World Opinion Roundup

Online News From Around The World

In his weekly show, washingtonpost.com staff writer Jefferson Morley conducts a freewheeling tour of the best of Internet news sites from Afghanistan to Beijing to Mexico City to Paris to Zimbabwe.

Read today's column:Winners and Losers in Russia's Ukraine Coverage (World Opinion Roundup, Dec. 7)

Roundup brings the diversity of the global online media to your screen, presenting today's news and views from journalists, pundits and commentators from every continent. We'll talk about America in the eyes of the world, compare journalistic practices, analyze politics and perspectives, examine the nature of news and debate styles of journalism.

A transcript follows.

Editor's Note: Washingtonpost.com moderators retain editorial control over Live Online discussions and choose the most relevant questions for guests and hosts; guests and hosts can decline to answer questions.

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Jefferson Morley: Welcome all.

This discussion especially welcomes links to interesting news stories and commentary.

Your comments are welcome to but try to keep them under 150-200 words.

If you want to get the World Opinion Roundup via email, please send a message to jeff.morley@wpni.com with the word "subscribe" in the subject line.

And now to the questions.

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Quebec, Canada: Why did the French government lie on Arafat's death certificate and claim Arafat was born in Jerusalem, when it is well known that Arafat was born in Cairo?

Jefferson Morley: Um, let me guess. A hellish plot by the perfidious and anti-Semitic regime of Jacques Chirac to undermine the existence of the State of Israel?

Probably not. More likely, Arafat's wife wrote "Jerusalem" on the death certificate knowing that the story Yasser preferred to tell. Arafat was indeed born in Cairo. I doubt the misstatement was the work of the French government.

If what you're suggesting is that Yasser Arafat was Egyptian and not Palestinian, that's a bigger fib than is found on the death certificate.

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Monroe, N.Y.: Mr. Morley: What is your opinion on whether Yasser Arafat was poisoned, ditto for Viktor Yushchenko, and who would be your top suspects? Seems there's a cozy Cold War feel to international relations these days.

Thanks.

Jefferson Morley: Yasser Arafat was not poisoned. Period.

As for Yushchenko, I don't know. Are you referring to something that happened recently?

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Winchester, Va.: AARP's December issue lists the 5 places in the world where U.S. tourists are loved, not hated. They are: the Northern Marianas, Grenada, Belize, Andorra (yes, Andorra), and Luxembourg. Not to insult the inhabitants of any of these fine nations, but, all things considered, isn't that a pretty pathetic group?

Jefferson Morley: Those are fine places inhabited by fine people. But they're not very big. So its an interesting commentary on America's standing in the world.

Tx. for sharing.

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San Francisco, Calif.: Mr Morley,

By his own standard, Mr Bush failed to do the "most solemn duty'' of the president of the USA.

This historical fact of gross failure is evidenced by the

Did the foreign press ever cover this failure or did it take up the flag instead of reason like the American press?

thx!

Jefferson Morley: You're leaving me hanging here

"This historical fact of gross failure is evidenced by the....`

Don't know what "solemn duty" you're talking about.

In general, the foreign press has been much more critical of Bush than the U.S. press.

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Munich, Germany: Any idea of how the Ukrainian people are viewing the outside interest from Russia and the U.S.?

I've often thought that the relationship between the Ukraine and Russia would be similar to Canada-U.S. or Austria-Germany, where the people of the smaller nation struggle for a world image that is independent of their larger but culturally similar neighbor. In your article, you mention the superiority complex of the Russians, but nothing of a Ukrainian inferiority complex.

Jefferson Morley: Good question.

Ukraine does not have any English language news sites that I know of.

(If anyone out there knows better, please correct me.)

I think the way to get some kind of answer to your question is to check out blogs by English-speaking Ukranians.

A blogger who calls herself "Tulip Girl" has a list of Ukraine-related blogs.

See the link below:

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washingtonpost.com: 'Tulip Girl"

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Monroe, N.Y.: Re: Yushchenko. I was referring to his illness earlier this year which has rather changed his appearance and has been variously attributed to bad sushi, dioxin, agent orange, and carcinoid syndrome (by Gene Weingarten at the Post today).

Regarding Arafat, why are you certain that poisoning can be dismissed (I'll admit that it's a dangerously appealing thought)?

Jefferson Morley: I recall the Yushchenko story vaguely. He could have been drugged but who knows?

As for Arafat's demised, I can't prove a negative--that he wasn't poisoned. But absent any evidence that he was, I'm not going to assume he was.

His family would have every incentive to publicized any medical finding that he had been poisoned. They have not done so.

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Great Neck, N.Y.: Mr. M.--
You state that "Yasser Arafat was not poisoned. Period." What makes you so positive? Was a cause of death ever announced?

Jefferson Morley: What makes me so positive is that there is no evidence of poisoning.

Arafat's family received the doctor's report on cause of death and have said nothing. If he had been poisoned they would not cover it up.

What's the evidence that he was poisoned?

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Washington, D.C.: When you respond as you did to Quebec's straightforward question about Arafat's death certificate with snide sarcasm -- making it sound as if the questioner is a paranoid who sees anti-Semitism everywhere -- don't expect those who read your response to conclude that you approach coverage of the Middle East with objectivity and fairness.

Jefferson Morley: This is a conversation, not a sermon or a lecture. I respond as I would respond across the lunch table.

First of all, the question was hardly "straightforward."

The questioner stated as fact that the French government "lied," an unsubstantiated claim for which there is no evidence.

My response was accurate and reflects my feelings about such a loaded question.

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Bucharest, Romania: I find it disgraceful that the U.S. media has found so little interest in a story from one of America's best allies -- Romania (yes, we are a poor country but we give the best that we can). Briefly, one of country's best loved rock musicians -- Teofil Peter -- was killed in a road accident by an SUV driven by a presumably drunken Marine that worked at the U.S. Embassy in Bucharest. The disgusting part is not the accident itself -- many of these happen everywhere -- but the fact that the U.S. embassy immediately sneaked the Marine out of the country and not made him available for investigation. This is that much more shameful since the Marine, as an employee of the Embassy -- had diplomatic immunity. This left a bitter taste on what is still one of the most pro-American countries in the world.

Jefferson Morley: Dear Bucharest,

My condolences on what sounds like a tragedy. I will pass this story along to the right people i the hopes it gets some attention.

Has anybody see as press coverage of Peter's death? If so, please send links.

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Washington, D.C.: Does Israel's imprisoning of Barghouti get him a sympathy vote? Is there any sense that the charges on which he was convicted were trumped up?

Jefferson Morley: Barghouti had won a reputation among young Palestinians before his trial and imprisonment but his bravado at the trial--rejecting the court's jurisdiction and addressing the Israeli public in fluent Hebrew--cemented his star quality. Certainly, his imprisonment is no impediment to his popularity.

As for the charges against him, that he coordinated attacks on Israeli civilians, he never responded specifically to them. I don't doubt that there was some substance to them.

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Boston, Mass.: Why has there been so much discussion of the Ukraine transition in U.S. media? Part of the reason I'm wondering is because a near-identical transition crisis is occuring in Abkhazia, but there's just about zero U.S. coverage of that.

Is part of the reason the response from the White House on the Ukraine transition?

Jefferson Morley: Ukraine is a sovereign country of 48 million people.

Abkhazia is a region of the Russia with about 500,000 people.

That explains much of the difference in coverage.

Naturally, the White House is more concerned about Ukraine. So is Europe. It is interesting to note that this is one foreign policy issue where the Bush administration and the major countries of Europe are united.

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Boston, Mass.: Mr Morley,

Any news about India and Pakistan in their race to be part of the nuclear age? It seems this is a huge story that never sees the light of day unless one of them shoots off a rocket.

Enjoy the day!

Jefferson Morley: There is no news because both India and Pakistan are known to possess and test nuclear powers.

For India, nuclear weapons are proof of their aspirations to be a recognized global power commensurate with their enormous population.

For much smaller Pakistan, nuclear weapons are a credible threat to deter India's alleged aggressions.

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Washington, D.C.: Regarding the Marine in Romania:

Romania wants Marine for questioning about accident that killed rock star (Stars and Stripes, Dec. 7)

Drudge has been on this for a few days now...

Jefferson Morley: Thanks for this link.

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Jefferson Morley: We are done for today.

Thanks for all the questions.

If you want to get the World Opinion Roundup via email, please send a message to jeff.morley@wpni.com with the word "subscribe" in the subject line.

See you next week.

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