Korean Politics
It has been a big week for Korea, North and South. As part of the agreements made at the 2000 summit, there was a mass reuniting of relatives from the two countries, separated for fifty years by the Cold War. The emotional occasion took place under tight-control six visits, (hugs, exchanges of photographs) over three days on the wonderfully named remote North Korean mountain resort of Diamond Mountain.
Technically, the two countries are still at war, and there are no direct telephone, post or travel links between them. But things are changing. The New York Times reports that, ignoring US wishes, South Korea is motoring ahead with its efforts to open up and moderate the behaviour of the North through joint infrastructure and business projects. Mine-clearing, freight railways, cell-phones and golf tournaments are on the agenda all part of South Korean President Kim Dae Jungs policy of sunshine toward the North.
Meanwhile, Washington is picking up the scent. In an effort to improve relations between the US and the North Korea suffering somewhat since the President included them in the three-pronged axis of evil the Bush administration has decided to send an envoy to Pyongyang. The lucky man is Jack Pritchard, a senior State Department official and Koreas expert.
But what are Bushs real motives? It hasnt escaped the Diarys notice that the day before the announcement of Pritchards mission, North Korean leader Kim Jong-il was reported as having invited Bill Clinton to the play a mediation role between Washington and Pyongyang. In what must go down as one of the years classic quotes, a North Korean official was reported by the BBC as having told Reuters on Monday that, The plan of the Dear Leader Kim Jong-il is that Mr. Clinton should end the rhetoric.
The State Department issued no official comment. But the very same day, Pritchard appeared.
Big Bill
Speaking of Slick Willie, the ex-President has been busy securing the funds for his presidential library. The International Herald Tribune reported that Clinton has reached the home stretch in his efforts to raise the necessary two hundred million dollars to build the joint in Little Rock by 2004.
One hundred and forty-five million dollars has been pledged, only twenty-one million received, and it is thought that the final fifty-five million is going to prove tough to squeeze out of Clintonite doners.
Friends are nervous. With a keen eye for the nature of US campaign fundraising, one was quoted as saying, Fifty million is a hard nut when you no longer have the Oval Office.
Well, quite
Fashion disaster
It doesnt take long these days before heroes become villains. This week, Hamid Karzai, the leader of Afghanistans interim government, became the latest to fall from grace. Only a couple of months ago he was dubbed (by a Gucci designer) the most chic man in the world. But now Karzai has come under attack for his choice of headwear.
Karzai is famed for wearing a karakul hat, but animal rights groups have insisted that the fashion accessory is inhumane. Its manufacture is a grizzly process, somewhat outdoing the much maligned practices of high street chain stores.
This traditional method of production involves beating a pregnant ewe until it aborts. The resulting lamb has very curly tight hair. It is then skinned alive and used to make a cap. Both mother and child die in the process.
But Karzai has his looks to think about, as well as the tense politics of his country. Afghanistan exports millions of karakul pelts every year, and it is one of the nations biggest industries. Whats more, Karzais wearing of the hat completes a three-piece outfit that reflects his countries diversity. The karakul hat is worn by Panjsher highlanders. The long shirt and loose trousers are popular with Pashtuns. And the outer robe pleases Tajiks and Uzbecks.
We say: if one goes, they all have to go.
Venezuelan query
Jay Janson asked us this week, What was the issue in the President Chavez appointments to the Venezuelan State Petroleum Co. that caused demonstrations and strikes? He insisted that he cannot be the only one wondering, and remained baffled at how exactly the mere changes in the governing board of an oil company, could cause an overthrow of the Presidency.
Good question Jay. Heres what we dug-up:
On 26 February, Chavez nominated a new board of directors for Petroleus de Venezuela (PDVSA). After a series of bust-ups over the choice of nominations, the managers of the company went on strike on the morning of 4 April. Their complaint was simple: the new directors were appointed because they were allies of the President (friends of Chavez). They did not get their jobs through the meritocracy of the promotion system. The suggestion was that Chavez intended to pocket PDVSAs profits.
The strike brought the country to a standstill. Petrol stations shut. Industrial gas was exhausted. And electricity supplies were affected. Tensions rose. Demonstrations against Chavez hit the streets, as the opposition let off steam amid fears that the economy would collapse. Chavez supporters soon rallied to his defence, blocking the entrances to the parliament. Chavez insisted that PDVSA got what it deserved, that it was inefficient and greedy not contributing enough to his Bolivarian revolution for the poor.
But few were convinced. Petroleum accounts for almost one quarter of Venezuelas GNP, and the nation is the worlds fourth largest petroleum exporter, accounting for eighty per cent of its entire exports. Forty thousand Venezuelans are employed in the oil business; fifteen per cent of the country was unemployed before the strike. Chavezs board began mass sackings of its striking employees. The President turned against the press. In Bushs words When things got hot in Venezuela, he shut the press down.
With the crisis reaching boiling point, the military took Chavez into custody. The coup, if it can be called that, lasted two days, as businessman Pedro Carmonas attempts to form a replacement government collapsed, and Chavez was reinstated. Forty people are thought to have died in the riots. The US has denied backing the coup.
The administration was very clear when there were troubles on the streets in Venezuela that we support democracy and did not support any extraconstitutional action, Bush said. Chavez swears he saw a plane with US markings parked at an army airstrip on Venezuelas Orchila Island one of the places he was held.
So mystery surrounds the events, and as yet, there is no definitive answer to why or how this happened. What is clear is that the nation is divided strongly between supporters and opponents of the President. There were jubilant scenes on Chavezs return to office, but others say they refuse to accept his legitimacy.
The military remains a key factor. They are reported to have lost all patience with Chavez when thirteen people were shot dead and many others injured during a demonstration.
Meanwhile, there are some who think this all stems from a luxury presidential airbus A-319 purchased by Chavez over the Easter holidays. Nicknamed the plane of shame it was said to have a whirlpool bath on board. Chavez tried to claim it was part of his Bolivarian revolution for the poor, and promised to use his old Boeing to fly poor people to the national park and the Caribbean islands.
Unfortunately, in a country where two-thirds of people are living in poverty, the sixty-five million dollar personal jet didnt really cut it as a monument to redistribution. How much this fuelled the fires can only be guessed at.
Quotes of the Week
The fate of Netzarim is the fate of Tel Aviv.
Ariel Sharon outlining his support for the settlements.
Thank God, shes safe shes in Auschwitz.
Yuli Tamir, quoted by Thomas L. Friedman in the New York Times responding to a recent suicide bombing in Jerusalem with relief that her daughter was in Poland visiting the Nazi death camp with her youth group, not in the youth group office next to which the bomb exploded.
Nothing in the Middle East is easy.
Ari Fleischer, White House Press Secretary.
Contact the Diary editor: dominic.hilton@opendemocracy.net
