SWEDEN

SWEDEN
Dagens Nyheter, Stockholm, Sept.1: Despite continued North Korean threats, the reactions to last week's meeting in Beijing were mainly positive. Assistant U.S. Secretary of State James Kelly talked about "a productive start," that all six participating countries agreed on meeting again was seen as a step forward.
Evidently, the talks on North Korea's possession of nuclear weapons must continue. Pyongyang is a threat to peace that must be disarmed.
The question is, however, if the policy that is pursued is the right policy. It has -- to put it mildly -- not resulted in anything. And the alternatives are few. The use of violence can trigger a major war and economic sanctions have limited effect against a country that is already isolated and miserably poor.
Terrorism
Pyongyang must -- besides disarm -- continue to refrain from terrorism, return all kidnapped Japanese citizens, stop smuggling narcotics and adopt the convention on chemical and biological weapons.
In return, the United States should give a binding promise about not being first to use nuclear weapons, delete North Korea from the list of states that support terrorism and open diplomatic relations with Pyongyang.
BRITAIN
The Guardian, London, Sept. 2: There should be little doubt that the plight of Aung San Suu Kyi grows more desperate by the day. The only national leader in Burma worthy of the name has been held under some form of detention for more than half the 13 years since her National League for Democracy's landslide election victory was annulled. There is no doubt about Ms Suu Kyi's courage. But the strain on her must be close to insupportable. The US government reported at the weekend that she has begun a hunger strike. Its expression of "deep concern for her safety and well-being" is well-founded.
Many hundreds, perhaps thousands of pro-democracy activists also languish in Burma's gulag. They must not be forgotten, either, no more than must the ordinary Burmese whose lives are blighted by avoidable poverty and repression. But it is Ms. Suu Kyi who has become a unique symbol of her benighted country's struggle for justice. The junta's denial of the hunger strike report, like its disingenuous plan for a "road map to democracy," should be dismissed with contempt.
Veritable Napoleon
The new prime minister who peddles this deception, Khin Nyunt, is just another jumped-up general who has never fought a battle in his life but is a veritable Napoleon when it comes to oppressing defenseless civilians. Tougher U.S. sanctions came into effect last week; U.K. campaigners' efforts to cut western business, investment and tourism links are gaining ground. But how long before Burma's neighbors show similar determination to end this regional disgrace and, perhaps, save Ms. Suu Kyi?
BRITAIN
The Daily Telegraph, London, Sept. 1: There can be few more inauspicious starts to an embassy abroad than that of Gerard Araud, the incoming French envoy to Israel. M. Araud is reported as telling two colleagues that the Israeli prime minister, Ariel Sharon, is a "lout" and that the Israelis are "paranoid."
The Quai d'Orsay has vigorously denied these comments, but there is no doubt that such attitudes are not uncommon in the French diplomatic corps. ...
It is a measure of how deep-rooted these attitudes are that M Araud had been viewed as one of France's more pro-Israel officials, after serving in the cabinet of the pro-Zionist former defence minister, Fran & ccedil;ois L & eacute;otard. How are such attitudes to be explained? There is certainly much "clientitis," in the sense that there are many Arab countries and only one Jewish state. Indeed, France's ambassador to Israel during the first Gulf war, Alain Pierret, wrote a book describing how difficult it was to obtain a hearing for the Israeli case within his own government.
Ideological component
The size of France's burgeoning Muslim population plays a part, too. Consequently, it is hard to imagine the incoming French ambassador to Damascus dismissing Bashar Assad of Syria, the head of totalitarian state, in the same fashion. Many Europeans suffer from post-colonial guilt, (especially) France's elite because of Algeria.