AUSTRIAN MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS: August 2, 2007

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SUBJECT: AUSTRIAN MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS: August 2, 2007


No Limits for Flttl


1. Even though he had lost the BAWAG bank 639 million dollars in
October 1998, the bank's managing board gave Wolfgang Flttl another
330,000 million dollars to continue his speculations. On the 11th
day of the BAWAG trial, the former Secretary General of the bank,
Peter Nakowitz, confirmed that Wolfgang Flttl had practical carte
blanche to proceed as he liked with BAWAG money. It was also
established that the BAWAG managing board had been informed about
the enormous losses and had made the decision to risk more money in
an attempt to cover up the situation.
In order to compensate for the losses so far, Flttl was held liable
with his private fortune - however that was greatly overestimated at
the time, writes mass circulation daily "Kurier.". The money he got
from BAWAG for further speculations were invested in yen deals of
the kind that had just gone awry. Judge Bandion-Ortner showed
herself amazed that the managing board had consented to such a
procedure: "After all, that was your bank's money?" As it was, of
the former managers, only Christian B|ttner voted against the deal.
Flttl has assured the court that part of the money could still have
been saved in October 1998, when he summoned Elsner to New York to
inform him about the recent losses. According to Elsner, that is
untrue - he claims to have visited Flttl privately, even using the
latter's private plane, but not to discuss business. "Kurier" has
commented the situation with reference to a 'credibility problem" of
the culprits.

Europe's Stock Exchanges Plummet



2. On Wednesday, Europe's stock exchanges incurred severe losses of
between 1.44 and 2 percent as a consequence of the real estate
crisis in the US. Experts believe that fears of the possible effects
of the mortgage crisis flared up and caused the tense situation at
the stock exchanges.
In connection with the recent stock exchange low, the initial public
offering of the Austrian Meinl International Power (MIP) also
flopped - however, part of the reason for that could also be the
lack of concrete business activity of the MIP. The news from the US
real estate market continues to be bad: A large supplier of
mortgage loans, Home Mortgage Investment, is in turbulences and its
survival is uncertain, writes independent daily "Der Standard." For
the time being, this is the culmination of the crisis, which has
brought 50 financers in trouble, mostly companies that gave loans to
customers with little creditworthiness. However, that was not the
case with American Home, which addressed customers with high
creditworthiness - which "increases the concern on the mortgage
market," as the daily quotes a Baring Asset Management official.

All Clear for Travelers to the US


3. In contrast to recent fears, travelers to the US will not have
problems with booking flights on account of the new regulations
regarding the transfer of passenger data from EU countries to the
US. As before, passengers only have to give their names, addresses
and their places of departure and arrival when booking a flight. The
rest of the data, which are transferred to US authorities, are the
by-product of special requests of passengers, for instance if they
want a particular seat in the plane or book a car upon arrival.
These data are transferred to the US via a so-called "push system" -
meaning that the airlines are responsible for the transfer, rather
than have the US authorities obtain the data themselves by accessing
a booking code, as they have been able to do since 2004. Travelers
to the US still have to have their photos taken and submit to the
fingerprinting process. Austrian Airlines will not submit sensitive
data such as credit card numbers or email addresses. In a statement
of the US Embassy it is expressly confirmed that the travelers do
not have to give personal data, such as reveal their political
convictions. [Der Standard, p. 6; Kurier, p. 10]

Biggest UN Mission of All Times


4. The UN Security Council unanimously decided to send peacekeepers
to the western Sudanese crisis province of Darfur. The mission will
be conducted by 26,000 troops, of which 19,500 are soldiers and the
rest police forces. It is a so-called hybrid contingent, consisting
of soldiers from the African Union (AU) and the UN.
However, a lot of time could still pass before the new UNAMID
(United Nations African Union mission in Darfur) mission is fully
established, warns centrist daily "Die Presse." The stationing of
such a large military force in a region the size of France is a
logistic challenge. The UN members have a month to offer their
participation. A large share of the burden falls on African states,
but there are also offers from Europe already. Norway and Sweden
have announced their intention to send pioneers; France and Denmark
have indicated their readiness to send troops, France being one of
the authors of the recent resolution. Austria has so far just said
that it will "look into" the possibility of Austrian participation
in the UN mission. Upon enquiry at the Foreign Ministry, "Die
Presse" got no clear answer as to when a decision might be made.
Foreign editor for centrist daily "Die Presse" Christian Ultsch is
decidedly pessimistic as to a future Austrian participation:
"Meanwhile, neutral Austria will once again take its seat among the
spectator ranks - unless the government freaks out, but that would
be unusual indeed."

Bush Prevents Testimony of Rove


5. The tug of war between US President George W. Bush and Congress
in the affair surrounding the dismissal of federal attorneys is
continuing. Citing executive privilege, Bush has now prevented his
"former" (sic) top advisor Karl Rove and White House top official
Scott Jennings from having to testify under oath before the Senate.
The Senate testimony was supposed to clear up the dismissal of eight
federal attorneys, which the Democrats suspect were fired because of
their political beliefs. [ORF online]

Chaos with US Weapons in Iraq


6. The US military cannot fully account for the whereabouts of about
190,000 weapons that were delivered to Iraqi security forces between
June 2004 and September 2005. Also, US Vice President Dick Cheney,
in an interview with talk master Larry King, admitted that his
former assessment of the situation in Iraq had been wrong. Two years
ago, Cheney had said that the insurgency in Iraq was almost
finished.
However, the Vice-President still defended the US intervention in
Afghanistan and Iraq, saying that he was "confident" that the new
strategy of increasing troop size would contribute to the stability
of Iraq, writes independent daily "Salzburger Nachrichten."

Sunnis Leave Iraqi Government


7. The government of national unity in Iraq is about to fall apart.
The Arab Sunnis accuse Shiite Prime Minister Maliki of not
representing their interests. After the withdrawal of six Sunni
cabinet ministers, 12 Iraqi government posts have become vacant.
According to independent daily "Der Standard," the Sunnis have
decided to leave the government after the Iraqi Prime Minister
failed to fulfill the 12 conditions that they had stipulated for
remaining part of the coalition. The most important points referred
to the liberation of Sunni prisoners and the dissolution of militia.
Generally, the Sunnis charged Maliki with pursuing a "religious"
policy that favors the Shiites. Kurdish Vice Prime Minister Barham
Salih has identified the present situation as the "biggest political
crisis of Iraq since the constitution was passed." However, "Der
Standard" analyzes that in practical terms, not much will change for
the population of Iraq, since the government has been more or less
paralyzed for a long time already.
Kilner