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| [Nettime-bold] April 2000 |
Le Monde diplomatique
-----------------------------------------------------
April 2000
LEADER
Fragile new economy *
by IGNACIO RAMONET
<http://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/en/2000/04/01leader>
Translated by Ed Emery
MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD DIVIDED
Islam on message for modernity
by our special correspondent WENDY KRISTIANASEN
The Clinton-Assad meeting in Geneva on 26 March confirmed the
complexity of the Arab-Israeli negotiations. Peace looks uncertain,
just as the Middle East faces a perilous transition from one
generation to the next: new leaders have taken over in Jordan and
Saudi Arabia; next it will be the turn of Syria and Palestine. Once
unstoppable, political Islam is suddenly marking time as people
question whether it has the answers to the complex problems of
today's societies. Meanwhile rising through its ranks, its younger
voices are demanding a more modern outlook of the oldest and most
powerful of the Islamist organisations, the Muslim Brotherhood.
Original text in English
A row in the family *
W. K.
<http://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/en/2000/04/03tanzim>
Original text in English
THE DESERT KINGDOM: BALANCING OIL, RELIGION AND REFORM
The world invades Saudi Arabia
by our special correspondent ALAIN GRESH
Young men dressed in their traditional long white robes and sitting
in cybercafés, cellphone to hand; women students shrouded in black,
but more numerous than their male counterparts; companies that have
grown in the shadow of the state and are now being privatised: as
it begins to feel the pressures of globalisation Saudi Arabia is
wondering about its future and its values. Crown Prince Abdullah is
determined the economy should change but the forces of conservatism
are powerful and vested interests innumerable.
Translated by Harry Forster
CRIME, THE WORLD'S BIGGEST FREE ENTERPRISE
Thick as thieves
by CHRISTIAN de BRIE
By allowing capital to flow unchecked from one end of the world to
the other, globalisation and abandon of sovereignty have together
fostered the explosive growth of an outlaw financial market. Indeed
the engine of capitalist expansion is now oiled by the profits of
serious crime. From time to time something is done to give the
impression of waging war on the rapidly expanding banking and tax
havens. If governments really wanted to, they could right this
overnight. But though there are calls for zero tolerance of petty
crime and unemployment, nothing is being done about the big money
crimes.
Translated by Malcolm Greenwood
The dark side of globalisation
by JEAN DE MAILLARD
On the night of 24-25 March 1999 Nato unleashed an air attack on
Yugoslavia that lasted for 78 days. How should the operation be
viewed one year on? The suffering of the Kosovar Albanians has
ended and the refugees have returned to their homes - more often
than not destroyed - but Kosovo's Serbs and Gypsies have in turn
been forced to leave. Mitrovica, the last great multiethnic city,
is the scene of fearsome clashes. And Slobodan Milosevic is still
in power in Belgrade. Such a failure means the real nature of this
war needs to be examined. The "genocide" of the Kosovar Albanians
had to be stopped. But was it not a question of the United States
using Nato to imposing its grip on the Balkans? Which would explain
why the allies stubbornly refused any diplomatic solution.
Translated by Malcolm Greenwood
HAS GLOBALISATION REALLY MADE NATIONS REDUNDANT?
The states we are still in
by NOËLLE BURGI and PHILIP S. GOLUB
From Gerhard Schröder to Massimo D'Alema, via Tony Blair and the
apostles of the Third Way, Europe's politicians go on and on about
less government and the weak state. In the same vein, many scholars
argue that the nation state is a thing of the past. But these myths
do not stand up to analysis. Worse still, they conceal the new
configuration of power in the international system and lend
legitimacy to the antisocial policies accompanying globalisation.
Translated by Barry Smerin
Then and now *
<http://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/en/2000/04/08golub>
Translated by Barry Smerin
TWO CHINAS FACE OFF ACROSS THE STRAITS
How Taiwan's elections will affect the world
by FRANÇOIS GODEMENT
A new chapter has opened in the history of Taiwan. After 50 years
in power, the Kuomintang collapsed at the presidential elections on
18 March, with its candidate Lien Chan collecting only 23% of the
votes, far behind the winner Chen Shui-bian (39%). This affirmation
of democracy on the island is a challenge to Beijing, which is
seeing the prospect of reunification, under the conditions the
Chinese Communist Party wants, fade ever further into the distance.
The threats the party is making against Taiwan highlight mounting
tensions among its leaders. And a dangerous escalation between the
two Chinas cannot be entirely ruled out.
Translated by Derry Cook-Radmore
NOSTALGIA FOR THE GOOD OLD DAYS
Czech Communist Party's velvet return
by ADAM NOVAK
Seven years after they parted company both Czechs and Slovaks are
in economic, social and political crisis. In Slovakia, the period
of grace accorded to Vladimir Meciar's successors is already ending
in rejection of the shaky coalition's austerity programme. In the
Czech Republic, renewed support for the Communist Party reflects
growing opposition to the economic transition now jointly managed
by social democrats and conservatives.
Translated by Barry Smerin
WHAT ALMODOVAR'S MOVIES REVEAL ABOUT THE RISE OF THE RIGHT
Spain on the verge of a nervous breakdown
by JOSÉ VIDAL-BENEYTO
On 12 March the Spanish right, led by José Maria Aznar, won an
absolute majority in the parliamentary elections. The socialists
and communists suffered their worst defeat since democracy was
restored to Spain. How did the People's Party, with its historic
links with dictatorship and the direct heir of Franco's
socio-economics, manage this landslide win? Analysis of the films
of Pedro Almodóvar, who has just collected an Oscar in Hollywood,
helps provide an answer.
Translated by Derry Cook-Radmore
KOHL'S CHRISTIAN-DEMOCRAT SCANDALS
Secrets and spies in Germany
by CHRISTIAN SEMLER
The Christian Democrats meet for their party congress in Essen on
10 April. Their aim is to put the Kohl scandal behind them and
resume their attacks on the coalition led by Gerhard Schröder,
fighting for the "centre" of German political life. The election of
Angelika Merkel, now the only candidate for party leadership, will
be particularly symbolic. If the CDU can overcome the growing
contradictions between its traditional values and liberal
commitments, it will survive the damage of the Kohl affair.
Translated by Harry Forster
AFRICAN PEACE IF NOT YET PLENTY
Somalia re-invents itself
by GERARD PRUNIER
When UN forces withdrew in March 1995 the outside world forgot
about Somalia. But this fragmented country has survived. It has not
sunk into the further anarchy some predicted, but has gradually
recreated itself from an original blueprint that bears no
resemblance to the international community's clumsy attempts to
"invent" a government for Somalia in the 1990s. But the south of
the country is still at war, and a peace conference of
representatives of the Somali clans is due to begin in Djibouti on
20 April.
Translated by Julie Stoker
THE CORRESPONDENCE COURSE GOES ONLINE
Comeback of an education racket *
by DAVID F. NOBLE
The world's bigger universities are now developing distance
education through the internet, on the basis of its effectiveness
as a learning tool. But correspondence instruction, already
discredited at the start of the 20th century, is also a lucrative
business.
<http://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/en/2000/04/14noble>
Original text in english
BACK PAGE
Show us the truth about Vietnam *
by IGNACIO RAMONET
<http://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/en/2000/04/15vietnam>
Translated by Ed Emery
English language editorial director: Wendy Kristianasen
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<http://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/en/2000/04/>
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