Le Monde Diplomatique, January 1999

Kind regards and enjoy the reading

Arno Tausch
----------
> From: Le Monde diplomatique <dispatch@london.monde-diplomatique.fr>
> To: English edition dispatch <dispatch@london.monde-diplomatique.fr>
> Subject: January 1999
> Date: Donnerstag, 07. Jänner 1999 10:51
> 
> 
>                                                     LE MONDE DIPLOMATIQUE
>      _________________________________________________________________
> 
>                           Le Monde diplomatique
> 
>                              english edition
> 
>                               January 1999
> 
> 
> 
> 
>     LEADER
> 
>   Towards a new century *
> 
>       by Ignacio Ramonet
> 
>      What do we see as we approach the start of a new century? A growing
>      gap between rich and poor and an increasing sense of generalised
>      political chaos. It adds up to a crisis of the nation-state. We
>      need new initiatives for the coming century to re-establish a
>      proper social contract.
>         http://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/en/1999/01/01leader.html
> 
>                                                   Translated by Ed Emery
> 
> 
>     WHO CARES ABOUT THE UNITED NATIONS?
> 
>   War without end against Iraq
> 
>       by Alain Gresh
> 
>                                         Translated by Wendy Kristianasen
> 
> 
>   Why Saddam won't back down
> 
>       by Raad Alkadiri
> 
>                                                 Original text in English
> 
>      Eight years after the Gulf war, the promise of a new regional order
>      seems ever more distant. December's dissolution of the Israeli
>      parliament and early elections are a blow for Binyamin Netanyahu
>      but they also mean another freeze in the peace talks - while
>      settlements go on being built. At the same time Hizbollah has
>      bombed northern Israel in response to an Israeli strike which
>      killed several Lebanese civilians. And the Anglo-American strikes
>      on Iraq showed not just the United States' contempt for the UN, but
>      also an impasse in a sanctions policy which has succeeded only in
>      bolstering up the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein and slowly
>      extinguishing a society and a people.
> 
> 
>     TOP SECRET SURVEILLANCE SYSTEM
> 
>   How the United States spies on us all
> 
>       by Philippe Rivière
> 
>   Most discreet information agency
> 
>       by Patrick S. Poole
> 
>   Lifting the veil
> 
>   US spy satellites currently in use
> 
>      With an annual budget of $26.7 billion - as much as during the cold
>      war - the American intelligence services are the best equipped in
>      the world. Strategic alliances and powerful technology allow them
>      to tap into the world's telephones, faxes and electronic mail as a
>      matter of routine. But the US's biggest trump card is the
>      cooperation it receives from the police and armed forces of other
>      states more concerned with surveillance than with protecting
>      individual liberties.
> 
>                                          Translated by Malcolm Greenwood
> 
> 
>     AN INTERNATIONAL COURT TO END IMPUNITY
> 
>   Human rights are universal *
> 
>       by Monique Chemillier-Gendreau
> 
>   Seven courts *
> 
>      While the fate of General Augusto Pinochet still hangs in the
>      balance, the establishment of an International Criminal Court in
>      Rome in July and the work of the Truth and Reconciliation
>      Commission in South Africa mark a new departure. As we celebrate
>      the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,
>      there is clearly a need for an international response to problems
>      of justice and law. The principle of state sovereignty must no
>      longer be invoked to allow criminals to go unpunished.
>         http://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/en/1999/01/08rights.html
>         http://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/en/1999/01/09courts.html
> 
>                                             Translated by Barbara Wilson
> 
> 
>     HOW LEFT IS EUROPE?
> 
>   Italy proves the exception
> 
>       by Rossana Rossanda
> 
>      Italy is in an anomalous situation compared with Europe's other
>      leftist governments in France, in Great Britain and now in Germany.
>      This administration seems to go against the tendency of all the
>      other social democrats to try out remedies (prudent ones) now that
>      neo-liberalism has met with reverses and economic growth is
>      stagnant. It's as though Italy - once the most advanced post-war
>      social and political laboratory - is still stunned by the extensive
>      and bewildering changes in ownership patterns and labour relations.
> 
>                             Translated by Ed Emery and Michael McCarroll
> 
> 
>     NEW CURRENCY, MORE AUSTERITY
> 
>   Selling out to the euro *
> 
>       by Laurent Carroué
> 
>      On 1 January 1999 the euro formally replaced the national
>      currencies of 11 of the 15 European Union countries.
>      Simultaneously, the European Central Bank (ECB) took over from the
>      national central banks. There has been a huge campaign in Europe to
>      promote it ("the euro for strength") which has concentrated mainly
>      on the technical aspects of the currency change, though during the
>      past two months there has been a heated debate over interest rates.
>      All of which distracts people from the political and social issues
>      that are crucial for Europe's future.
>         http://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/en/1999/01/11euro.html
> 
>                                                   Translated by Ed Emery
> 
> 
>     FROM BRETTON WOODS TO THE MAI
> 
>   Finance and Silence
> 
>       by Noam Chomsky
> 
>      The suspension of negotiations on the Multilateral Agreement on
>      Investment (MAI), which had taken place within the framework of the
>      OECD over the last three years, spelled an undeniable victory for
>      the various associated campaign groups, led by France, which had
>      mobilised to prevent the signature of the agreement. However, this
>      is not necessarily the last we have seen of the MAI. Noam Chomsky
>      charts the major developments since Bretton Woods.
> 
>                                                 Original text in English
> 
> 
>     NEXT VICTIM OF THE BALKAN CRISIS?
> 
>   Macedonia risks falling apart
> 
>       by Christophe Chiclet
> 
>   Byzantine quarrel
> 
>       by George Prevelakis
> 
>   One name, one flag *
> 
>   From region to republic *
> 
>      By threatening to bomb them, NATO got most of the Yugoslav forces
>      in Kosovo withdrawn. But the agreement reached with President
>      Slobodan Milosevic by US mediator Richard Holbrooke on 13 October
>      1998 did not end skirmishes between Serbian forces and Albanian
>      guerrillas, nor did it allow talks to start on a largely autonomous
>      status for the province. Meanwhile, the Kosovo Liberation Army
>      still dreams of a "Greater Albania" implying loss of territory for
>      Serbia - and for Macedonia as well.
>         http://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/en/1999/01/15maced.html
>         http://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/en/1999/01/16maced.html
> 
>                                          Translated by Malcolm Greenwood
> 
> 
>     'THE SECOND SEX' 50 YEARS ON
> 
>   De Beauvoir in retrospect
> 
>       by Sylvie Chaperon
> 
>      On 15 December 1998 the French parliament passed a bill writing the
>      principle of "equal access" for both sexes to elected positions
>      into France's constitution. Gender equality, both in politics and
>      society at large, is now a major topic of public debate in France.
>      Women have come a long way from the days of fighting for the right
>      to vote or to choose whether or not to have children. Simone de
>      Beauvoir played a key role in this long fight for equality.
> 
>                                                   Translated by Ed Emery
> 
> 
>     GREAT LAKES REGION REALIGNS
> 
>   Africa's new players jostle for power
> 
>       by Mwayila Tshiyembe
> 
>      East and central Africa are reeling under the impact of the Rwandan
>      genocide and the political upheavals in ex-Zaire. The failure of
>      French, American and South African diplomacy leaves room for the
>      emergence of a new regional alignment. Will those in power be able
>      to realise the widely shared aspirations for an African
>      renaissance? Or, like decolonisation 50 years ago, will it prove
>      yet another illusion?
> 
>                                               Translated by Barry Smerin
> 
> 
>     IDEALS OR INTEREST?
> 
>   Pandora's box *
> 
>       by Pascal Boniface
> 
>      Separatism, secession, irredentism - all in the name of nationalism
>      - are responsible for an ever-growing fragmentation of existing
>      nation-states. Where once unification was seen as a step forward
>      guaranteeing international status, now we are witnessing a reverse
>      process which is a threat to peace around the world. And most often
>      it is a cover for securing economic interests.
>         http://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/en/1999/01/19states.html
> 
>                                                 Translated by Lorna Dale
> 
> 
>         English language editorial director: Wendy Kristianasen
>      _____________________________________________________________
> 
> 
> 
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