Rashid DYUSEMBAEV
ALMATY, Feb 10
(THE GLOBE)
People said that it stank in Austria when the Austria�s Freedom Party (AFP), the most powerful among the neonazi European movements, received 28% of Parliamentary seats at the election in the last autumn. Former members of the NSDAP established AFP in 1955. The party�s leader Joerg Haider likes to meet SS veterans and approves the way how the employment problem was settled in Hitler�s Germany. The Russian weekly magazine Expert mentions the reaction to the integration processes in the EU as the reason for the growing popularity of the ultra-right forces. The Austrian population fears that they could be swallowed up by such EU partners as Germany, Expert writes. Besides, the AFP actively propagandizes abandonment of privileges granted to foreigners (�colored�, Turkish people, and people from eastern Europe). They propose to render social aid only to Austrians, to close borders for the above-mentioned groups of foreigners. One of the main aspects of the AFP platform is the unwillingness to widen the EU eastwards. By the way, Expert forecasted that if AFP representatives come into the government, Austria may block entering of Slovenia, Czech republic and Hungary into the EU. It is interesting to see what is the situation with neonazism in other European countries.
According to the Russian edition Vlast, only the German and UK parliaments do not have neonazi spokesmen. The rest countries have at least one nazi parliamentarian.
The ultra-right Swiss People Party made a serious and sudden progress. At the last Parliamentary election this party gained 23% of votes. The PP leader is Christof Bloher who promised to forbid immigration and to drive out Kosovo refugees and to withdraw the application for entering the EU and the UNO.
Since 1972 the French National Front has been fighting for racial purity in France, and succeeds. At present the Front has 15% of seats in the Parliament, but its more striking achievement is the success during the municipal election. Thanks to this the FNF began to realize the program �French France in European Europe.� In one of the towns in southern France, the Front supervises the town administration and the council. In the result, a;; �colored� municipal personnel were dismissed, social programs, which used mainly people with non-white skin, abandoned. A family receives a premium of US$ 1000, if an �ethnical French man� is born.
In the Italian Parliament 11% of seats belong to the neonazi party National Alliance � Italian Social Movement. One of the leaders of this organization is the granddaughter of the dictator Benito Mussolini Alessandra Mussolini.
In Norway the Progressive Party of Norway has 15% of votes in the Parliament. It uses Christian ideals pursuing racial aims. The party established the fund of free repatriation for �colored� people. The fund pays all expenses towards their repatriation. In Denmark the young Dutch People�s Party received 10% of votes during the first Parliamentary election. Alike the Progressive Party of Norway it strives for the abolishment of the immigration of non-Christians, stating that living of Muslims in the Christian country is illegal.
Having read the above-mentioned facts, we have an unfavorable picture. Nevertheless, 14 EU countries boycott Austria. They follow a definite policy to oppose nazism and racism. For example, according to BBC, the Italian government and football clubs take some measures to extirpate racial behavior of fans at football matches, including to hold a game behind closed doors or to stop the match.
We may watch these or those signs of the national and racial intolerance in any country. It is sufficient to remember the unpunished activity of Russian Mashkovs and Barkashovs, as well as such terms as people of the Caucasian nationality and zhid (�a Jewish man�). We may remember when perestroyka was its zenith, some Kazakhs propagandized slogans �Russians, get out of Kazakhstan!� We should mention the Uzbek authorities� attitude to Kazakhs living in Uzbekistan. They make the latter to change their nationality in passports or do not give them papers at all.
Materials from the Russian editions Vlast (�Byelokuraya svoloch�, 02.11.999) and Expert (�Barkhatny anshlyus�, 22.11.99) used in the article.
LONDON, 9 Feb
(���)
Israel has launched fresh attacks against Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon in retaliation for the death of its soldiers.
Military aircraft attacked suspected Hezbollah positions in the southern port city of Tyre on Tuesday night, and targeted a village in a mountainous guerrilla stronghold inland, security officials said.
Reports said Apache helicopter gunships fired three missiles at the top floor of an 11-storey building in Tyre, 25km (15 miles) north of the Israeli border.
At least two people were wounded and taken to hospital.
Our correspondent said a suspected Hezbollah official was thought to live in the building.
A Hezbollah official denied any links to the apartment and an Israeli statement said the aircraft had hit a radar station.
In another raid, early on Wednesday, Israeli helicopters and jets fired more than six rockets at the outskirts of Ain Bouswar, a village which has Hezbollah camps nearby, security sources said. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
Counter-attacks
The attack came several hours after Hezbollah guerrillas killed an Israeli soldier, the sixth in two weeks, and an allied militiaman in southern Lebanon.
The group vowed to continue its attacks against Israeli forces in southern Lebanon.
Israel ordered a state of emergency in towns on its northern border with Lebanon and ordered all residents to remain in bomb shelters.
On Monday night, the Israelis bombed three power stations across Lebanon and plunged much of the country into darkness.
The Lebanese Prime Minister, Salim Hoss, described the raids as a disproportionate response to the Hezbollah attacks
But Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak defended Israel�s bombing of Lebanese targets, and said he would do �whatever it takes� to save Israeli lives.
US Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright, held a series of urgent telephone conversations with her Syrian counterpart to try to defuse the tension between Israel and Lebanon.
Mrs Albright said she urged the Syrian Foreign Minister, Farouq al-Shara, to use his influence to persuade Hezbollah guerrillas to end their attacks on Israeli forces inside Lebanon.
Our correspondent says there is a fear that the violence may spiral further and destroy all remaining hopes of a resumption of Syrian-Israeli peace talks.
The US said it would send its Middle East envoy Dennis Ross to the region next week and Mrs Albright said peace talks could survive the impact of the latest bloodshed.
PARIS, Feb 8 (AP)
Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo said Tuesday that his country is close to clinching a loan deal with the International Monetary Fund that would open the way to securing much-needed relief on the country�s $30 billion debt.
�We have more or less reached agreement,� said Obasanjo, who is in France on a four-day visit. �We only need to hold a meeting to stamp it, but I believe all the essentials are in place.�
In the short term, a deal with the Fund � in the shape of a $1 billion standby loan � would allow Obasanjo�s government to secure relief on bilateral debt owed to the Paris Club of official creditors, possibly as early as March.
Paris Club debt accounts for about two-thirds of Nigeria�s overall external debt.
Obasanjo, reiterating comments made earlier in the visit, warned that debt relief is vital.
�If we continue to pay debt we won�t be able to sustain democracy, and if we aren�t able to do that it will be a tragedy for Nigeria, for Africa and for the world,� he told reporters.
Nigeria signed a so-called �shadow program� with the IMF last year. The program effectively marks a transition period during which a country must establish a good track record with macro-economic management but receives no IMF funding.
When Obasanjo took power in May last year, Nigeria�s economy had been run into the ground by years of neglect, underinvestment and corruption. World oil prices � the source of 90 percent of Nigeria�s foreign exchange earnings � had also hit rock bottom.
Obasanjo has accused the former military regime of Gen. Sani Abacha of embezzling some $2.3 billion in the five years during which it held power.
Since Obasanjo took power last May, economic prospects have brightened as oil prices have climbed to a post-Gulf War high, prompting calls from some western donors for Nigeria to speed up debt repayments.
In Paris, Obasanjo has also been keen to drum up foreign investment, pledging to take on board business-friendly policies, to move ahead with Nigeria�s often-slow privatization program and introduce a special investment protection pact with France.
France � the third-largest investor in Nigeria after Britain and the United States � has been anxious to modernize its policy toward Africa and open up new investment opportunities.
All Over the Globe is published by IPA House.
© 1998 IPA House. All Rights Reserved.