See What a Little Arm Twisting Can Do?

iVillage Member
Registered: 07-25-2003
See What a Little Arm Twisting Can Do?
12
Mon, 12-15-2003 - 5:34pm
France to Rethink Iraqi Foreign Debt

http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/w-me/2003/dec/15/121500132.html

"France and other creditor nations are looking to strike a deal on helping Iraq reduce its foreign debt next year, the French foreign minister said Monday...

The announcement comes a day ahead of a visit to France by former Secretary of State James A. Baker, President Bush's new emissary postwar Iraq. Baker is charged with trying to win international support for reconstruction, including promises to erase Iraq's crushing burden of foreign debt. "


AND a week after they were told they need not apply for reconstruction contracts.

Renee

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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-18-2000
Tue, 12-16-2003 - 6:25am

I think countries should forgive the Iraqi debt to them. Ofcourse they have every right to collect.


I think that many poor countries should have their debts forgiven, as the burden of just paying interest keeps them in the hole.


 


Photobucket&nbs

iVillage Member
Registered: 07-25-2003
Tue, 12-16-2003 - 3:36pm
<>

Agreed. Debts run up by a despotic tyrant shouldn't burden a struggling new form of government.

<>

Since it's estimated that 85% of the debt was for arms and in violation of sanctions, I don't agree.

<>

It depends on the situation & the country. For example, if a country run by another tyrant lobbies and has 10 years of debt for basic necessities forgiven without making any reforms in the country, the next time they need an international loan to buy grain & medical supplies they're not going to be able to get credit.

>"after meeting a delegation of visiting Iraqi ministers, led by the acting president of the governing council, Abdel Aziz Al-Hakim."<

Where's the arm twisting?

Bush was doing the arm twisting last week when he said that France wouldn't be getting any contracts in Iraq. You don't think that announcement just happened to coincide with James Baker's trip to Europe did you?

Renee

iVillage Member
Registered: 07-25-2003
Tue, 12-16-2003 - 3:39pm
See, now Germany's joining in as well.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N16207127.htm

Renee

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Thu, 12-18-2003 - 12:41pm
Especially France, Germany and Russia because of the $40,000,000. (or is it billion....i forget) owed to them, it is reported that roughly 90% is from the sale of arms.
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-18-2000
Thu, 12-18-2003 - 1:33pm

The US is the worlds largest dealer in arms, therefore IMO, has no room to criticize any other country for selling the same.


U.S. Remains Leader in Global Arms Sales, Report Says.


http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/25/international/25ARMS.html?ex=1071896400&en=46be8a741fd61003&ei=5070


The United States maintained its dominance in the international arms market last year, especially in sales to developing nations, according to a new Congressional report.


The United States was the leader in total worldwide sales in 2002, with about $13.3 billion, or 45.5 percent of global conventional weapons deals, a rise from $12.1 billion in 2001. Of that, $8.6 billion was to developing nations, or about 48.6 percent of conventional arms deals concluded with developing nations last year, according to the report.


Russia was second in sales to the developing world last year, with $5 billion, followed by France with $1 billion.


While the report focuses on sales and deliveries of conventional weapons from the industrialized world to poorer nations, it also offers a glimpse into such issues as missile proliferation by North Korea and foreign weapons transfers to Iraq.


The new report, "Conventional Arms Transfers to Developing Nations, 1995-2002," was sent to the House and Senate this week by the Congressional Research Service, an arm of the Library of Congress. The annual study, written by Richard F. Grimmett, a specialist in national defense at the research service, is considered the most authoritative resource available to the public on worldwide weapons sales.


From 1999 to 2002, there were no deliveries of surface-to-surface missiles to the Middle East from arms makers in the United States, Russia, China or Europe, the report said.


But the study says 60 surface-to-surface missiles were delivered to the Middle East by nations in the category "All Others," which includes such suppliers as Israel, South Africa and North Korea.


United States officials, both military and civilian, said today that North Korea was the source of the surface-to-surface missile deliveries listed in the report, and of 10 anti-ship missiles delivered to the Middle East in that period.


President Bush has increased public pressure on North Korea and Iran over their nuclear programs, and the administration is organizing a number of joint military exercises to train for the interdiction of possible shipments. The goal of these exercises is to make it more difficult to transmit components of chemical, biological and nuclear weapons — and the missiles to deliver them.


But difficulties in halting North Korea's missile trade were evident in December, when a North Korean cargo vessel that was not flying a flag was halted off the Horn of Africa by two Spanish warships.


A search revealed 15 Scud missiles hidden beneath the cargo. But the vessel was eventually allowed to sail on with the missiles to its destination in Yemen after officials conceded that neither North Korea nor Yemen had violated any treaties.


In addition to the shipment to Yemen, North Korea is suspected of selling missile technology to Iran and others, Pentagon officials said.


The study says that none of the major arms makers delivered weapons to Iraq from 1999 to 2002 — or at least not in amounts of more than $50 million, the lowest sales amount included in the study.


But a category of nations labeled "All Other European," which includes formerly Communist states in Central and Eastern Europe, delivered about $100 million worth of weapons to Iraq from 1999 to 2002, although the report does not specify the source of the deliveries.


Ukraine is believed by American officials to have sold an advanced Kolchuga radar system to Iraq, Pentagon officials said.


Arms deals with developing nations in 2002 totaled $17.7 billion, more than the $16.2 billion for 2001 but the second-lowest total for the years 1995 to 2002. (The report measures sales and deliveries in dollar totals adjusted for inflation, called "constant 2002 dollars.")


"Many developing nations have curtailed their expenditures on weaponry primarily due to their limited financial resources," Mr. Grimmett wrote in the report. "To meet their military requirements, in current circumstances, a number of developing nations have placed a greater emphasis on upgrading existing weapons systems while deferring purchases of new and costlier ones."


Total arms transfer agreements reached nearly $29.2 billion in 2002, a decrease from 2001 and the second year in a row that total arms sales dropped, according to the study.

cl-Libraone

 


Photobucket&nbs

iVillage Member
Registered: 07-25-2003
Thu, 12-18-2003 - 2:43pm
Arms sales themselves are not the issue. Violating UN sanctions to sell arms are.

Renee

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-18-2000
Sat, 12-20-2003 - 8:34am

>"Just how clever is deputy defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, the intellectual godfather of the war on Iraq? The memo he signed on Dec. 5 makes you wonder. The paper fleshed out for the public who is eligible to win prime contracts, funded by $18.6 billion of U.S. tax money, to rebuild Iraq's infrastructure and supply its new army. Only firms from supportive nations can bid, which rules out those from antiwar countries like Russia, Germany, France and Canada. In its tact, timing and logic, the memo is a disaster."<


>"But the nonsense doesn't stop there. The Pentagon policy was plainly designed to reward those countries that have supported the war and punish those that have opposed it. (Let us gloss over that Turkey, which would not let U.S. troops transit to Iraq, is on the approved list, while Canada, which has sent cash to Iraq, and Germany, which has offered to train a new Iraqi police force, are not.)"<


>"Even if you accept the memo's argument that "limiting competition for prime contracts will encourage the expansion of international cooperation in Iraq" (in other words, war naysayers have to join the occupation if they hope to fully cash in) "and in future efforts" (what future efforts, by the way?), its timing was idiotic. Wolfowitz's findings were posted on a Pentagon website just as President Bush was phoning other heads of state to ask them to give a fair hearing to former Secretary of State James Baker III, whom Bush has just deputed to help renegotiate Iraq's hefty debt. Of the $21 billion (excluding interest) that Baghdad owes to non-Arab states, more than $9.3 billion is due to Germany, Russia, Canada and France. (The U.S. is owed an additional $2.2 billion.) Political leaders in debtor countries left off the list yelped at the bizarre conjunction of events, while U.S. allies like the British sighed at the plan's unhelpful diplomacy. In the best case, Baker will have to spend time on his travels smoothing ruffled feathers — one reason the White House, which had initially signed off on the Pentagon policy, later suggested that it was less than thrilled by the way and time it was announced."<


The above are quotes from......................

 


Photobucket&nbs

iVillage Member
Registered: 07-25-2003
Sat, 12-20-2003 - 11:28am
Can't argue with the results.

France--check

Germany--check

Russia--check

Mission Accomplished

Renee

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-18-2000
Mon, 12-22-2003 - 9:07am

????>"Russia--check Mission Accomplished"<???? Pinocchio


Iraqi Council members to meet Putin.


http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/9A9974DF-1D15-4920-9C06-B458AE6714DD.htm

 


Photobucket&nbs

iVillage Member
Registered: 07-25-2003
Mon, 12-22-2003 - 12:09pm
Before the Russian meeting, when commenting on his meetings with France & Germany, Baker said:

"I think that we all agreed that it is important to reduce this debt within the Paris Club if at all possible in the year 2004 and I think that we basically have agreement on the parameters of that stake," Baker said this week.

Although he has not made any public announcements specifically about Russia, he never intended to. "US officials in Moscow have said that Baker will not make any announcements to the press."

If you'll notice, the last line of the article you linked to is, "But Putin said Russia was prepared to take part in international talks by the Paris Club of creditor nations on easing the debt."

This is the same thing Baker asked for and got from France & Germany.

This APF article spells it out more clearly:

"The special envoy of US President George W. Bush (news - web sites) on Iraq's debt received pledges of support from war opponents France, Germany and Russia, as well as from US allies Italy and Britain."

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20031219/pl_afp/iraq_debt_us_031219152009


Russia--check

Mission Accomplished


http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20031218/pl_afp/iraq_debt_us_russia_031218144354





Renee

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