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From: Le Monde diplomatique <[log in to unmask]>
To: English edition dispatch <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, December 15, 1999 6:33 PM
Subject: December 1999
>
> Le Monde diplomatique
> -----------------------------------------------------
>
>
> December 1999
>
>
> LEADER
>
> The year 2000 *
>
> by IGNACIO RAMONET
>
> As we approach the threshold of the year 2000 - a mythical date
> that has long served as a synonym for the future that is about to
> become our present - we inevitably pause to take stock of the state
> of the our world. A central phenomenon is the way in which every
> country is caught up in the dynamic of globalisation. A second
> capitalist revolution is underway. But many are determined to
> oppose it.
>
> <http://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/en/1999/12/?c=01leader>
>
> Translated by Ed Emery
>
>
> LAW OF EMPIRE
>
> The US undermines international law
>
> by PHYLLIS BENNIS
>
> In the name of so-called "moral superiority" the United States
> wants to determine the norms of international life. But
> Washington's development aid to the poorest countries - $7bn in
> 1997 - is less than half what it was at the end of the cold war.
> Having failed to ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) on
> 13 October, the US is forging ahead with anti-missile systems that
> put the disarmament treaties of the last decades at risk. By
> marginalising the UN and empowering Nato to intervene in
> Yugoslavia, it has violated international law and the UN Charter.
> And it is also refusing to sign or ratify other key documents such
> as the new International Criminal Court.
>
> Original text in English
>
> Washington triggers new arms race
>
> by PAUL-MARIE DE LA GORCE
>
> Although a study published by the US defence department last month
> concluded that "Star Wars" projects are doomed to failure,
> Washington is determined to establish an anti-missile programme.
> Neither strong opposition from Moscow nor the doubts of its
> European allies seem enough to stop this programme which will
> trigger a new arms race and undermine the long-standing
> non-proliferation treaties now in force.
>
> Translated by Barry Smerin
>
>
> LESSONS OF WAR
>
> French diplomacy adrift in Kosovo *
>
> by ERIC ROULEAU
>
> On 10 November the French defence ministry issued a document
> criticising the attitude of the United States during the air
> attacks on Serbia, claiming that some military operations were
> conducted outside the strict framework of the Atlantic Alliance.
> Washington immediately denied the allegation. With the National
> Assembly's defence committee due to publish its report on the
> Kosovo war later this month, questions remain about the reasons for
> France's involvement in an escapade that has heightened tension in
> the Balkans.
>
> <http://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/en/1999/12/?c=04rouleau>
>
> Translated by Barry Smerin
>
>
> A HISTORY OF THE 20TH CENTURY
>
> Age Of Extremes defies French censors *
>
> by ERIC HOBSBAWM
>
> It has taken five years for Eric Hobsbawm's world-acclaimed Age of
> Extremes to appear in French - even though it has been translated
> into more than 20 languages. By November, one month after
> publication, the book was on all the best-selling lists, with
> 40,000 copies printed. The whole affair has revealed the disquiet
> and ambiguities that surround intellectual life in France. No-one
> denied the quality of the work. Nor was it a question of financial
> considerations. It was Hobsbawm's ideas that were in question, in
> particular his unrepentant position on the left. With France having
> undergone a long period of 'Stalinisation' from which it had
> finally emerged, it was felt that the ideological and intellectual
> climate was not right for its publication. Publishers preferred
> books defending the ideas of French writer François Furet who held
> that the century boiled down to communism and nazism, and that both
> were equally dangerous forms of totalitarianism.
> In deciding to translate Hobsbawm's book, Editions Complexe and Le
> Monde diplomatique have refused to reduce history to a single
> official theory. French-speaking readers have applauded this stand.
> And Le Monde diplomatique has contributed to a rich and complex
> debate on the history of the century that is now drawing to a
> close.
> Here, Hobsbawm explains the problems associated with the book's
> publication.
>
> <http://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/en/1999/12/?c=05hobsbawm>
>
> Original text in English
>
>
> CLAIMS ON WESTERN SAHARA HAMPER MAGHREB UNITY
>
> Algiers and Rabat, still miles apart *
>
> by LAHOUARI ADDI
>
> The UN-organised referendum in Western Sahara, planned for July
> 2000, seems likely to be put off yet again. This third
> postponement, officially explained by the need to check the details
> of 79,000 people struck off the electoral register, is undoubtedly
> meant to spare the young King Mohammed VI the major crisis that
> victory by the supporters of independence would unleash. Yet the
> compromise Rabat is hoping for - wide-ranging autonomy - depends on
> the agreement of the Polisario Front, and hence on reconciliation
> between Algeria and Morocco. And that is still a long way off.
>
> <http://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/en/1999/12/?c=06algm>
>
> Translated by Derry Cook-Radmore
>
>
> AS THE CHECHEN WAR CONTINUES
>
> West's autistic view of Russia *
>
> by JACQUES SAPIR
>
> Conspiracy or chaos? Either way, not much good has come of eight
> years of Western "aid" to Russia and uncritical support for the
> group of free-marketeers around President Boris Yeltsin.
>
> <http://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/en/1999/12/?c=07sapir>
>
> Translated by Ed Emery
>
> Russia desperately seeks a solution
>
> by BORIS RAKITSKI and DENIS PAILLARD
>
> With parliamentary elections on 19 December and the presidential
> election in June 2000, the post-Yeltsin period in Russia is already
> upon us.
> History may not be kind to the man who buried the Soviet Union and
> dragged his country kicking and screaming into the age of
> capitalism. It now faces an economy in ruins, social disorder,
> widespread crime, cultural alienation and marginalisation in the
> international community. Not to mention the problem of deflecting
> public discontent, securing political continuity in the Kremlin and
> avoiding the judicial consequences of the scandals surrounding the
> president's family.
> Already alarmed by Islamist incursions in Dagestan in August,
> Russians were deeply shocked by the wave of terrorist attacks in
> September, which claimed several hundred victims. The attacks were
> attributed - without any actual proof - to followers of Shamil
> Basayev.
> So, unlike the first excursion into Chechnya in 1993-96, the
> present campaign has wide public support. This is total war. Half
> the rebel republic has fallen to the Russian army, with 5,000 dead
> and 200,000 refugees.
> The man who has done best out of the operation is the outgoing
> president's favourite candidate, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. His
> rating in the opinion polls has shot up from 2% to 29%, putting him
> - temporarily - ahead of all other contenders. The softly-softly
> approach of Western critics has also helped. There have been a few
> token protests but the regime responsible for wrecking Russia still
> has the political and financial backing of the United States and
> its allies.
> Washington may continue to support the Kremlin but that does not
> prevent it from doing all it can to stifle any revival of Russian
> power and undermine Moscow's influence in the Caucasus and Central
> Asia. In mid-November it gave official blessing to plans for direct
> oil and gas pipelines from the Caspian to the Turkish port of
> Ceyhan on the Mediterranean, bypassing Russia and Iran. Of course
> there is still the small matter of funding for the construction
> work due to start in 2004.
>
> Translated by Barbara Wilson
>
>
> WAR WITHOUT BLOOD?
>
> Hypocrisy of 'non-lethal' arms *
>
> by STEVE WRIGHT
>
> The horror of images of deaths caused by Western armies in military
> operations, designed to maintain peace and security, has led to the
> development of new arms that are intended to paralyse, not destroy.
> Yet for all this seductive rhetoric, so-called "non-lethal" arms
> have the potential to increase the level of violence, spawning ever
> more advanced techniques of repression. And if democratic countries
> let their arms manufacturers develop these techniques, they will be
> exported to places less concerned about brutalising their
> populations.
>
> <http://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/en/1999/12/?c=09wright>
>
> Original text in English
>
>
> HOW TO COMBAT THE GREENHOUSE EFFECT
>
> Heatwave hits the planet
>
> by DOMINIQUE FROMMEL
>
> Motor vehicle manufacturers are doing little to design "clean"
> cars, and public transport operators - often public services - are
> not proving any more responsible, although solutions are available
> to reduce the fumes choking our cities. The rise in carbon dioxide
> emissions from traffic, power stations and industry is exacerbating
> the greenhouse effect, with the risk of climate change. At the UN
> summit in Bonn in early November, more than 60 countries agreed to
> ratify the 1997 Kyoto protocol before 2002. This commits the
> industrialised nations to cutting their emissions of greenhouse
> gases. But the US Senate still wants to stop Washington from
> ratifying the protocol.
>
> Translated by Malcolm Greenwood
>
>
> FREE TRADE ACROSS AN IRON CURTAIN
>
> The line that divides Mexico and the US
>
> by our special correspondent JANETTE HABEL
>
> Along the frontera, an economic area that is home to some eight
> million people, lies the great market of a world in breakneck
> industrial expansion - the world of the twin bi-national cities
> that are the prototypes for a globalised economy. On the Mexican
> side, exploitation of the workers is normal practice in the
> subcontractors' factories, or maquiladoras. Streams of immigrants
> from the interior, especially the deprived regions of the south,
> arrive there, then find themselves caught in a trap. Once they have
> realised just how wretched life is going to be, they have only one
> way out - to cross the border. But while goods and finance
> circulate freely, the US is taking serious steps to stop the
> passage of people.
>
> Translated by Derry Cook-Radmore
>
> Caught on the last-chance frontier
>
> by our special correspondent MARIE-AGNÈS COMBESQUE
>
> Translated by Derry Cook-Radmore
>
>
> EIGHT YEARS OF CIVIL WAR
>
> Fragile peace for Sierra Leone *
>
> by ELIZABETH BLUNT
>
> The 7 July accord signed in Lome (Togo) between the Sierra Leone
> authorities and the Revolutionary United Front means that the
> atrocities of the civil war will go unpunished. The RUF has been
> allocated four government posts but the UN has called for action
> against the appalling human rights violations. Meanwhile the
> agreement remains shrouded in uncertainty.
>
> <http://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/en/1999/12/?c=13blunt>
>
> Original text in English
>
>
> POWER OF THE WORLD'S TRUE MASTERS
>
> When the giants play with fire
>
> Top companies' tables
>
> by FREDERIC F. CLAIRMONT
>
> Translated by Malcolm Greenwood
>
>
> BACK PAGE
>
> The two faces of parity
>
> by MARIETTE SINEAU
>
> This month the French government is due to pass a bill designed to
> introduce equal opportunities for men and women in politics, in
> particular for the local council elections in 2001. The refusal to
> set quotas for the number of women running for election has already
> drawn sharp criticism. However, additional measures are needed to
> make political power sharing possible. Elected representatives
> should be given a special status, with a range of provisions to
> relieve them of part of their family duties. Only then will all
> women be able enter public life, not just the privileged few.
>
> Translated by Harry Forster
>
>
>
> English language editorial director: Wendy Kristianasen
>
> _________________________________________________________________
>
> (*) Star-marked articles are available to every reader. Other
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>
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