Al-Ahram Weekly | International

		Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 14 - 20 December 2000 Issue No.512
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875		Current issue \| Previous issue \| Site map

The royal treatment
BEGGARS can't be choosers, so deposed and imprisoned former Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif was probably thanking his lucky stars when he boarded a Saudi royal plane early Sunday morning to leave Islamabad behind. Sharif, who was overthrown in a largely popular and bloodless military coup in October of last year, was serving a life sentence after being convicted in April on the somewhat contrived charges of hijacking and terrorism.
But just when we thought it was all over for the ailing Sharif, persistent family pleas and high-level negotiations with the Saudi royal family brokered a deal for Sharif to be pardoned and exiled on the condition that he hand over some $10 million worth of property and stay out of politics for the next 21 years. A significantly better deal than the one he was first offered by military leader General Pervez Musharraf, Sharif gathered up 19 close relatives and headed for the holy land, where he will join a number of exiled leaders living comfortably as permanent guests of Saudi Arabia, including former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and former Ugandan dictator Idi Amin.
Putin the magnanimous
WHO SAYS the Cold War is over? A purchase of documents about a Russian underwater torpedo by American businessman Edmond Pope earlier this year stretched US-Russian relations thin when Russian authorities cried foul and incarcerated Pope for espionage. Having spent eight months in Moscow's Lefortovo Prison, Pope still maintains his innocence, stating that the blueprints he procured were already in the public domain. The Clinton administration has repeatedly demanded the immediate release of the former naval officer, but Russian President Vladimir Putin -- a former senior KGB official -- insisted that justice would have to take its course.
Putin's justice pounced on Pope with a vengeance and Pope, who suffers from bone cancer, was sentenced last Wednesday to 20 years hard labour. But presidential pardons were in vogue this week. On Friday, the Russian presidential commission suggested Pope be released and in a generous act of benevolence, Putin stepped in on Saturday and announced that he would pardon him. The pardon is expected sometime after 14 December -- just in time to stem any proposed cut-off of economic aid.
Hear no evil
IN A vote widely branded as the lesser of two evils, former post-Communist President Ion Iliescu surged to victory with a reported 70 per cent of the vote in Romania's run-off presidential election on Sunday. Iliescu's Party for Social Democracy (PDSR) gained the parliamentary majority in the first round of voting two weeks ago, but Iliescu failed to clinch victory due to the surprise success of his main rival, the ultra-nationalist Corneliu Vadim Tudor of the Greater Romania Party (PRM).
Pledging a full-speed-ahead agenda for European Union accession, Iliescu is at best the devil Romania knows, at worst a throw-back to a stagnant economic era full of cronyism. But choosing Tudor, who gained popularity with his tough-on-crime, Romania-first platform, proved too risky a variable. Known for his anti-Semitic propaganda and xenophobic war cries, Tudor was once a lackey in the administration of the dethroned and unceremoniously dispatched Communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu. Though he toned down his extremism, Tudor was ultimately overshadowed by overwhelming support for Iliescu. A sinking sense of déjà vu, however, is difficult to overcome.
The caped crusader
HE MAY not be able to leap tall buildings in a single bound, but Pope John Paul II is a hero for millions. This week, however, the 80-year-old pontiff was catapulted to superhero status when a serialised comic book appeared on Italian newsstands chronicling the life and adventures of "Karol Wojtyla: Pope of the Third Millennium." It's an unusual medium, but one expected to be enormously successful for reaching out to children and humanising the seemingly ancient Roman Catholic leader.
The comic highlights young Karol's childhood in Poland, telling the story of his years as a young actor and inserting some heavy moral themes. The series, which appears in the children's magazine The Little Paper, is fully approved by the Vatican and seems intent on emphasising that the pope was once a kid too, with the elderly narrator telling his grandchildren that John Paul wasn't a geek, but a rough-housing, suave little boy. If you're having a hard time picturing it, think of the kids.
By the people
IT WAS the trial the Tokyo war crimes tribunal left untouched and still, almost half a century later, the ruling handed down on Tuesday against Japanese Emperor Hirohito and other senior military officers was merely symbolic. Frustrated by stymied efforts to gain official recognition and compensation from the Japanese government, survivors of army brothels set up during the Second World War testified this week in a mock war crimes tribunal run by international women's organisations. A panel of five prominent judges heard testimony from 78 so-called comfort women -- women forced into sexual slavery and interned in rape camps -- as well as veterans, scholars and lawyers.
The extensive network of "comfort stations" was denied by the Japanese government until 1993, when a terse and vague admission was issued. It seems incredible that at a time when UN tribunals are set up swiftly and with much pomp, a handful of victims in their 70s cannot win even a shot at a trial. "The Japanese government is waiting for us to die," said one survivor. "But I refuse to die until I get justice."
Compiled by Nyier Abdou

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