters said that at least 88 people were killed and 70 missing in flash floods and landslides caused by Typhoon Rusa over the weekend.
Authorities were trying to confirm reports by relatives and villagers that another 29 people were swept away by floodwaters or buried in landslides.
Local media gave higher death tolls, ranging from 132 to 182 killed.
Before landing on South Korea, the typhoon brushed Okinawa, Japan, pulling two U.S. marines under waves on Friday. The missing marines were presumed dead, said Japan Coast Guard official Masayoshi Iranima on Monday.
U.S. Marines media officer Brad Gordon said Monday that a search-and-recovery operation was under way for the marines, identified earlier as Lance Cpl. Richard Moore, 24, and Lance Cpl. Beatriz Rodriguez, 20. Their hometowns were not given.
Rusa, the Malaysian word for deer, was the most powerful typhoon to hit South Korea since Sarah in 1959, which left more than 840 people dead or missing.
North Korea also reported "huge" damage from the typhoon, but did not disclose details. Up to 59 centimeters of rain fell in parts of Kangwon and Hwanhae provinces over the weekend, said a report by the North's Korean Central News Agency, monitored in Seoul.
Rusa, packing winds of up to 200 kilometers per hour, dumped up to 92 centimeters of rain over the weekend in eastern and southern South Korea, before moving out of the peninsula Sunday afternoon.
"This is a hell on earth," said Kim Jung-ok, a 54-year-old housewife in Gangneung in eastern South Korea, shoveling mud from the living room of her flood-damaged home as she wiped away tears.
Gangneung was one of the worst hit by the typhoon. Many parts of the city of 220,000 people were swamped by waist-high floods after 90 centimeters of rain fell within 30 hours, the highest precipitation since weather officials began compiling records in the 1930s.
Tens of thousands of people in Gangneung and other areas spent Saturday and Sunday nights relying on candlelight due to power outages.
Officials began restoring electricity and phone services Monday.
More than 17,000 houses and buildings in low-lying areas were submerged, forcing 27,474 residents to take shelter at public buildings and schools, officials said. Floods inundated 5,100 hectares of farm land.
Red Cross and government authorities rushed blankets, instant noodles and other relief goods to flood victims. Soldiers and police were mobilized for the effort.
The typhoon caused floods and landslides in vast sections of the country, destroying parts of key railways and roads.
TITLE: Annan Urges Heads of State To Work Together
AUTHOR: By Ravi Nessman
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: JOHANNESBURG, South Africa - UN Secretary General Kofi Annan welcomed more than 100 heads of state to the World Summit on Monday, with a plea for all nations to work together to uplift the poor and to rescue the world's struggling environment.
"Let us not be deceived when we look at a clear blue sky into thinking that all is well. All is not well," Annan said.
Conjuring up the "cries for help of those 13 million souls" in southern Africa facing starvation, Annan told the leaders that failure to take decisive action at the summit would have too high a cost.
"Let us stop being economically defensive and start being politically courageous," he said.
The 10-day conference, which started a week ago, aims to shape an agreement to turn promises made at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio into reality.
"Poverty and environmental degradation, if unchecked, spell catastrophe for our world. That is clear," British Prime Minister Tony Blair said.
However, negotiations over reaching an action plan have been painstaking.
Bleary-eyed negotiators worked into the early hours of the morning Monday trying to hammer out the last details of an agreement, and were upbeat after compromises were reached in three key areas: climate change, trade and sanitation.
"The process is not just about approving text. It's about working with developing countries that look to us for concrete action," said Undersecretary of State Paula Dobriansky, head of the U.S. delegation. "Failure is not an option."
Diplomats said one contentious issue was resolved late Saturday, when negotiators settled on wording to address the Kyoto Protocol on climate change, which the United States has refused to sign.
The agreed text says nations that have ratified Kyoto "strongly urge" states that have not done so to ratify it in "a timely manner."
Negotiators also reached compromises on trade that largely stick to language agreed at a World Trade Organization meeting in Doha, Qatar. They include a repeat of commitments to hold negotiations with a view to phasing out agriculture and other trade-distorting subsidies.
The last outstanding trade issue was resolved late Sunday, when negotiators agreed to delete language giving the WTO precedence over multilateral environment agreements, diplomats said.
Early Monday, negotiators added a commitment to halve the 2 billion people living without sanitation by 2015, diplomats said.
The United States had resisted including new targets and timetables in the action plan, arguing the way to get results is through concrete projects - not paper agreements.
Negotiators also agreed to include wording emphasizing the need for good governance to achieve sustainable development, but did not make it a condition for receiving aid as advocated by the United States, diplomats said.
Though everyone from King Mswati III of Swaziland to German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder was here Monday, many were disappointed that U.S. President George W. Bush had opted not to come.
Several speakers slyly criticized the United States with general appeals for all countries to ratify Kyoto.
"We know that if climate change is not stopped, all parts of the world will suffer. Some will even be destroyed," Blair said.
South African President Thabo Mbeki told the leaders not to be afraid of an unknown, but probably better, future.
"Surely there's no one among us who thinks that billions in the world should continue to be condemned to poverty, to underdevelopment and the denial of human dignity," Mbeki said.
TITLE: Officials Block Bhutto Election Campaign
AUTHOR: By Zarar Khan
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: LARKANA, Pakistan - Pakistani election officials on Sunday slammed the door on former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto's bid to run for Parliament, prompting a third day of scattered protests by supporters and insistence from Bhutto that she would campaign anyway.
However, the government has said Bhutto will face arrest on corruption charges if she returns to Pakistan, and it was unclear whether the two-time prime minister had decided to ignore the threat and come back to challenge President General Pervez Musharraf.
Bhutto's final two applications to run in the elections, which are scheduled for Oct. 10, were rejected in Larkana, Bhutto's hometown in southern Sindh province, and Karachi, the province's capital. Her first application, for a parliamentary seat in Sindh province, was rejected in Larkana on Friday.
According to Pakistani law, candidates can contest several seats. If they win more than one seat, they give up the extras and special elections are held to choose new representatives.
Election officials said that they refused to certify Bhutto's candidacies because she had been convicted in absentia on corruption charges. Recently enacted laws prohibit people convicted in absentia from running for public office.
Bhutto's lawyer has said he would appeal the rejections in court. An appeals court next month is scheduled to hear a separate Bhutto petition to overturn the new election laws.
When the announcement was made in Larkana, about 2,000 Bhutto supporters screamed slogans against the government, calling Bhutto "our prime minister" and Musharraf "a dog."
In Karachi, about 500 outraged supporters broke chairs and set tires on fire outside the election commission office in the heart of the city.
Police in full battle gear, protected by helmets and bulletproof vests, stood calmly as the protesters vented their rage.
Despite the unfavorable decisions, Bhutto still plans to run, according to a staff assistant in London. The assistant, speaking on Sunday on condition of anonymity, said Bhutto would return to Pakistan to campaign, accompanied by exiled former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
Sharif, a traditional rival, withdrew his own candidacy on Saturday to support Bhutto. Sharif's papers were approved by election officials on Thursday, even though the government had said he would not be allowed to return from exile in Saudi Arabia.
Later Sunday, Bhutto spokesperson Bashir Riaz said that Bhutto's return had been delayed by the rejection of her nomination papers. He did not elaborate.
Riaz said Bhutto spoke with Sharif by telephone and they had agreed "to bury the past and to work together toward the restoration of democracy."
"In rejecting Mrs. Bhutto's papers and accepting Nawaz Sharif's papers, they have exposed that Mrs. Bhutto is a target of victimization," Riaz said. "They want to get her out of the way because she is the only person who can threaten them."
Government officials have said neither Bhutto nor Sharif would be allowed to contest the elections. Musharraf ousted Sharif in a bloodless coup in October 1999. The deposed prime minister was arrested and sentenced to life imprisonment for hijacking and attempted murder.
Sharif was released in December 2000 and allowed to move to Saudi Arabia with 25 members of his family, on condition that he stay away from the country for 10 years.
Bhutto left the country on her own in 1999 before she was sentenced to prison for corruption. Musharraf has said she is free to return home anytime but would have to face jail and prosecution on a dozen other corruption charges. She divides her time between London and Dubai.
"If she has the courage to face the courts to prove that she is innocent, she should come back, but I don't think she will do it," Information Minister Nisar Memon said Sunday.
Memon said that Sharif's withdrawal from the race was a ploy that would not benefit his Pakistan Muslim League or Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party.
"After failing to seek permission from Saudi Arabia to return home, Nawaz Sharif pulled a political gimmick to get political advantage," Memon said. "But he has failed to achieve the goal."
Musharraf announced in July that he would hold federal and provincial elections in accordance with a Supreme Court order to restore civilian rule to the country.
TITLE: WORLD WATCH
TEXT: North Koreans Arrested
BEIJING (AP) - Chinese police have detained a group of North Koreans planning to seek refugee status in Beijing, along with a South Korean man who was helping them, a refugee activist said Monday.
The group was picked up at the train station in the northeastern city of Changchun on Saturday evening, according to Norbert Vollertsen, a German doctor who has worked to publicize the plight of North Korean refugees.
The South Korean man, Kim Hee-tae, is a longtime advocate for North Koreans fleeing hunger and repression at home, Vollertsen said in an appeal sent to reporters by e-mail.
He said the North Koreans had been preparing to board a train to Beijing to submit requests for refugee status.
Officials at the South Korean embassy in Beijing and China's Foreign Ministry said they had no immediate information on the report. Police in Changchun either declined to provide any information or said they had no knowledge of the reported arrests.
Afghan Bombs
KABUL, Afghanistan (NYT) - A blast outside the old Soviet Embassy killed one Afghan and injured three, while two land mines near the American air base at Bagram killed four Afghans, and wounded 18 on Sunday.
The day's toll, with a rising incidence of explosions, bombings and other attacks in recent weeks, and reports that one troublesome warlord may be reassembling his troops, heightened apprehensions that Afghanistan may be entering a new phase of conflict.
The explosion in Kabul seemed to be the work of an armed underground movement that has been registering its presence in the capital with increasing frequency in recent weeks. An explosive device hidden in a wooden handcart detonated as a motorized patrol of British soldiers was passing. An Afghan man on a bicycle was killed, and two other Afghans were wounded. The only British casualty was a soldier with a lightly wounded wrist.
The other episode was murkier. An ambulance that went to pick up the body of an Afghan man who was killed by an explosion while working for a Danish land-mine-clearing organization struck an anti-tank mine as it passed through a crowded bazaar near the Bagram base, 64 kilometers north of Kabul. Three Afghans in the ambulance were killed; the injured included bystanders and about a dozen mine-clearance workers.
American spokespeople at Bagram declined to say immediately whether the explosion was being treated as an accident or an attack.
Mass Breakout
MANILA, Philippines (AP) - Seventeen inmates attending a Roman Catholic Mass overpowered a lone guard and escaped from a southern Philippine jail, police said Monday. At least six were recaptured immediately.
The inmates took the guard's gun, then jumped over a wall to freedom Sunday in the town of Tagum, in Davao del Norte province, said police chief superintendent Isidro Lapena.
Two other guards in another jail area alerted police to chase the inmates, who were being tried for a variety of crimes, including murder, robbery and rape, Lapena said.
Police have warned villagers and asked them to help authorities find the escaped prisoners in Tagum, a banana-producing region about 930 miles south of Manila.
It was the 21st jailbreak this year in the Philippines, notorious for escapes from poorly guarded and overcrowded jails and rampant corruption among jail wardens. Last year, 160 inmates escaped in 32 jailbreaks.
TITLE: Stalker, Rain Can't Stop the Serena Show
PUBLISHER: Combined Reports
TEXT: NEW YORK - As usual, nothing fazed Serena Williams on court.
With a man who's tracked her around the globe for a year sitting in a jail cell less than 10 miles away, Williams waited out a long rain delay Sunday and then eased into the U.S. Open quarterfinals with a 6-1, 6-1 victory over Daja Bedanova.
The only match completed in a short break from Sunday's downpours was the 18th straight Grand Slam match victory for the top-seeded Williams, who beat older sister Venus in the finals at Wimbledon and the French Open.
The same German man accused of following Williams at those two tournaments, and others in Germany and Italy, was arrested early Saturday at the National Tennis Center after police spotted him watching through a fence while she played.
Albrecht Stromeyer, 34, will remain in custody at Rikers Island until a court appearance on Thursday, unless he posts $3,000 bail, corrections department spokesperson Tom Antenen said Sunday. Stromeyer admitted in a written statement to police that he had been following Williams around the world.
"The bail is so low, I think that encourages him to keep doing what he's doing," Williams' father, Richard, said. "It makes me wonder, 'Could he hurt Serena?'"
He also wondered whether his daughter is as worried as she should be.
"This guy could have got in and hurt Serena," Richard Williams said. "I don't think Serena takes it seriously enough."
She has been traveling with a bodyguard since May, and tournament officials have been given photos of Stromeyer so police can spot him.
Williams snapped photographs from the stands while he watched his daughter play her fourth-round match against the 20th-seeded Bedanova. Rain delayed the start of play from 11 a.m. to a little after 5:30 p.m., and theirs was the only match finished by the time new showers suspended action at about 7 p.m. So people paying a minimum of $48 per ticket got to see 42 minutes of tennis.
Williams hit 35 winners - including 16 forehands and eight backhands - and had just five unforced errors.
If just one match is completed in a session, according to the Open's policy, no credits for tickets to next year's tournament need to be given.
At 9:50 p.m., play was called off for the night, with matches involving Lindsay Davenport and Andy Roddick washed out completely. Among matches halted in progress: Four-time Open champion Pete Sampras was trailing 1997 finalist Greg Rusedski 5-4, on serve in the first set; No. 3 Tommy Haas won the first set 6-4 against No. 29 Thomas Enqvist; Gustavo Kuerten won the first set 6-1 against Nicolas Massu; and 11th-seeded Daniela Hantuchova led No. 8 Justine Henin 6-1, 1-2.
The last time an entire day at the Open was rained out was Sept. 4, 1988.
Williams won her first service game at love with the help of three straight aces and needed just 18 minutes to win the first set. She finished with eight aces.
"I've been really, really working on my serve," Williams said. "Once I serve well, my whole game goes up."
After Sunday's schedule was all but washed out, the tournament's chief executive said that The U.S. Open could follow the lead of the Australian Open and install a retractable roof over its main court.
"We love that retractable roof," Arlen Kantarian said after a day of downpours at the grand slam event at Flushing Meadows.
"We have looked at it ... no promises here but we do love that roof.
"You know, it is something that can be looked at not just for Arthur Ashe stadium court but also for Grandstand court and Louis Armstrong [court]. That would give us three arenas that we could use for a lot more things."
(AP, Reuters)
TITLE: Just Three Hours From an Early Season End
AUTHOR: By Ronald Blum
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: NEW YORK - Baseball ended its most painful losing streak. With a little more than three hours to spare, the sport averted a strike Friday, when negotiators pulled off a surprise by agreeing to a tentative labor contract.
Commissioner Bud Selig called the deal "historic," the first time since 1970 that players and owners accepted a new collective bargaining agreement without a work stoppage.
"All streaks come to an end, and this was one that was overdue to come to an end," union head Donald Fehr said.
The deal that pulled baseball back from the brink penalizes big spending on player salaries and gives poorer teams a bigger share of the wealth.
In return, the union received a guarantee that baseball won't eliminate teams through the 2006 season. And, for the first time, players agreed to mandatory, random testing for illegal steroids.
"It came down to us playing baseball or having our reputations and life ripped by the fans," said Steve Kline, the St. Louis Cardinals' player representative. "Baseball would have never been the same if we had walked out."
Perhaps that was why owners gained their most significant concessions since 1985 - maybe even since the start of free agency 26 years ago - with an agreement that runs until December 2006.
Selig and Fehr, longtime foes, wrapped up the deal during a morning session that averted the sport's ninth work stoppage since 1972. The previous eight negotiations resulted in five strikes and three lockouts.
"I think a lot of people thought they'd never live long enough to see these two parties come together with a very meaningful deal, and do it without one game of work stoppage," Selig said.
With the deal, owners gained concessions from one of the most powerful unions in the country. The players' association has lifted the average salary of its members from $51,501 in 1976 - the last year before free agency - to $2.38 million this season.
As part of the agreement, all teams will have to share 34 percent of their locally generated money, up from 20 percent. That money is divided evenly among the 30 franchises and is intended to help middle-market teams. Owners can spend the money on their teams or pocket it, without restriction. Also, a luxury tax will be levied on high-payroll teams to try to curb increases in player salaries.
Teams will pay a tax ranging from 17.5 percent to 40 percent of the portions of salaries above $117 million in 2003, $120.5 million in 2004, $128 million in 2005 and $136.5 million in 2006. The money raised by the luxury tax will be used for player benefits and various player-development programs.
Since the last strike, in 1994-1995, a 232-day stoppage that forced cancellation of the World Series for the first time since 1904, the New York Yankees have won four titles. For that reason, Selig and many team owners said, they needed changes to restore competitive balance.
TITLE: SPORTS WATCH
TEXT: Ronaldo on the Move
MADRID (Reuters) - Real Madrid finally brought an end to the Ronaldo saga when they agreed to a deal to sign the Brazil striker from Inter Milan, minutes before Europe's transfer deadline expired on Saturday.
Ronaldo will sign a four-year deal at Real, which will pay a total of $46.31 million for the 25-year-old former Barcelona player, whose goals fired Brazil to a record fifth World Cup triumph in South Korea and Japan in June.
"Real Madrid would like to announce that they have reached an agreement with Inter Milan for the transfer of Ronaldo, who will join the club next Monday to undergo a medical and will then be presented to the media at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium," said a spokesperson for the Spanish club.
An Inter spokesperson confirmed that the deal with last season's Champions League winner had been agreed and the Serie A club added that they had also reached an agreement to sign Argentina striker Hernan Crespo from Lazio to replace the departing Ronaldo.
Outside Milan's headquarters some 200 angry Inter fans vented their anger toward their former idol shouting, "Piece of sh*t, go home" and holding up large banners saying "Infame" ("disgrace").
Beckham Baby No. 2
LONDON (Reuters) - Victoria Beckham, aka "Posh Spice," is recovering in hospital with husband David Beckham at her side, after giving birth to a second son, named Romeo.
"It's a boy ... Romeo," a beaming David Beckham told reporters on Sunday outside the exclusive Portland Hospital in central London, where Victoria gave birth to the celebrity couple's first child, Brooklyn, three years ago.
"It's just a name we love," the Manchester United star and England captain said when asked why they chose the name of one of William Shakespeare's best-known lovers.
Beckham, looking relaxed in white shirt and matching cap, said his new son weighed in at 3.36 kilograms and mother and baby were doing well. "We're both delighted ... [Victoria's] great. She's sitting up in bed."
Bjorn Again
MUNICH, Germany (Reuters) - Denmark's Thomas Bjorn claimed his second BMW International title in three years with a confidence-boosting four-stroke win on Sunday, a month before he plays on Europe's Ryder Cup team at the Belfry.
Bjorn's closing six-under-par 66 for a 24-under-par 264 total, left him four shots ahead of Belfry teammate Bernhard Langer of Germany and England's John Bickerton.
Bjorn began the day with a two-shot lead and was always in control after three birdies in four holes from the third.
Another birdie on the ninth took him out in 32 and extended his lead to three shots, and, after his only bogey of the day, on the 10th, he responded superbly with another pair of birdies.
Lazio Fans Protest
ROME (Reuters) - Hard-core fans of Serie A side Lazio, angry about the sale of two of the club's best players, wreaked havoc late on Saturday, wrecking offices and burning cars around Rome's main stadium.
Some 500 fans left the Olympic stadium at the start of a friendly match between Lazio and Juventus and, in a pre-meditated plan, broke into some of the nearby national sports associations' offices, police said on Sunday. They smashed computers, photocopiers and desks before setting fire to papers. The damage has been estimated at around 200,000 euros.
On the way to the offices, they burnt an ambulance, at least two cars and several kiosks, and attacked three Juventus supporters, knifing two of them in the buttocks. One is still in hospital.
On Saturday, financially-troubled Lazio sold team captain and international defender Alessandro Nesta to Serie A rivals AC Milan for 30.2 million euros. Argentine international striker Hernan Crespo was also sold to Inter Milan for 26 million euros plus striker Bernardo Corradi.
Cricket Nuts
JAFFNA, Sri Lanka (Reuters) - Thousands of cricket-starved fans flocked to see demon spinner Muttiah Muralitharan on Sunday in an exhibition match in Sri Lanka's war-torn Jaffna peninsula.
An estimated 15,000 people gathered at a field by a college partly destroyed by bombs to cheer on Muralitharan, a Tamil who is one of the most popular people in the country.
The crowd cheered Muralitharan's every move, from when he stepped onto the field, through the three runs he scored, to the leisurely bowling spell in which he took no wickets.
A political officer from the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) even went on to the field to shake his hand before the start of the match, which Muralitharan's team won by 14 runs.
Cricket is immensely popular in Sri Lanka, and the country's win in 1996 World Cup was one of the few events that united the whole island.
U.S. Bounces Back
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - China nearly became the first team to hold a halftime lead against the United States since NBA players began competing internationally in 1992, but the U.S. team recovered from its poor start to win 84-65 Saturday night at the World Championships.
To hear U.S. coach George Karl describe it, his team was "startled" before it turned up its defensive intensity and held China to 13 points in the third quarter and 10 in the fourth.
China held a 28-16 lead after one quarter and remained ahead until the final 0:00.6.5 of the second quarter.
The U.S. team took the lead for good with about four minutes left in the third quarter but didn't close out the lightly regarded Chinese until Jermaine O'Neal scored inside with about 6:30 left for a 69-58 lead.
TITLE: A's Blow Lead, Recover for 18th Straight
AUTHOR: By Mike Fitzpatrick
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: OAKLAND, California - A win like this can carry a team to a championship - and make an MVP out of Miguel Tejada. The Oakland shortstop hit a three-run homer as the Athletics blew a two-run lead in the ninth inning, then rallied to beat the Minnesota Twins, 7-5, on Sunday for their 18th straight victory.
"This thing has a life of its own," Oakland manager Art Howe said. "I can't say I'm surprised by anything that happens. We sort of blew that game, but Miggy found a way to get it for us anyway."
Forty eight hours after a last-minute deal averted a potentially season-ending players' strike, the A's extended baseball's longest streak in 49 years - the New York Yankees won 18 straight in 1953 - and set a franchise record, beating the 1931 Philadelphia A's 17 straight.
Matthew LeCroy, Corey Koskie and Mike Cuddyer homered for Minnesota in an improbable ninth-inning rally that ruined the complete-game hopes of Mark Mulder and sent the Coliseum into stunned, empty silence.
But, in the bottom half, Ramon Hernandez walked and Ray Durham singled against ace closer Eddie Guardado (1-3). Pinch-hitter Olmedo Saenz struck out, setting the stage for Tejada.
The crowd cheered wildly as Tejada screamed and pumped his arms while rounding the bases. At Howe's urging, Tejada stepped out of the dugout for a curtain call.
Tejada also hit an early two-run homer, driving in five runs on three hits. He has 30 home runs and is second in the AL behind Alex Rodriguez with 115 RBIs.
"MVP. ... Three letters describe that guy," said A's closer Billy Koch (7-2), who gave up Cuddyer's go-ahead homer but still got the victory. "I don't think there's any other choice. If he wasn't on this team, where would we be?"
By sweeping AL Central-leading Minnesota, the A's won their ninth straight series.
Los Angeles 2, Houston 1. Curt Schilling and Randy Johnson attract the most attention, obviously. Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine always get their share of credit. Young Roy Oswalt and Wade Miller are gaining acclaim. Yet, when it comes to making a list of the best pitchers in the National League, Los Angeles manager Jim Tracy likes one of his own, Hideo Nomo.
"For a guy we were hoping would give us some innings as our No. 3 or 4 starter, you could make a strong argument for him being the ace of any staff in the league," Tracy said.
Nomo won again Sunday, pitching the Dodgers past the Houston Astros, 2-1, for his 11th victory in 12 decisions.
Nomo (13-6) has lost only once in his last 21 starts. He struck out eight in seven innings, and exited with a 3.33 ERA.
The Dodgers left Minute Maid Park with the lead in the NL wild-card race.
"I think all of our starters are pitching well," Nomo said through a translator. "Fortunately, I've stayed injury-free. I can't cover what Kevin Brown means to this team."
Brown, however, is in the bullpen after two stints on the disabled list.
While Nomo extended his success streak, a couple of teams kept heading in the wrong direction.
The New York Mets tied the longest home losing streak in NL history by dropping their 14th in a row at Shea Stadium, 9-5 to Philadelphia.
"It is demoralizing," Mets star Mike Piazza said. "Everyone has had losing streaks, everyone has had slumps. But this is uncharted waters for me. I'm a little bit in shock."
The Colorado Rockies lost their ninth straight overall, 9-5 to San Diego.
The Dodgers won for the 13th time in 17 games. Cesar Izturis hit a two-run double in the second inning.
"Houston is right behind us as the wild-card and they have a good team, but we are going to the playoffs, we are going to make it," Izturis said.
Nomo made the early lead stand up.
"He had everything today. If we did hit it, it was just a ground ball," Houston's Daryle Ward said. "He kept everything down. I've been watching him on TV and he has been keeping everything down, that's why he has so many wins."
"He throws you fastballs, then he gets you to chase the split-finger because it looks just like a fastball. It starts out chest high and ends up in the dirt," he said.
Seattle 9, Kansas City 4. Dan Wilson homered and drove in three runs as Seattle broke out of its hitting doldrums.
Mike Sweeney hit a three-run homer for Kansas City, but Jeff Suppan (8-15) lost his career-worst eighth consecutive start.
Ismael Valdes (8-10) won for the second time in three starts with Seattle since being acquired from Texas on Aug. 18.
Toronto 7, New York Yankees 6. Rookie Josh Phelps doubled twice and drove in three runs as Toronto rallied at SkyDome to make a winner of Roy Halladay (15-6).
Vernon Wells tied a career high with four hits for the Blue Jays, who took three of four from the AL East leaders. Phelps went 8-for-14 with 10 RBIs in the series.
David Wells (15-7) took the loss.
Philadelphia 9, New York Mets 5. A day after finishing the first winless home month in NL history, the Mets matched the Boston Braves' 14-game home skid in 1911 for the longest in league history. The 1953 St. Louis Browns set the major league record with 20 straight home losses.
Pat Burrell, Todd Pratt and Tomas Perez homered off Al Leiter, who lasted just two-plus innings in his shortest regular-season start in 14 years.
Philadelphia has won 10 of 11, and is a season-high three games over .500.