Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - June 29, 2004, Winnipeg, Manitoba A15 Winnipeg free press focus tuesday june 29, 2004. North Atlantic treaty organization new partners transform nato countries joining group vital to War on terrorism for several years Israel enjoyed inthe . A status of nato member like t he Middle East and Central Asia Are now the main theatre of operations for the North Atlantic treaty organization. The upgrading of the partnership Between the nato and seven Middle Eastern countries Marks natos formal transformation from an anti communist Agency during the cold War. Among the seven partners Are Israel Egypt Jordan saudi Arabia and Yemen. The foreign affairs and defence ministers of the seven countries As Well their top military leaders will therefore be invited to participate in future nato meetings. For Israel this partnership is Only a for Mality. For several years Israel enjoyed in the . A status of nato member like this qualification enabled Israel to acquire in the . Sophisticated equip ment and High tech developments that were not available to other Middle East Ern countries. This Access helped Israel to maintain its military superiority against any combination of Arab armies. This was also in line with the consistent bipartisan . Commitment to Israel a Security and survival. Originally the seven foreign ministers of the new partners were originally meant to attend the two Day current nato Summit in Istanbul which ends today. However due to objections from Egypt and saudi Ara Bia who were afraid to be perceived As Israel a allies while american troops Are in Iraq and the israeli palestinian conflict continues it was decided to Dis invite the foreign ministers to Istanbul. As one of the immediate results of the Istanbul Summit the israeli Navy has already been invited to participate in search operations in the Eastern Mediterranean aimed at preventing the smug gling of arms and military equipment to terrorist organizations. Some three weeks ago the turkish Navy intercepted a ship sailing from Ukraine to Egypt. A search of the ship revealed a Small Quantity of arms and rockets that were not mentioned in the ships Manifest. It is suspected ? but not yet confirmed ? that the arms shipment was bought in Ukraine by Iran and was meant to be smuggled by the lebanese pro iranian Hezbollah to various Palestin Ian terrorist groups in the Gaza strip. The seven new nato partners will now share intelligence and will be invited to participate in joint military manoeuvres with nato. This kind of partnership already exists although informally. Jor Dan and Egypt for example participated As observers in the yearly joint Navy and letters to the editor the free press welcomes letters from readers. They must include the authors name address and Telephone number. Letters May be edited. Letters to the editor 1355 Mountain Avenue Winnipeg r2x 3b6. Fax 697-7412. Email no sympathy for parking woes i have no sympathy for a june 25 letter writer complaining about the Lack of parking at the University of Winnipeg parking a problem for u of w Stu dents unless students Are handicapped or living in a Rural enclave without Tran sit i can to see Why they can to take the bus ride a Bike and or walk. One of the University a great advantages is its Central location even trav Eling from the farthest Edge of the City to attend As i did living in Westdale is not a huge inconvenience. Surely there Are More critical prob lems for our City to solve than parking for students ? the impoverished neighbourhood that surrounds the University comes to mind. Ryan Kinrade Winnipeg problems could arise from stations in schools a recent article in the free press High lighted concerns about school safety on election Day. The focus was on the dangers posed by vehicle traffic. I am personally concerned about a Range of problems that could arise from loss of instructional space to the potential for intruders in the school. We have Likely All seen the signs that state All visitors must report to the principals on election Day however anyone on a voters list is allowed in the building. It is my personal View that schools should never be used As polling stations unless there Are no children in the school that Day or there Are absolutely no other facilities available. Surely i am not alone in this line of thinking. Thomas Kowalchuk Fraser Wood Quebec language Laws discriminatory the june 23 article boy loses fight with Quebec language Law is yet another example of the outrageous and discriminatory language Laws in the province of Quebec. A seven year old boy now living in Quebec cannot attend a local English school because his father Learned French in school in Winnipeg. The father is thus deemed to be francophone according to Quebec Law and his son therefore is forbidden from attending an English Public school. The Quebec language Laws Are discriminatory yet the Federal govern ment remains silent. Patrick Clarke Winnipeg air Force manoeuvres of Turkey Israel and the . In the Eastern Mediterranean. Jordan observed most of the yearly manoeuvres but in recent years Egypt declined the invitation because of the ongoing violence Between Israel and the palestinians in the West Bank and the Gaza strip. The intelligence sharing however continues without any interruptions. Israel a formal partnership with nato is the realization of an old dream of David Ben Gurion. Soon after Egypt a Gamal Abdel Nasser joined the soviet Camp and made the Middle East part of the cold War the late israeli Leader sought to counter this move by a formal link to nato. This Effort intensified after Syria joined the soviet bloc and especially after the overthrow of the iraqi Monar Chy in july 1958. Libya and Yemen were soon to follow. Although not formally approved by nato Israel allowed British paratroop ers in Cyprus to Fly Over its air space on their Way to Jordan to save the monarchy from collapse under the combined threat of Syria and Egypt. American marines landed in Beirut to prevent a similar development in Lebanon. This was the first Ever american military involvement in the Middle East. A year later Ben Gurion flew secretly to Ankara together with then chief of general staff Haim Laskov and then director of the Mossad Isser Harel and signed with then turkish prime minister Adnan Menderes a formal Security treaty Between the two countries. Despite the and Downs in the diplomatic relation ship Between Jerusalem and Ankara this Ben Gurion Menderes treaty remains the basis of the Security relations Between the two countries. The upgrading of the partnership Between nato and the seven Middle Eastern countries is particularly important for the global War on terrorism. It enables Israel to share intelligence directly with Egypt and Jordan and indirectly through nato channels with saudi Arabia and Yemen. This could eventually expand to include also Iraq Afghanistan and Pakistan. Such an arrangement existed during the cold War. It can now be revealed that because of its Alliance with Turkey and Iran under the Shah Israel indirectly shared intelligence with saudi Arabia and Pakistan about egyptian and syrian sub version against Jordan Lebanon and Vari Ous persian Gulf countries. Boost the nato Summit this week gave a boost to turkeys regional aspirations and brought Ankara closer to its goal of join ing the european Community eur. . President George w. Bush has publicly urged the europeans to set a binding Date for the negotiations with Turkey on this subject. According to the . View Turkey has fulfilled its commitment to Reform its political and judicial systems and while More is to be done this should not prevent the eur from incorporating Turkey in its ranks. Bush a comments have received cautious approval in Vari Ous european capitals. Redevelopment a Hugh improvement we were the development consultants for the shoppers drug Mart and liquor control commission stores Pic tured in Steve Cohlmeyer a june 19 article architectural miscues have Long shelf life Page h3 in which it is claimed our redevelopment is a Long term scar on the Portage Avenue land scape. The property is hardly As he suggests in the downtown area indeed it is Sev eral Miles from the downtown and is much closer to the Polo Park Commer Cial District and at 7,000-15,000 Square feet these local stores can hardly be compared to big Box stores a term applied generally to stores of 100,000 doonesbury Square feet. But most critically he fails to mention that prior to this redevelopment the lands comprised the old Winnipeg sup ply and fuel store and Yards and contained generally a Rentable obsolete and falling Down Graffiti covered build Ings and unused Weed and mud covered storage Yards that were a real eyesore to the neighbourhood. The buildings had to come Down As there was no economic viability to their staying. As vacant land the property differed from the rest of the properties along Portage Avenue in that it was exceptionally deep. We considered and rejected that which or. Cohlmeyer would have adopted namely buildings along Portage with parking in behind. That Type of development would have natos Istanbul Summit can be measured Only by its limited goals. Even before it was formally convened the . And Britain knew that despite nato expansion to 26 members it would be impossible to pass in Istanbul a binding and formal Resolution to Send troops to Iraq. Instead they aspired to have nato participate in the training of the new iraqi army and Security services. Formal request this was achieved. Accordingly we should now expect Canada France and Germany to participate in one Way or another in the training of the iraqi army As per formal request from the new iraqi interim prime minister Ayad Allawin. Since nato Secretary general Jaap de hoop Scheffer made it Clear that nato will respond to a formal request from Iraq the . Advanced the handing Over of the iraqi sovereignty from thursday to yesterday so that the new understanding could be included in the summits final communique. The Istanbul Summit also approved additional assistance to Afghanistan in Hamid Karzai a Effort to expand his authority beyond the capital Kabul. As to the limited nato assistance to Iraq there should be no mistake should Canada France and Germany Send military trainers to Iraq there will be a need to protect these trainers from terrorist attacks. This could necessitate a Small contingent of military personnel to protect them. Such an ambiguous Resolution does to preclude the expansion of these units in future. Been intrusive on the neighbourhood bringing traffic truck loading Snow Clearing parking lighting signage and garbage removal right into the front Yards of the homeowners on Banning and Burnell. By locating the stores at the Back with parking up front we were Able to Buffer the residents from this intrusion. This attractive redevelopment was Well thought through by our architects and engineers and we think by us and by City planners and is a huge improve ment from what existed previously. Michael Nozick president Fairweather properties inc. Winnipeg by Garry Trudeau ;