Imminent death of Saudi Defense minister bad news for Al Qaida


Saudi Defense Minister Prince Sultan Bin Abdul Aziz - a chief competitor for the Saudi crown - is succumbing to terminal illness. Last week, there was what a senior Saudi source termed a "death watch" at the defense minister's bedside. If this is correct, then it is good news for Saudi crown Prince Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz, Sultan's half-brother.


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Northeast Asia Report:
Jiang Zemin strengthens power base at Central Military Commission

China Gives Prison Term To Dissident Based in U.S.
Five-Year Sentence Comes Despite American Urgings
By Philip P. Pan
Washington Post Foreign Service
Friday, May 14, 2004; Page A12
HONG KONG, May 13 -- China sentenced a prominent dissident and longtime U.S. resident to five years in prison on Thursday despite repeated appeals for his release by Congress, the Bush administration and human rights groups.
Yang Jianli, 40, who runs a foundation in Boston that advocates democratic reform in China, received the sentence immediately after being convicted by a Beijing court of spying for Taiwan and entering China on a false passport, the official New China News Agency reported.
Yang denied the charges during a closed-door trial in August. He was detained in 2002 when he returned to China after more than a decade in exile in the United States.
Yang's case has generated strong support in the United States, where he earned doctorates in political economy at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government and in math at the University of California at Berkeley. Yang is a permanent resident of the United States, and his wife and two young children are citizens.
Senior Bush administration officials have pressed for Yang's release in meetings with Chinese leaders, and both the House and the Senate unanimously passed resolutions urging China to free him. Last month, on the second anniversary of Yang's detention,67 members of Congress signed a letter to President Hu Jintao calling his treatment "extraordinarily inhumane."
"I'm saddened beyond words," said his wife, Christina Fu, by telephone from Boston. "Although I realize that things could be worse, five years is still very heavy on our family and our children and also for his parents."
Jared Genser, a family attorney, said he hoped the Chinese government would react to international pressure by deporting Yang, as it has other prisoners. He urged the State Department to file a strong protest in Beijing and asked members of Congress to contact the Chinese ambassador in Washington. "These next couple of days are critical," Genser said.
Yang fled to the United States after taking part in the 1989 pro-democracy demonstrations in Tiananmen Square and was exiled. But in April 2002, he used a friend's passport to return to China and observe large-scale labor protests in the northeastern part of the country.
Police arrested him and charged him with entering China illegally, a crime that carries a maximum one-year prison term. Prosecutors later accused him of spying for Taiwan, the self-governing island that Beijing claims is part of China.
Yang is the latest in a series of Chinese living overseas who have been arrested upon returning to the mainland and then convicted of spying for Taiwan with little or no evidence presented in public. His attorneys said China violated its own laws by holding him without trial for 14 months and waiting more than nine months after the trial to issue a verdict.
When Yang protested his detention last month by refusing orders to fold his blanket, wear a uniform or answer when addressed by his prisoner number, he was placed in solitary confinement with his wrists handcuffed behind his back until they bled, Genser said.
A spokesman for the Foreign Ministry, Liu Jianchao, defended the government's handling of the case, saying Yang was allowed to present a full defense in court. "The Chinese judicial departments have been trying this case and made a sentence in accordance with the law," Liu said.


? 2004 The Washington Post Company
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Stealing Defeat from the Jaws of Victory in Iraq
May 13, 2004 | |
President Bush's political opponents are trying to make electoral hay over the Abu Ghraib prison nightmare. That's predictable. But it's unfortunate, too, as the political broadsides tend to obscure the fact that -- after a couple of tough weeks -- things are going well militarily and politically in Iraq.
Worse, sowing politically motivated seeds of doubt about our wartime leaders discourages our troops and encourages the enemy -- which has once again revealed its true face in the ghastly execution of Nicholas Berg. If we're not careful here on the home front, we'll steal defeat in Iraq right from the jaws of victory -- just as in Vietnam, where the war was lost not militarily, but politically, here at home.
Time for a little stock-taking. First, let's look at the Abu Ghraib scandal.
The abusive acts of a few Americans at the prison are inexcusable and downright un-American. These acts do not reflect the values of the U.S. military or the American people.
The Pentagon erred in not "breaking" the story of these horrors first, leaving that task to network TV. A cardinal rule of crisis management is to get good news out fast, but bad news out faster. Always come clean as soon as possible -- especially with the Congress.
The incidents should be fully investigated, and those responsible duly punished. The investigations must be transparent, broad and thorough, examining those in charge who were aware of and sanctioned the abuse, as well as those in the chain of command who should have known about these activities.
Ultimate responsibility for the performance of the Department of Defense lies with Secretary Rumsfeld. But he wasn't party to the activities of a few bad seeds in Iraq. Absent revelations of a cover-up, Rumsfeld should stay in place and soldier on. (Allegations of CIA officer involvement in the abuses at Abu Ghraib mean Director of Central Intelligence George Tenet has some questions to answer.)
The prison should be razed. It is a symbol of the darkest side of man's soul. (Saddam Hussein's regime tortured and executed tens of thousands there.) Move the detainees; tear down the walls, and let the Iraqi people move on.
On the battlefield, meanwhile, the situation has improved. The military's patient strategy of dealing with Fallujah, Najaf, Karbala and rebel Shi'a cleric Moqtada al Sadr has paid off to date.
We're fighting the insurgency on our terms. We've brought Iraqi soldiers into the fight with the Fallujah Brigade and gathered allies among 100 or so senior Shi'a clerics who publicly oppose Sadr's radical policies and use of mosques as military bases. These are all very positive developments.
Meanwhile, the U.S. military continues to soften up the enemy with raids by ground troops and precision strikes, to gather intelligence from agents, satellites and drones, and to prepare the battlefield, should an all-out urban assault become necessary.
By avoiding bloody, house-to-house fighting in places like Fallujah and Najaf, we have saved the lives of both innocent civilians and American soldiers.
To win politically and militarily, the insurgents need to fight. Inactivity is their enemy. By not going whole-hog into the cities to fight them, Coalition soldiers have left the insurgents no option but to abandon their defensive positions to engage us.
And every time the enemy comes out to do battle, they lose -- badly. Scores of insurgents, terrorists and foreign fighters have been killed in suicidal raids on American forces over the past few weeks. Patience is a virtue in life and sometimes in war.
On the political front, the United Nations is fully engaged in setting up the transitional government that will hold power until a full government can be chosen in national elections early next year. Soon, there will be an Iraqi face on a new Iraqi government, and Iraq will be a step closer to full sovereignty.
Despite the lingering strife borne of Fallujah, Najaf and Abu Ghraib, the situation in Iraq is overwhelmingly positive -- and improving. With the exception of a few hotspots, the California-sized country is pacified and moving in the right direction.
Clearly, though, our job there isn't done. Until it is, America's elected officials and other second-guessers might consider spending more time and effort pondering how to win the war and less time and rhetoric trying to turn national setbacks to political advantage.
Peter Brookes is a senior fellow for national security affairs at The Heritage Foundation (heritage.org), a Washington-based public policy research institute.
Distributed nationally on the Knight-Ridder Tribune wire


? 1995 - 2004 The Heritage Foundation
All Rights Reserved.
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Prisoner abuse and the rot of American culture
May 11, 2004 | |

Every decent person I know has reacted in horror to the mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners in Al Ghraib prison near Baghdad. When the lewd photos emerged of American soldiers forcing prisoners to engage in sexual acts, and leading them around on leashes with hoods over their heads, and threatening them with electrocution, people were speechless and horrified.
We should be enraged and demand that those involved be severely punished. We must also remember that the vast majority of our brave soldiers are decent human beings who have been willing to sacrifice their very lives to secure freedom for others.
But should we be shocked that some Americans are capable of such barbaric behavior as depicted in the infamous photos?
Consider:
Pornography is the No. 1 Internet industry - No. 1. There are well over 300,000 Internet porn sites.
American consumers spent an estimated $220 million at such fee-based "adult" sites in 2001, according to Jupiter Media Metrix, a New York Internet research firm. That was up from $148 million in 1999. Jupiter is projecting $320 million by 2005.
A comprehensive 2-year study by Alexa Research, a leading Web intelligence and traffic-measurement service, has revealed "sex" was the most popular term for which people searched. According to their online searching habits, people want "sex" more than they want "games," "music," "travel," "jokes," "cars," "jobs," "weather" and "health" combined.
A nationwide survey of 1,031 adults conducted by Zogby International and Focus on the Family on March 8-10, 2000, found that "20 percent of respondents - which extrapolates to 40 million adults - admitted visiting a sexually-oriented website. According to the Nielsen Net ratings, 17.5 million surfers visited porn sites from their homes in January of 2000 - a 40 percent increase compared with September of 1999."
Pornography websites earned $1.5 billion in 1999 and more than $2 billion in 2000.
According to a 2001 report by the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Public Education, "by the time adolescents graduate from high school, they will have spent 15,000 hours watching television, compared with 12,000 hours spent in the classroom ... American media are thought to be the most sexually suggestive in the Western hemisphere. The average American adolescent will view nearly 14,000 sexual references per year, yet only 165 of these references deal with birth-control, self-control, abstinence or the risk of pregnancy or STDs."
The 2001 pediatric report also said that "56 percent of all programs on American television were found to contain sexual content. The so-called "family hour" of prime-time television (8:00 to 9:00 p.m.) contains on average more than eight sexual incidents, which is more than 4 times what it contained in 1976. Nearly one third of family-hour shows contain sexual references ..."
And that's just the tip of the iceberg.
The military experts are right when they say we need to discuss how we administer prisons, how we handle foreign detainees and how complaints travel up and down the chain of command. The average soldier receives three hours of training a year on the Geneva Conventions regarding the proper treatment of prisoners of war. Is it possible to deprogram and reprogram soldiers - who come from a culture living the above statistics - in three hours a year?
A recent poll says Americans aren't even overly ashamed of what has gone on. Why? "People out in the hinterlands can keep the perspective of the big picture," the pollster told U.S. News magazine. Oh yeah? What is the big picture? That "everyone does it"? That this was mistreatment, not torture? That these were mere "fraternity pranks"? That the Iraqis are doing far worse to each other and to our soldiers?
Forget defending it. It's indefensible. Since the photos were seen 'round the world, very few folks 'round the world now view America as the country that liberated the Iraqis from Saddam, that rebuilt roads, schools and power stations. They see America as the country that engaged in the exact reprehensible behavior we said we were going to Iraq to stop.
But, with the non-judgmental, sex-crazed, anything-goes culture that we have become at home, it seems that America has set herself up for international humiliation. Our country permits Hollywood to put almost anything in a movie and still call it PG-13. We permit television and computers to bring all manner of filth into our homes. We permit school children to be taught that homosexuality is an acceptable lifestyle. We allow Christianity and the teaching of Judeo-Christian values to be scrubbed from the public square. We allow our children be taught how to use condoms in school, rather than why to avoid sex. We let these things happen. They don't happen on their own.
While hearings take place to examine the horrific behavior that took place in a military prison overseas, it's time to take a cold, hard look at the degradation in our own country - and in our own homes. If there are problems in your home, contact the National Coalition for the Protection of Children and Families, or Focus on the Family, or Web Wise Kids for help.
Rebecca Hagelin is a vice president of the Heritage Foundation, a research and educational think-tank whose mission is to formulate and promote conservative public policies based on the principles of free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom, traditional American values and a strong national defense. She is also the former vice president of communications for WorldNetDaily and her 60-second radio commentaries can be heard on the Salem Communications Network.
? 1995 - 2004 The Heritage Foundation
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>> MILITARY POSTS

New tankers not needed, report says
By Matthew Daly
Associated Press
There is no compelling reason for the Air Force to immediately acquire 100 air refueling tankers from The Boeing Co., a new Defense Department report concludes in another blow to the controversial deal.
The report by the Defense Science Board says that, contrary to Air Force claims, corrosion of the aging tanker fleet is "manageable" and several options exist to refurbish the fleet.
If officials are willing to tolerate increased maintenance costs, "you can defer major near-term ... investments" to replace the tanker fleet, the report said.
"There is no compelling material or financial reason to initiate a replacement program prior to the completion of" a lengthy analysis of alternatives and other studies, the report said.
The report has not been released, but members of Congress were briefed on it late Wednesday.
It follows a report released last month by the Pentagon's inspector general, who concluded the Pentagon should not move forward on the $23.5 billion plan until significant changes are made.
In a highly critical report, Inspector General Joseph Schmitz said procedural and financial problems with the deal could cause the government to spend as much as $4.5 billion more than necessary.
Once the changes are made, however, there is no compelling reason not to complete the deal, Schmitz said.
A Pentagon official, who asked not to be identified, said the Defense Science Board "has offered the department several very good suggestions" that will be considered as officials make a final decision on the tanker deal.
Boeing spokesman Doug Kennett said the company had not seen the actual report, but stood ready to assist the Air Force.
"We believe that the 767 is clearly the best solution to the nation's aerial tanker needs," he said.
A watchdog group said the report was the latest evidence that the Air Force should not go through with the tanker deal, in which the Air Force would lease 20 modified Boeing 767 jets for use as refueling tankers and purchase another 80 planes.
The planes would be made at Boeing's Everett, Wash., plant and modified for military use in Wichita, Kan.
"The Defense Science Board report is further confirmation that there is no need to proceed with the purchase or lease of the current boondoggle until a robust analysis of all options for tanker replacement is completed," said Keith Ashdown, vice president of Taxpayers for Common Sense, a Washington-based advocacy group.
The report confirms that the Air Force and Boeing are "crying wolf over the corrosion problems in the fleet to create an emergency that never existed," Ashdown said. "The current tanker fleet is old, but efforts to combat corrosion are working and can be managed in a fiscally responsible manner."
Copyright 2003 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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Study recommends cutting submarine fleet
By Lolita C. Baldor
Associated Press
The Navy Wednesday said reports that a study is recommending the submarine fleet be cut by a third are very preliminary, and no decisions have been made.
But members of Congress are already vowing to fight any efforts to trim the fleet, and a Connecticut senator Wednesday filed his official objection to the plan with the Navy's operations' chief.
Navy Lt. Amy Gilliland said there are several ongoing studies by the Defense Department and the Navy to assess the fleet strength and determine the Navy's current and future needs. But none are completed, she said.
"The Navy continually assesses force structure to ensure we are tailored to best meet joint mission requirements for both today and in the future," Gilliland said.
A published report Wednesday confirmed testimony earlier this year that a Navy study would propose slashing the submarine fleet from about 55 vessels to 37 by retiring older submarines and ordering fewer of the new Virginia class models.
"I am at a loss to understand how the Defense Department could reach such startling conclusions, as the United States only grows more dependent on these stealthy platforms in the conduct of intelligence, reconnaissance, surveillance and attack missions," said Sen. Christopher J. Dodd, D-Conn., in a letter to Adm. Vernon E. Clark, chief of naval operations.
The new submarines are being built by Electric Boat in Connecticut and Newport News Shipbuilding in Virginia. EB employs about 1,100 people in Groton, Conn., and Rhode Island.
Ronald O'Rourke, defense specialist for the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service, testified about the report in March in front of the House Armed Services Committee. He said there are concerns that the study, done by a Navy programming and budgeting office, would stall plans to build two submarines a year, which is supposed to begin in 2009.
O'Rourke said Wednesday that he believes the report is finished and it determined that fewer submarines were needed if the vessels were used only for war fighting, while surveillance, intelligence and reconnaissance duties were shifted to satellites, unmanned aircraft and other vehicles.
Lawmakers, however, said decisions should be made based on the Navy's needs, not on budget constraints.
"The stealth and range of submarines makes them one of the most critical weapons of the U.S. Armed Forces in their fight against terrorism," said Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I. "It would be a foolish and shortsighted to use a reduction in submarines as a means of cutting costs."
And Rep. Rob Simmons, R-Conn., said Congress "will not stand idly by while unnamed bean-counters in the Pentagon propose cost-saving measures."
The House defense panel was expected to vote late Wednesday on the military authorization bill for 2005, and there was no indication submarine orders or funds would be cut at all.
And Dodd noted in his letter that the Navy report would contradict a 1999 study by the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff that concluded the Navy needed 68 attack submarines by 2015, and 76 by 2025 to respond to emerging threats throughout the world.
A larger Defense Department study on undersea warfare is ongoing and expected to be complete next year.
The Navy in January signed a five-year, $8.4 billion contract with EB and Newport News for five Virginia class nuclear submarines, cementing a congressional plan to provide a more stable, cost-effective shipbuilding program.
Some of the work will be done in Quonset Point, R.I. Lawmakers and company officials said the long-term commitment will achieve significant cost savings, and could lead to contracts for two ships a year later this decade.
Copyright 2003 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed

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SICK ROMPS AT PORNY PRISON
By BRIDGET HARRISON
LEASH OF HER WORRIES:
http://www.nypost.com/news/worldnews/20902.htm
"Leash GI" Lynndie England had video sex with Spc. Charles Graner.
Washington Post
May 14, 2004 -- Iraq's feared Abu Ghraib jail was one big sex romp - sometimes by candlelight with an audience watching, U.S. troops said yesterday.
Sex and alcohol were commonplace, and soldiers frequently set up candlelit rooms for voyeuristic sex shows, said a soldier who served at the notorious prison.
"There were lots of affairs. There was all kinds of adultery and alcoholism and all kinds of crap going on," said Dave Bischel, a National Guardsman with the 870th Military Police unit, who returned home from Abu Ghraib last month.
"There was a bed found in one of the abandoned buildings. There was a mattress on the ground. They had chairs all circled around it and candles all over the place," said Bischel, adding the chairs were "obviously for an audience."
The soldier said the X-rated liaisons at the prison were made easier by its maze-like layout and that other troops frequently turned a blind eye to what their pals were up to.
"One of the female soldiers supposedly had sex in a gang bang," said Terry Stowe, an MP from California. "From time to time, things like this would happen."
News of the shocking sexcapades in the controversial lockup come as a friend of disgraced reservist Lynndie England lashed out in her defense yesterday, saying tapes of her having sex in the prison were personal to her and the boyfriend with whom she is "in love."
Congress members, who viewed shocking new pictures of abuse in the Iraqi jail, said England appeared in a sicko video having sex in front of prisoners at Abu Ghraib and that she was snapped in graphic sex acts with other U.S. soldiers.
But one family friend insisted the racy reservist had sex only with her boyfriend, Spc. Charles Graner - one of six others from the 372nd Military Police Company facing charges for the abuse - and that the pair are "madly in love."
He said the X-rated tapes had been taken from their foot lockers.
"We are all amazed by this. She only had sex with him," said Kenny Flanagan, who has known England since childhood.
The pregnant England, who is now stationed at Fort Bragg, N.C., met Graner, 35, a divorced father of two, shortly before the pair's Maryland-based unit was posted to Iraq.
Graner is charged with overseeing numerous abuses of Iraqi prisoners, and appears in several photos with the young private, leering at humiliated Iraqi captives.
Another soldier involved in the scandal, Spc. Jeremy Sivits, told Army investigators Graner would mock the detainees and brutalize them, The Los Angeles Times reported last night.
In one incident, he allegedly punched a detainee so hard, he knocked him unconscious. "His eyes were closed and he was not moving," Sivits was quoted as saying. Afterward, Graner shook his fist and said, "Damn, that hurt," the report says.
Sivits, who the paper said is expected to plead guilty at a court-martial proceeding next week, also disputed England's claims that she was ordered to pose for the snapshots that shocked the world.
One picture showed her holding a naked Iraqi man on a dog leash, and in others, she is shown making thumbs-up signs in front of a pyramid of naked Iraqi men and pointing at the genitals of a naked prisoner.
Sivits said England was "laughing at the different stuff that they were having the detainees do."
He also shot down her claim that the soldiers were ordered to abuse the prisoners, and said Graner warned him not to tell higher-ups about how they were being treated.
"Our command would have slammed us," Sivits said.
New photos and videos revealed by the Pentagon to lawmakers in a private viewing Wednesday showed attack dogs snarling at cowing prisoners, Iraqi women forced to expose their breasts, and naked prisoners forced to have sex with each other, the lawmakers revealed.

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Halabi released from pre-trial confinement
Associated Press
TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- An airman accused of spying while he worked at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility in Cuba was ordered released from military jail pending his court-martial.
The judge, Air Force Col. Barbara Brand, said Wednesday that Senior Airman Ahmad Al Halabi was not a flight risk and that "lesser forms of restraint are available." His civilian lawyer, Donald G. Rehkopf, said he most likely will be restricted to Travis Air Force Base until his court-martial begins there.
"It feels great," Al Halabi said as he left the hearing. His military lawyer, Maj. James Key, said Al Halabi would go back to his job as a supply clerk "unless his commander comes up with some bizarre plan."
Al Halabi, 25, had been locked up since he was arrested in July, shortly before he was to leave for Syria, where he planned to marry his girlfriend. He faces 17 criminal counts including espionage, lying and misconduct.
The Syrian-born U.S. citizen is accused of attempting to deliver more than 180 e-mail messages to Syria from detainees at Guantanamo Bay, where the U.S. government is holding suspected terrorists. Al Halabi also is charged with mishandling classified material and repeatedly lying to Air Force investigators.
If convicted of spying, the most serious of the charges, Al Halabi could be sentenced to life in prison. He has not yet entered a plea.
Rehkopf asked Brand on Wednesday to dismiss all charges, alleging that prosecutors mishandled evidence and witnesses lied. Brand is set to rule on that motion and others at a June 15 hearing where a start date for opening statements will also be decided.
Rehkopf said Air Force investigators in September mishandled a box of evidence by not wearing gloves and by drinking beer while examining the contents.
He said they realized their mistake and "the evidence was replaced and the box reopened and photos were taken as if it was being opened for the first time."
The alleged incident was witnessed and reported by Staff Sgt. Suzan Sultan, an Arabic translator working for the prosecution, Rehkopf said.
Sultan also testified during Al Halabi's Article 32 hearing, which is similar to a civilian grand jury, about the meaning of a word contained in a letter from the Syrian Embassy to Al Halabi.
She said she initially thought the letter said Al Halabi planned to visit Qatar as well as Syria, but later realized the Arabic word for that Persian Gulf country also means "homeland." When she told Capt. Dennis Kaw, an assistant prosecutor, of the mistake in her translation, he told her not to change her testimony, she testified.
Lt. Col. Brian Wheeler, the Air Force's lead prosecutor, said none of the alleged incidents amounts to obstruction of justice.
In March the judge denied a defense request to dismiss the charges against Al Halabi based on his lawyers' lack of access to evidence against him.
Copyright 2003 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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SPIEGEL ONLINE - 14. Mai 2004, 9:47
URL: http://www.spiegel.de/wissenschaft/erde/0,1518,299722,00.html
Geografie-Posse
Asiatischer Kartenkrieg erreicht Deutschland
Von Alexander Neubacher
Zwischen S?dkorea und Japan schwelt ein bizarrer Namensstreit: Darf das "Japanische Meer" auch "Ostmeer" hei?en? So weit, so nebens?chlich - w?re da nicht die Gefahr, dass jetzt auch Deutschland in den Streit verwickelt wird. Ein D?sseldorfer Verlag hat es gewagt, eine Karte mit beiden Namen zu drucken.
kartenwelten.de
Karte vom D?sseldorfer Verlag: Corpus delicti
Das raue Gew?sser liegt zwischen Russland, Korea und Japan, erstreckt sich ?ber eine Fl?che von knapp einer Million Quadratkilometern und ist bei seinen Anrainern nicht nur wegen der Fischgr?nde ein steter Quell des Streits. Japanische und s?dkoreanische Piraten liefern sich hier einen Wettlauf um die besten Prisen. Russen nutzten die See, um radioaktiven Fl?ssigm?ll zu verklappen. Den Nordkoreanern dient das Meer als Testgebiet f?r Nuklearsprengk?pfe. Selbst um die Felsen, die hier und da aus den von Taifunen aufgepeitschten Wogen ragen, wird erbittert gerungen.
Anfang des Jahres provozierte die s?dkoreanische Post einen diplomatischen Eklat, als sie die von koreanischen M?wen okkupierte, politisch aber von Japan beanspruchte Insel Tokdo mit einer Sonderbriefmarke w?rdigte. Jetzt droht auch die Bundesrepublik in den s?dostasiatischen Nachbarschaftsstreit hineingezogen zu werden: Japanische Spitzendiplomaten werfen einem deutschen Unternehmen einen politischen Fauxpas vor, der die deutsch-japanischen Beziehungen schwerwiegend belaste. Man schade, erregt sich Japans Generalkonsul Takahiro Shinyo, "den Interessen unserer Regierung".
Einigung nicht in Sicht
Es geht um die Frage, wie das von Japan, Russland und Korea umschlossene Gew?sser eigentlich hei?t. "Nihon-kai", sagen die Japaner, "Japanisches Meer", und verweisen auf entsprechende Eintr?ge in jahrhundertealten Seekarten. "Tonghae", "Ostmeer", sagen hingegen die Koreaner, und k?nnen ihrerseits Belege anf?hren, dass das Meer seit ?ber "zwei Millennien" (Koreas Ex-Botschaftsrat Lee Hyeon-Pyo) - zumindest aus ihrer Sicht - im Osten liegt und deshalb auch so bezeichnet werden m?sse. Eine Einigung im bizarren Namensstreit ist nicht in Sicht.
AP
S?dkoreanischer Fu?ballfan: Nationale Aufwallung um den Namen eines Meeres
Die vor zwei Jahren von Bundesinnenminister Otto Schily in Berlin einberufene "Uno-Weltkonferenz zur Standardisierung von geografischen Namen" (UNCSGN) endete ergebnislos. Doch nun, so f?rchten Japans Diplomaten, werden ausgerechnet in Deutschland Fakten geschaffen. Auf der weltgr??ten Druckfachmesse "Drupa" in D?sseldorf wollte der Druckmaschinenfabrikant MAN Roland an diesem Freitag eine Weltkarte des Spezialverlags Kober-K?mmerly+Frey pr?sentieren. Und in der unteren rechten Ecke der Karte, Ma?stab 1 zu 25 Millionen, hat Japans Botschaft zu ihrem Entsetzen drei kleine W?rter ersp?ht: "Ostmeer/Japanisches Meer".
Japan f?hrt schweres Gesch?tz auf
Mit allen Mitteln versucht Japan nun, die Publikation der derart beschrifteten Landkarte zu verhindern. Bei Verlagschef Tim Kober ging ein Brief der Botschaft ein. "Mit Nachdruck" wende man sich gegen den Versuch, einen "allgemein eingeb?rgerten geografischen Namen ohne berechtigten Grund" zu ?ndern. Offenbar sei der Verlag der Propaganda S?dkoreas auf den Leim gegangen, das, so die Japaner, "einseitig fordert, eine bisher international nicht anerkannte Bezeichnung, die nicht auf historischen Tatsachen beruht, ?ber die Verwendung im eigenen Land hinaus als internationalen Standard zu verwenden".
Japans Generalkonsul Shinyo verlangt deshalb von Kober und zugleich von der Messeleitung und vom D?sseldorfer Oberb?rgermeister, die Publikation der Weltkarte "sofort einzustellen und sie nicht weiter auf der Messe zu verteilen". Es sei "?u?erst bedauerlich", dass die Druckmesse "zu einem politischen Akt missbraucht" werde.
Der Verlagschef indes ist sich keiner Schuld bewusst. Monatelange Recherchen h?tten zweifelsfrei ergeben, dass die Bezeichnungen "Ostmeer" und "Japanisches Meer" gleichberechtigt seien. So stehe es in der Encyclopaedia Britannica, in der "Financial Times" und in Ver?ffentlichungen des US-Verlagsgiganten RandMcNally. Die "New York Times" benutzt inzwischen beide Namen, wenn das Kriegsschiff "Kitty Hawk" von seinem japanischen Heimathafen aus in See sticht.
Anw?lte sollen notfalls Feierstunde st?ren
Auch von der f?r Fragen der maritimen Weltordnung zust?ndigen Internationalen Hydrografischen Organisation (IHO) bekommt Kober R?ckendeckung. Deren Standardwerk "Grenzen der Ozeane und Meere" f?hrte bislang nur das "Japanische Meer" auf - eine Folge einer Konferenz Ende der zwanziger Jahre, an der das jahrelang von den Japanern besetzte Korea nicht teilnehmen durfte. Inzwischen jedoch will die IHO auch die koreanische Position ber?cksichtigen.
Wie der Streit um die Weltkarte aus D?sseldorf ausgeht, ist ungewiss. Die f?r diesen Freitag geplante Pr?sentation hat die Messe vorsichtshalber abgesagt. Japans Botschaft hatte angedroht, die Feierstunde mit Hilfe seiner Rechtsanw?lte zu st?ren. Koreas Botschaftsrat Kotae Kim wiederum besteht nun erst recht darauf, dass die Karte gedruckt wird. Die Erstausgabe, so hat sich der offenbar streitlustige Diplomat vorgenommen, will er dann sogar mit seinem Autogramm verzieren.

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