China Confidential
Saturday, September 06, 2008
Whites Fleeing South African Crime Wave
Foreign Confidential....
The number of white South Africans who give emigration as the reason for selling their home has shot up in recent months as high crime levels and political and economic uncertainty spur the flight of whites from the Rainbow Nation.
A survey by South Africa's First National Bank (FNB) showed the proportion of homeowners who said they were putting their homes on the market because they were emigrating had doubled between the last quarter of 2007 and the second quarter of 2008, from 9 percent to 18 percent.
Emigration was one of the most frequent reasons given by homeowners for selling up, next only to downscaling because of financial pressures, according to the FNB residential property barometer.
Foreign embassies in South Africa report a jump in emigration applications from mainly white South Africans in recent months, amid growing disillusionment over high levels of violent crime and the populist slide within the ruling African National Congress (ANC).
Xenophobic Violence
A power crisis that has made blackouts a feature of life in a country that prides itself on having first-world infrastructure, and a recent outbreak of xenophobic violence have also added to sense of doom and gloom fuelling emigration.
On Monday, a plane carrying 100 Jewish immigrants landed at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv on the first ever specially-chartered aliyah (Jewish immigration to Israel) flight from South Africa.
According to the Jewish Agency, the body that manages immigration to the Jewish state, the number of South African Jews interested in making Israel their home is set to double in 2008. From 178 last year, their number is set to reach over 300 this year.
The Agency said the political situation and crime and violence were behind the trend.
50 Murders a Day
In South Africa, 50 people are murdered every day and over 130 rape cases reported. While the past few years have seen a slight drop in contact crime statistics, the level of violence used during robberies and other criminal acts has sown terror in the population.
Many white South Africans also take a dim view of the endorsement by the ruling ANC of party leader Jacob Zuma as its candidate for president in 2009 elections. Zuma faces trial in the coming year on charges of corruption and fraud.
South Africa's Institute for Race Relations estimates that around 800 000 whites emigrated in the decade from 1995 to 2005.
Yen Continues Climb Against Euro and US Dollar
The Japanese yen extended its upward climb against the euro and the US dollar Friday.
The euro fell to 150.99 Japanese yen, from 151.61, while the US dollar fell to 106.26 yen, from 106.46, during midday trading in Europe.
The euro began its downward fall during afternoon trading Thursday, after the European Central Bank's president, Jean-Claude Trichet, warned of a highly uncertain economic outlook as well as inflationary pressures.
The rise of the euro over the past year has left the yen looking oversold. As a result, the so-called yen carry trade, where traders sell the low-yielding Japanese currency in favor of higher-yielding currencies like the euro, is now unraveling; and capital flows are returning to Japan.
Where will Japanese investors will turn to next? Likely destinations include Brazil, Peru, Turkey and other emerging markets.Peres Proposes Talks With Syria
Foreign Confidential....
Syria and Israel should hold direct talks in Jerusalem or Damascus, Shimon Peres, the Israeli president, said on Friday.
Peres, who holds a largely ceremonial role as president, extended an invitation to Syria’s Bashar al-Assad with Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, beside him as they debated the prospects for peace at the annual Ambrosetti conference on the shores of Italy’s Lake Como.
Drawing comparisons with the visit to Jerusalem by Egypt’s Anwar Sadat in 1977, followed by the late King Hussein of Jordan, Peres said that if President Assad visited Israel or invited the Israeli prime minister to Syria then “we shall see a major change”.
Considered a dove, Peres, 85, twice sought to dismiss talk of possible military action against Iran--just 24 hours after Mr Sarkozy had warned Syria, Iran’s closest Arab ally--that “one day” Israel might strike Iran’s nuclear facilities. (Scroll down for the story.)
Peres told reporters an attack was “not necessary” and urged political and economic action. He said he did not think that anyone would take military action against Iran.
“It’s not the solution,” he said.First Chinese Tour Group Going to Israel
The first group of Chinese tourists will be heading for Israel on September 25, visiting Israeli tourism minister Ruhama Avraham Balila said here Thursday.
The Chinese tourists will take a 10-day trip to Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, the Dead Sea and the Red Sea, she said.
China and Israel signed an agreement last year that made the Middle East nation an approved destination for Chinese tour groups.
The agreement is expected to be officially implemented starting from September 15.
Balila said her ministry will open a representative office in Beijing to better tap the Chinese market.
Israeli tourism departments were preparing more Chinese-language maps, brochures. They were also training more Chinese-speaking tour guides and encouraging the opening of more Chinese restaurants, she said.
Balila said Israeli will simplify visa application procedures for Chinese tourists, so that the processing time can be reduced to one week.
Israel Airlines operates three flights a week from Beijing to Tel Aviv.Cheney Urges Ukraine to Unite Against Russia
Foreign Confidential....
It's beginning to look a lot like another cold war.
US Vice President Dick Cheney urged Ukraine's leaders on Friday to unite against the Russian "threat" in separate talks with the country's deeply divided president and prime minister.
"We believe in the right of men and women to live without the threat of tyranny, economic blackmail or military invasion or intimidation," Cheney said after meeting President Viktor Yushchenko and Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko.
"Ukraine's best hope to overcome these threats is to be united --domestically first and foremost and united with other democracies," Cheney said.
Separatist Feelings
His message came as a top Ukrainian minister warned Russia was stirring separatist feeling in Ukraine by distributing Russian passports.
Using similar language as he did on previous stops on his tour of ex-Soviet republics Azerbaijan and Georgia, Cheney vowed Washington's "deep and abiding interest" in Ukraine's "well-being and security."
In Russia, meanwhile, newspaper headlines and live television reports from Kiev have informed readers and viewers that Ukraine's Orange Revolution is over and its key players, President Viktor Yushchenko and Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, have become bitter enemies.
They have had long-running disputes over domestic policy and both intend to compete for the presidency in 2009. Yushchenko generally leans toward a free market economy while the populist Tymoshenko favors government regulation.
Escalating Dispute
Their dispute escalated following the Georgian conflict, in which the president openly favored Tbilisi and the prime minister remained conspicuously silent.
This prompted Yushchenko supporters to accuse her of high treason for allegedly siding with Russia. There was more political venom on Wednesday when Tymoshenko's party, which formed a coalition with the president's political organization, joined the opposition to transfer some presidential powers to the prime minister.
Tymoshenko's move prompted Yushchenko to say that de facto a new parliamentary coalition was created, uniting the prime minister's party with the Communists and Party of Regions, which has substantial support in Russian-speaking areas of Ukraine. The Ukrainian president says the power transfer does not serve Ukrainian national interests, and he accused those who voted for it of a "coup" that betrayed and broke the country's democratic coalition.
In Moscow, Russian lawmaker Konstantyn Zatulin, who is also deputy chair of the Commonwealth of Independent States Committee in Parliament, told a reporter Russia is not pleased with Ukraine's political crises of recent years.
"The reason is because the turbulence makes it difficult to develop long-term Ukrainian-Russian relations," Zatulin said. He added that those ties are suffering, because Russia cannot rely on any stable partners in Ukraine.
Ukrainian-Russian Issues
Among the issues on the Ukrainian-Russian agenda is the status of Russia's Black Sea Fleet, which has a lease agreement with Kiev through 2017 to dock its ships in Sevastopol on Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula.
Tymoshenko has said Kiev will not deviate from the current agreement.
Yushchenko has said the lease will not be extended. He also objected when Russian warships sailed from Sevastopol to fight off the Georgian coast, which further strained relations between Moscow and Kiev.
Konstantyn Zatulin said Russia has no plans to build new facilities at its Black Sea ports and is waiting for Yushchenko to leave office to negotiate a new agreement with one of his successors closer to the lease expiration date.
In June, Russia's NATO ambassador, Dmitri Rogozin, told the Vesti TV news channel there is no viable alternative to Sevastopol and that Russia has no intention of ever leaving the city.
The Black Sea Fleet
Rogozin said Yushchenko is trying to drive the fleet from what he calls its natural home onto the street. The Russian diplomat said there is no politician in Russia who would agree in their lifetime or term in office for the Black Sea Fleet to leave Sevastopol. Rogozin said that will not happen.
In January, the Ukrainian Prime Minister Tymoshenko and president signed an appeal to NATO requesting the alliance to extend its Membership Action Plan, or MAP, to Ukraine. Lawmaker Konstantyn Zatulin says it remains to be seen if Ukraine's official NATO position will be affected by the country's high level feud.
Zatulin said he won't venture to say if the chances of Ukrainian officialdom for a MAP will increase or decrease. He noted, however, the issue will continue to be hotly debated in Ukraine.
He went on to say that extending a MAP to Ukraine would deal a severe blow to the Ukrainian-Russian Friendship Treaty, which pledges Moscow's respect for Ukrainian sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Targeting Ukraine
Russia's military operation in Georgia prompted widespread speculation that Moscow could target portions of Ukraine for annexation, including the Crimean Peninsula, which the Soviet Union transferred from Russia to Ukraine in 1954.
Ukrainian analysts say the recent conflict in Georgia could prompt the majority of Ukrainians who now oppose NATO membership to reconsider their views.
The Regions Party of Viktor Yanukovych has the support of Russian-speaking areas of Eastern and Southern Ukraine that most oppose NATO. Yanukovych was defeated by Viktor Yushchenko in the disputed presidential election of 2004, which led to the Orange Revolution.
On Friday, the Regions Party leader, speaking alternately in Ukrainian and Russian, told a Kiev news conference that any attempt to force Ukraine into NATO is doomed to failure. However, he does not categorically reject NATO membership as such. His remarks were carried live on Russian TV.
Yanukovych said the issue must be decided by the Ukrainian people in a national referendum. He asserted that a government that which implements policies independent of the people is doomed. For this reason, Yanukovych said, his party will demand that any decisions on Ukrainian NATO membership be preceded by a nationwide referendum.
Saturday, 6 September 2008
Whites Fleeing South African Crime Wave
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