Good morning/evening, here is my
World Roundup for
November 25, 2003
Legend:
fr = French language
it = Italian language
ro = Romanian/Moldovan language
es = Spanish language
de = German language
pt = Portuguese language
is = Icelandic language
su = Suomi language (Finnish)
nl = Dutch language
Everything else in English language
Note: That which you can see on your evening news will not be covered here.
Flag of Colombia
In Colombia, two hostages have been freed by the ELN. One of the individuals, Asier Huegun, was from Spain, and had been a tourist back in September when he was kidnapped. Good article in the Spanish press about it, including the fact Mr. Huegun said he was well-treated (and had been kept at the "Lost City")(es). Official website of the ELN here(es).
The Guardian is reporting that PM Blair and Chirac have been "mending some fences". Apparently this has been their first formal talks since the war began in Iraq. French perspective here(fr).
Good news from India's Assam province as there were no more killings by the ULFA overnight. If you're not familiar with the ULFA and the trouble in Assam province, please see my blog.
The UN is sending an envoy to The Sudan to meet with SPLA leaders as part of negotiated peace talks. For information on the SPLA, click here. Additionally, the SPLA has just announced it will release 28 captives it has held for more than two years, most of whom are children. Is this part of an effort to negotiate in the peace talks? It seems so.
In Iraq, Bulgarian troops came under fire while on patrol in Karbala. Luckily no one was hurt. Approximately 500 Bulgarian troops are on patrol in Karbala under Polish command.
The Free Trade of the Americas, the United States' ambition to combine Latin America into one common market, is apparently excluding Venezuela from the talks. Aside from whether or not the FTAA is a good idea, it seems the US is making a concerted effort to isolate Venezuela (along with Cuba) from the rest of the hemisphere. This is especially odd with America's oil interests in the region. Venezuelan President Chavez isn't crying any tears though, saying "The FTAA is a colonial project that seeks to impose itself over the constitution of every sovereign nation." President Chavez is pushing for a program called "Mercosur" which is a free trade area including Argentina and Brazil. Official Mercosur website here(pt/es).
Meanwhile, in Costa Rica, two men have been found guilty for killing a 23 year old female student from Topeka, Kansas back in 2001. Murders of this kind are very rare and this case has shaken up the entire country. Excellent local article here(es).
Ukrainian President (and dictator) Leonid Kuchma has officially endorsed the Russian plan for the federalization of Moldova. Country background here. Moldovan media is reporting that Russian President Vladimir Putin will be in the country today (Tuesday) and will release a statement after meeting with the Moldovan President Voronin as well as the Trans-Dniestr leader Igor Smirnov.
For anyone interested in a summary of recent events in Republic of Georgia, The Guardian has a nice little wrap-up.
The UN reports that its UNOMIG observer has met with Ms. Burdzhanadze to talk over the transition procedures.
A little society tidbit is that Mr. Saakashvili's wife is a Dutch citizen, and there's a nice little write-up on what could be Georgia's new "First Lady"(nl).
A couple of good articles on the interests of foreign governments/companies in the new government of Georgia here and here. One interesting tidbit I gleaned from these articles is that fabled oil pipeline will be finished in in the middle of 2004. I also was reminded that America's chief envoy to Georgia over the past year has been former Secretary of State James Baker, a Texas oilman (and Bush crony). Essentially, it seems that at first the US was backing Shevardnadze but then they put the muscle on him to resign, as alluded in this State Department briefing.
The only thing that had me puzzled was that petroleum giant BP seemed to be the primary owner of the new pipeline and I wondered where America's angle was. I dug and I dug and I ended up finding this press release from 1998. It seems the cost of building the pipeline was estimated at 12 billion and was awarded to a consortium that included our old friend Bechtel and Amoco. Bechtel has, by the way, already completed the pipeline delivery system in Turkey which will link up to the Azerbaijan-Georgia section. Surprise, surprise...
Well, that's the news for another day.
Peace be with you all