Putin's Atomic Boast

While U.S. officials agonize over the "axis of evil" acquiring nuclear arms, news that the former "evil empire" may have a new nuke is barely raising an eyebrow. In what has become a yearly tradition, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced last week that his scientists are developing nuclear-missile systems "of a type that no other nuclear state has." Western diplomats responded to Putin's cryptic pronouncement with a polite shrug. The last they heard, the cold war was over.

As arms specialists tried to guess what Putin meant,

some experts pointed to a mobile version of the silo-based Topol-M intercontinental ballistic missile, which is expected to roll out next year. Others wondered if Russia was hyping a long-sought-after missile that can zigzag to avoid interception or one that can travel at five times the speed of sound. Both may be capable of slipping past Washington's national missile shield, which isn't up and running yet. Pentagon officials remain unperturbed. They suggested Putin's comments are directed to his domestic audience. Nuclear arms remain Moscow's lone claim to superpower status, they note, and refreshing Russia's aging nuclear force would be a way of trying to hang on to that position. "Their missile won't work," says a Pentagon adviser, "and neither does our shield."

(Read also Periscope - 4, page 8 - " U . S . Nuke development concerns Russia") W A S H I N G T O N POST, 6 . 12 . 04 .

Plea not to judge Muslims by acts of extremism

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan opened the first-ever UN seminar on confronting Islamophobia with a plea not to judge Muslims and Islam by the acts of extremists who deliberately target and kill civilians."The few give a bad name to the many, and this is unfair," he told Islamic scholars, writers and religious leaders as well as representatives of other religions on Tuesday. Annan urged all people to condemn terrorist and violent acts carried out in the name of Islam - incidents, which he said, "no cause can justify."

"Muslims themselves, especially, should speak out, and show a commitment to isolate those who preach or practice violence, and to make it clear that these are unacceptable distortions of Islam," he said."We should not underestimate the resentment and sense of injustice felt by members of one of the world's great religions, cultures and civilizations," he stressed. "And we must make the reestablishment of trust among people of different faiths and cultures our highest priority," Annan added, arguing that failure to do this could "make it impossible to move ahead with our ambitious international agenda of peace security and development."

Hussein Nasr, professor of Islamic studies at George Washington University, said Islamophobia was not only a question of fear, but a matter of hatred- often by people who know very little about the religion. In the keynote address, Nasr said the cycle of fanaticism in hotspots including Palestine, Kashmir, and Chechnya was fed by fanaticism by all participants in these conflicts, and added that there would be no Islamophobia without "mistakes" made by Muslims. In reality, he said, there are various schools of Islamic thought, the religion is not anti-Western, and the Islamic dynasties over the centuries accepted both Jews and Christians fleeing persecution. Hatred breeds more hatred.

Ahmed Kamal Aboulmagd, a law professor at Cairo University said many Muslims for the first time were feeling part of a larger world and abandoning isolationism. Many Muslims also recognised their negligence in not highlighting Islam's commitment to democracy and respect for human rights. In the United States and much of Europe, terrorism had created anxiety about the vulnerability of Western societies, drawn unwanted attention to Muslims, and elicited intolerance and hatred among some Americans. This is what terrorists wanted.

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R E U T E R S , 30 . 09 . 04 .

Iraq to get $436m emergency loan

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has approved an emergency loan of $436m (J232m) to Iraq, the first from an international organisation. The IMF hopes the loan will act as a catalyst for more international economic aid, including debt relief.

Deputy IMF managing director Takatoshi Kato said Iraq's foreign debt needed to be brought down to a "sustainable level". The Paris Club of creditor nations are due to discuss debt relief for Iraq. The US wants 90% of Iraq's $120bn overseas debt wiped off, but Russia and

France have insisted on a 50% limit. They say this is sufficient for such an oil-rich nation.

Despite the disagreement, the IMF said all Iraq's main overseas creditors had agreed to defer Iraq's debt repayments until the end of 2005. This is the first time the IMF has given Iraq a loan of any sort, and comes under its emergency assistance program. Under this scheme loans are designed to be disbursed quickly, supported by policy advice, and, in many cases, provided alongside technical assistance.

"The fund is making these resources available to Iraq at a difficult time in terms of security, but also a critical time as Iraq strives to rebuild its economy and prepare for elections early next year," said Mr Kato. Iraq's goal is to stabilise the economy and lay the groundwork for reforms such as state enterprise restructuring and greater transparency in the oil sector. Security problems have hampered Iraq's economic recovery from more than a decade of UN sanctions, followed by war and looting. Kidnappings of foreign contractors have hindered projects to restore infrastructure, while attacks on oil pipelines have hurt exports.

MIRROR, 5.10.04.