Information Related to "World News Review May 1999"
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In Brief... World News ReviewThe poor continue to lag behind the spiraling pace of technology.by Darris McNeely, Cecil Maranville, David Palmer and John SchroederThe Next Trouble Spot? Iraq and Yugoslavia have been occupied by American and allied troops for the past several months. Where might the next flash point be which would require U.S. troops and firepower? According to analysts it could be the Korean peninsula. Last August North Korea launched a rocket capable of carrying a nuclear warhead as far as the western United States. The obvious danger to any Asian country, especially South Korea, is obvious. The Korean War is far from settled. Less than three years ago North Korea failed in an attempt to land a squad of commandos on the South Korean coast. A submarine carried 26 North Korean commandos and sailors whose mission was to infiltrate and reconnoiter military installations along South Korea's east coast. When the sub's engines failed, the commandos escaped ashore near the port of Kangnung. This probing operation was part of North Korea's plan to launch a surprise blitzkrieg against South Korea. Reunification with, or "liberating" the south has been a long held goal of the bizarre and fanatical communist north. From time to time massive numbers of troops have been deployed near the border between the two countries. And now, according to a recent analysis by the Stratfor Agency, the United States and South Korea are poised to sign a formal agreement lifting restrictions on South Korean commercial rocket development and raising the current range restrictions on domestically produced military missiles. This announcement comes only weeks after South Korea tested a rocket that was deemed illegal under the previous agreement, suggesting the United States may have been forced into accepting a fait accompli. Fear of North Korean missile advancements coupled with a desire to project power and influence in Northeast Asia has prompted South Korea's urgent desire to develop and deploy long range missile technology. The new agreement could mark a change in long term relations between the United States and South Korea. The United States must keep troops stationed on South Korean soil to protect the fragile peace in this corner of Asia. With under manned and under equipped American troops deployed in the Persian Gulf and Yugoslavian campaigns, the country can little afford another battle ground at this time. ( Eric Margolis, Toronto Sun; and Stratfor Global Analysis.) Canada and United States at Risk For Bioterrorism WASHINGTON: (Newsday) — Public health infrastructures in Canada and the United States, in their current states, would be devastated by a "high impact" bioterrorism event in which the attacker used modern germ technology, according to some government officials. A scenario role-played by public health experts from both countries using smallpox as the biological agent left 15,000 people dead over a period of two months, and 80 million dead within a year, primarily because of insufficient vaccine supplies. The scenario was explored in a day-long exercise attended by more than 1,000 public health leaders, part of a two-day seminar on the issue of potential biological warfare. The seminar follows the announcement from President Bill Clinton that $158 million (U.S.) is being allocated for research and preparedness in bioterrorism defense. Millennium Bug - Russia MOSCOW: (Reuters) - Russia's military says everything is under control to deal with how the millennium bug could affect vast strategic nuclear forces. However, at the same time they say the country has less than four million dollars to deal with it. Russian specialists on the Y2K problem tell us final tests of reprogrammed systems won't take place until October. They also deny Moscow is tardy or complacent in the way it is tackling the worldwide computer bug. Major General Vladimir Dvorkin heads Russia's strategic missile research institute. He says automatic control systems governing Russia's nuclear missiles are immune from the central problem in which computers may make a mistake. However, he admits the problem does exist in early warning systems for monitoring satellites or space, and while accidental launch is unlikely it would not be impossible. Our Planet's Fresh Water: the Coming Crisis Nearly a billion people in some 50 nations are already experiencing severe water shortages. And unfortunately official projections tell us that the worst is yet to come. Also a recent article in Newsweek pointed out that every eight seconds a child dies from a water-related disease and 80 percent of diseases in the developing world are caused by contaminated water supplies. Some 50 percent of the earth's population lacks adequate water sanitation. An even more disturbing possibility is that future wars may very well be fought over water. Wrote the Science Editor of the Independent on Sunday: "In 25 years the world will be 20 percent short of water even if every country implements the most efficient conservation programs imaginable." Ismail Serageldin, the chairman of the World Commission on Water, stated that the factors responsible for the coming crisis are a rising global population, an ever-increasing demand and worsening pollution of water supplies. The Middle East could conceivably be a flashpoint because the general area is already arid, and water disputes, both actual and potential, tend to mark the region. Israel and Jordan are currently in conflict over an Israeli proposal to cut the desert kingdom's water supplies. Also Iraq and Syria fear Turkish designs in building a dam on the Euphrates with the potential power of withholding water from those two countries. The Egyptians have their own concerns as the Nile flows through seven other countries before reaching Egypt. These include Uganda and war-torn Sudan. World News and Prophecy will be watching global fresh water trends very closely. (Newsweek, March 29, 1999 (Atlantic edition); The Express, March 20, 1999; The Independent on Sunday, March 21, 1999.) Terrorist Attacks on the United States? "The U.S. has expressed the belief that Osama bin Laden is preparing more terrorist attacks-a fear no doubt enhanced by reports that a group affiliated with bin Laden has chemical and biological weapons.... "In a related development, the London-based newspaper Al-Hayat ran a story on April 19 about Ahmad Salama Mabrouk, a jailed member the Egyptian militant group Al-Jihad. Al-Jihad is a member of bin Laden's umbrella group International Islamic Front for Fighting Jews and Crusaders (IIFFJC). Al-Hayat reported Mabrouk as saying that not only does IIFFJC possess biological and chemical weapons but it also is planning about '100 operations' against U.S. and Israeli interests around the world. "The report went on to state that the details of these planned attacks were found on a computer program, which was confiscated by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in September 1998 at the time Mabrouk was taken into custody in Azerbaijan." ( STRATFOR's Global Intelligence Update April 20, 1999.) Japan Warns United States…. Back Off or Face Revival of Nationalism JAPAN: (SNS) - In a surprisingly blunt speech to the Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan on March 16, 1999, outgoing Japanese Ambassador to the United States Kunihiko Saito warned the United States to reduce its criticism of Japan, or risk reviving militant nationalist sentiment in Japan. And while he said continued U.S. pressure could hurt the Japanese economy and Japanese-U.S. relations, Saito warned that the biggest threat may be the revival of Japanese nationalism. "Memories of the 1930s and 40s are still fresh in our minds. We should always be careful about the revival of nationalism," said Saito. "I'm not worried about a problem yet, but I don't think we should forget that only 50 or 60 years ago we made some big mistakes, and one of the reasons, in my view, was excessive nationalism," he added. Saito singled out the U.S. Trade Representative's Office as a major source of the unwelcome criticism. He also warned of rising protectionist sentiment among U.S. companies and in Congress. "Tensions surrounding trade between our two countries have...increased in recent months," he said. "Our trade surplus with the United States has been increasing rather sharply and has become a political issue, at least in Washington," said Saito. He added, "If the United States economy starts to have problems, the issue of trade imbalance will surely become a very serious political issue between our two countries." Raising the specter of Japanese militant nationalism to induce-more precisely to threaten-the United States into being more diplomatic in its criticism goes completely against this policy. Moreover, while made in the context of U.S.-Japanese economic relations, Saito's comments feed into several other heated policy debates as well. The most prominent debate, and the one that has, understandably, been the most affected by Japan's wartime legacy, is over the role of Japan's military. Japan's Diet is scheduled to address new legislation in its upcoming session that is required to enable the revised U.S.-Japan Defense Guidelines to take effect. Central to this debate is the planned expansion of the roles Japan's "Self Defense Forces" can play and the geographic reach of Japanese military operations. Under proposed laws, armed Japanese troops would be allowed to deploy abroad for the evacuation of Japanese and other foreign nationals from trouble spots, and to return fire in self-defense if fired upon. Additionally, while still vaguely defined, the area in which Japan can operate in support of U.S. forces will apparently be extended to cover Taiwan, something China vehemently opposes. On March 16, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Sun Yuxi warned that "Japan should take concrete steps...to limit its defense to its own territory and adjacent waters, and not embark on the road of becoming a military power." Saito's warning of growing Japanese nationalism is not merely a negotiating ploy. The country's economic troubles have been scarcely addressed and are far from over. As a result, relations with the U.S. can only be expected to deteriorate. Japan is in the midst of a fundamental reevaluation of the Japanese military's roles. And in the midst of this, Tokyo is facing calls from Southeast Asia for it to take a leadership role in Asia. Sovereignty, leadership, defense, foreign economic pressure, all push nationalism to the core of Japan's domestic political debate. The question is, with Japan no longer shy about depositing the nationalism threat smack in the middle of the negotiating table, and the United States likely to be unresponsive, has Japan set off on an irreversible course? Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria On the Rise NEW YORK - Faced with mounting evidence that the routine use of antibiotics in livestock may diminish the drugs' power to cure infections in people, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has begun a major revision of its guidelines for approving new antibiotics for animals and for monitoring the effects of old ones. The goal of the revision is to minimize the emergence of bacterial strains that are resistant to antibiotics. Such resistance makes them difficult or even impossible to kill. Drug-resistant infections, some fatal, have been increasing in people in the United States, and many scientists attribute the problem to the misuse of antibiotics in both humans and animals. Of particular concern to scientists is that recent studies have found bacteria in chickens that are resistant to fluoroquinolones, the most recently approved class of antibiotics and one that scientists had been hoping would remain effective a long time. A crucial component of the new guidelines will be the requirement that manufacturers test certain new livestock drugs for a tendency to foster the growth of resistant bacteria that could prove harmful to people. Testing will be required both before a drug is approved and after. The use of antibiotics as growth stimulators in livestock is a concern of many consumer groups in America. The fear that resistance to disease and bacteria can be reduced in the human population has lead the European Union to ban the use of human antibiotics in livestock production. Many scientists believe that giving low doses of antibiotics to animals over long periods brings out resistance. Scientists say that resistant bacteria from animals can make people sick in several ways. A person can become ill from contact with an animal carrying a disease-causing resistant germ, or from handling contaminated meat or eating it when it has not been cooked enough to kill the bacteria. The infection may be difficult or even impossible to treat. In some cases, the resistant bacteria may themselves be harmless, but live on in the gut and cause trouble later by passing their genes for antibiotic resistance to other bacteria, ones that do cause disease. Or, if a person's immune system is weakened by illness or chemotherapy, the otherwise harmless bacteria can turn dangerous. At the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, researchers said they had been detecting increases in the levels of drug-resistant bacteria found in people with gastrointestinal illness from the microbes salmonella and campylobacter, which are most commonly contracted from contaminated meat or eggs (International Herald Tribune). |
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Other Articles by Darris McNeely
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Origin of article "World News Review May 1999"
Keywords: North Korea y2k bug millennium bug Osama bin Laden terrorism Japan water shortage bioterrorism disease epidemics
Water shortage:
