EGYPT

EGYPT
The Egyptian Gazette, Cairo, Nov. 18: Almost one week after the world was outraged by a suicide bombing at a housing compound in Riyadh, terrorists struck again, this time in Turkey. Two synagogues in central Istanbul were on Saturday devastated by two simultaneous attacks, which left 25 dead and hundreds injured. Turkey has not ruled out al-Qaida's involvement in the horrendous blasts.
A spate of earlier attacks in Morocco, Indonesia and Saudi Arabia were starkly similar in employing suicide bombers. Regardless of the true identity of the mastermind, these abhorrent deeds point to an ugly fact that terrorism is burgeoning and is taking hostage the world's security. And religion seems abused in the most disgusting and sinister way.
American monopoly
Grappling with terrorism should not remain an American monopoly. At stakes is the globe's security and prosperity. It behooves the world to come up with a collective watertight definition of "terrorism" and agree on how best to eliminate this plague.
JORDAN
The Jordan Times, Amman, Nov. 18: Ariel Sharon's trip to Italy will no doubt be a success. Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi will today reiterate his right-wing government's support for Israel.
Berlusconi will buy into Sharon's twisted axiom that recent terrorist attacks against Jews, like Saturday's despicable bombings of two synagogues in Turkey, are linked to widespread criticism of Israeli policies across Europe.
Sharon wants the current EU president to agree with him that Israeli policies must not be criticized, because that would amount to anti-Semitism and incitement to terror.
Number one enemy
Incidents like the European Commission's survey earlier this month, according to which Europeans rated Israel as the number one enemy of world peace, should not be repeated: This is what Sharon wants to hear -- in fact, has already heard -- from Berlusconi.
No matter how much Berlusconi will try to please Sharon today, to many Europeans, Israel is not the victim.
BRITAIN
The Times, London, Nov. 18: Tony Blair rightly departed from the formal text of his speech to the CBI conference yesterday to defend vigorously the invitation offered to George W. Bush to visit Britain this week. His audience clearly agreed with him on that point, but during the question-and-answer session which followed, angry delegates made stark their objections to the hefty steel tariffs that Mr. Bush imposed 20 months ago and which the World Trade Organization (WTO) declared illegal last week.
Needless trade battle
The prospect of a needless trade battle has properly alarmed business and the prime minister promised to raise these concerns directly with the president.
He should do so forcefully. The steel saga is a sorry one that has not benefited Mr. Bush or the industry he sought to assist, let alone the international trading framework.
GERMANY
Sueddeutsche Zeitung, Munich, Nov. 18: With its proposal to accelerate the transfer of sovereignty to the Iraqis, the U.S. government apparently has not made an inspired move, but instead -- as always -- provoked a divided response.
Critics ranging from the French foreign minister to the Iraqis agree on only one thing, that the Americans are doing everything wrong again.
This flawed proposal is not the expression of an intelligent plan but only proof of a failing strategy. ...
The new proposal is really an old plan which had been rejected for good reasons.
Washington is turning the clock back to May 2003. Already then, the hapless first civilian administrator, James Garner, promised the Iraqis a government of their own quickly.
Power struggles
Unfortunately, it turned out that all of the foundations were lacking: There were no suitable candidates, the structures were lacking, and there was a risk of uncontrollable power struggles.
The reason why it suddenly no longer seemed so important to first give the Iraqis a constitution on their way to democracy and then let them vote is to be found in Washington, not in Baghdad.
The Bush administration wants to report another success from Iraq before the election.
Apparently the measure of success is no longer stabilizing the country but just retreating from the chaos that has been created.
KENYA
The East African, Nairobi, Nov. 17: In what could turn out to be the first major challenge to President Mwai Kibaki's administration, nearly all of Kenya's 3,000 public university lecturers went on strike last week, throwing the country's higher education into disarray.
There is a case to be made in favor of the striking dons. A professor at a public university earns $500 per month, which is enough for a month's rent in an upper middle-class Nairobi neighborhood. In contrast, their compatriots in the judiciary, for instance, earn up to $3,000 per month. Even greenhorn medical interns working in public hospitals earn more, at $650 per month.
High workload
Coupled with such factors as a high workload due to high student numbers and attrition of teaching staff by HIV/AIDS, these issues call for a comprehensive review of the remuneration packages at the universities. Failure to institute such a review will accelerate the brain drain, which would be more harmful to the country than the cost of a few more millions to the exchequer.
AUSTRALIA
The Age, Melbourne, Nov. 15: The boat people's motive seemed obvious to everyone, including the Howard Government. A boat arrived at Melville Island from Indonesia, carrying 14 people believed to be Kurds from Turkey. ...
On Thursday Senator Vanstone released a letter from the task force, stating that the Kurds had made numerous requests ... for asylum. But the minister's attitude showed no hint of embarrassment at this admission. What did it matter whether the Kurds had asked for asylum or not, she said, since by the time they made their requests Melville Island had already been excised from the migration zone?
It matters a great deal whether the Kurds asked for asylum, and not only for reasons directly connected with Australia's obligations under international law.
Asylum seekers
Indonesia, unlike Australia, is not a signatory to the International Refugees Convention. For the first time, Australia has returned asylum seekers to a place where their claims may not be assessed, and from where they may be repatriated. By turning people away without even allowing scrutiny of their claims, Australia has shamefully undermined the protections that, under the convention, it is obliged to offer.
NORWAY
Stavanger Aftenblad, Stavanger, Nov. 15: Bosnia-Herzegovina's own institutions are slowly starting to work so that the international community can hopefully pull out in a couple of years and leave control to Bosnians.
At the same time, the Americans and British are struggling in Iraq. Can they learn something from Bosnia?
A little, maybe ... that it takes a long time and major resources to stabilize and build up a country after war ... that it is not sensible to arrange elections too early ... that most important is to create security ... plus ensure that people's basic needs are met. Then the nation-building can start.
Ongoing war
In Iraq, there is no security yet. In Bosnia, NATO went in and stopped a local war, and, when the peace agreement was signed, the war ended. In Iraq, the Americans and the British went in and started the war, and it is not over. The enemy has not been beaten, and there is no one to sign a peace accord.
It is bloody enough to make Americans steadily more skeptical about staying.
Now, Washington wants to turn over large areas to the Iraqis themselves. That can be the way to go, if the United States does not run from its responsibilities.
SINGAPORE
The Straits Times, Singapore, Nov. 19: South Korea and the United States on Monday reached a fateful decision on American force redeployment away from the demilitarized zone (DMZ) that separates the two Koreas. ... When all is done in five to six years, the U.S. force in South Korea comprising 37,000 troops will be located in bases 100 km from the DMZ, against the current configuration whereby 15,000 troops of the Second Infantry Division are arrayed in camps about 10 km from the DMZ, another 8,000 are at Yongsan 50 km distant, and the rest scattered in bases and camps across the country.
No mention was made of a force reduction at Mr. Rumsfeld's meetings with his Korean opposite number, Mr. Cho Young Kil. But sooner rather than later, the two security partners will have to grapple with the issue, as this is the direction being dictated in their respective domestic debates.
Pre-emptive strike?
It is inevitable questions will be asked about the U.S. intent in shuffling its forces. After 50 years of a stable security alliance which has held the peace at the world's most volatile border, why is it moving its soldiers away from the DMZ? Does it imply a change in strategy in managing Pyongyang's nuclear threat, including a pre-emptive strike? Is this preparing for missile defenses around the Korean peninsula? The Koreans would not be alone in pondering the moves.