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TOTAL/Burma/Iran/Ceo/NLD meeting



dawn star wrote:
> 
> dawn star wrote:
> >
> > Le Monde, Tuesday, Sept 30. P. 19, full page, from front page > > >lead "La companie franciase Total emporte un ocntrat gazier en Iran".  

> > + Interview with Ceo Theirry Demarest 'Nous avons le soutien du
> > gouvernement et des Europeens'
> >
> > The Le Monde reporter, Dominique Gallois cites Burma in question to > >  T Desmarest - recently returned from the US where he met with > > >american shareholders -- who skips over it, and Le Monde has > >no follow-up:
> >
> > translation EuroBurmanet
> > excerpt
> >
> > Le Monde: Are you ready to take the risk of a boycott of your company or
> > risk sanctions of Total operations in the United States?
> >
> > Thierry Desmarest: In the United States, we recently created Topna, our
> > distribution subsidiary, with another american company, Ultramar Diamond
> > Shamrock, and we do hold only 8 % in all.
> >
> > I do not see that they (the americans) will attack Ultramar. The deal
> > was done last Thursday, just at the same time of the Iran deal signing.
> > It is only a coincidence, but no one will probably believe it. Regarding
> > the chemical sector, we have modest interests in the United States. The
> > D'Amato law makes allowances that the company subsidiaries not concerned
> > by the Iranian operations are not subject to sanctions.
> >
> > Le Monde: After criticism of your investment in Burma, do you not think
> > that the Iran agreement will tarnish Total's image? Will you not now be
> > suspected of financing terrorism?
> >
> > TD: These stories about financing terrorism are absurd. Iran produces
> > 3.6 million barrels of oil a day. To say that the oil production that
> > will come from this new field in four years will permit Iran to finance
> > terrorist actions, when the country benefits from important profits from
> > current production, does not have any sense.
> >
> > ed. Dawn Star
> 
> On the same day, Tuesday edition Le Monde, a small inside column
> paragraph on the NLD meeting last Saturday -virtally buried by the
> French media, and of course, showing no connection to the TOTAL media
> wave. We might call this deliberate de-connection. ds
> 
> "Burma opposition authorized to hold congress" (transl. Dawn Star)
> 
> RANGOON. For the first time since its foundation in 1990, the National
> League for Democracy (NLD) was authorised to hold a Congress, Satuday,
> September 27 and Sunday September, in Rangoon, at the home of Aung San
> Suu Kyi, secretary general and leader of the movement. Around seven
> hundred delegates too advantage of the meeting to call for a
> "significant dialogue" with the junta as the "only way" to "resolve the
> problems of the nation". Previous NLD meetings at the home of the 1991
> Nobel Peace Prize laureate were hindered by (government sic.) security
> forces. This time, the junta let it be known that the meeting could take
> place on the condition that it occurred "in a peaceful manner and in
> public order". (Corresp.)


On Wednesday, Le Monde continues the Iran/TOTAL story, leading from
front page to full page, P. 2 story: 'TOTAL contract is an embarrasing
defeat for Washington"

By the tone of the stories, remarks by French Prime Minister Jospin, and
strong French xenophonia against 'American hegemony', the French are
using the TOTAL company and its drive for oil and gas resources as to
spearhead French corporate independence in world affairs, and trying to
save face in a post Cold War world when they only recently admitted that
US is the worlds only superpower. Meanwhile French president Chirac is
in Moscow, TOTAL's Iran oil and gas partner, hamming it up to kick
americans out of post-war Europe and get back to a Russo-Euro  order
security alliance pact. Europeans and the French are thumbing their
noses at American trade, and prepare to defy US counter-measures...

In Liberation, Wednesday, Oct 1, full page on 'TOTAL in Iran' with small
fleeting reference to Burma: 'Total is already at the heart of a
controversy over its investment in Burma, a military dictatorship.' 

At the end of trading on the Paris Stock Market, Total shares were up
 .74 %, trading at 679 FF.


http://www-uvi.eunet.fr/asia/euro-burma/total/
Worldwide TOTAL Boycott

http://www.total.com