Good morning/evening, here is my
World Roundup for
November 13, 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.
ITALY'S FALLEN HEROES
Obviously yesterday's tragic bombing of the Italian compound is on everyone's mind. PM Berlusconi is calling this Italy's Ground Zero. Detailed analysis of the event here(ro), here(fr) and here(de).
No Romanians died in the truck bomb in Nasariyah but one was severely injured in the fatal explosion in Riyadh that killed 17 and
injured 122(ro). Mihaela Zahr, married to a Lebanese, with their 3 year old son Adam, were inside the compound at the time of the explosion.
The British daily Guardian has an analysis of the Iraqi Governing Council. I'll post a story soon about an analysis of the Iraqi political players later today or tomorrow.
Bulgarian News is reporting that US forces retaliated for the Nasiriyah bombing by bombing an empty warehouse. This reminds me of when German Nazi forces took the Ukraine and hanged hundreds of people to try to stop guerilla attacks. Both responses were futile. The populace won't rest until occupation is over, and bombing warehouses just shows how frustrated the US has become.
It seems as though the French are making a gambit for Iraq. Foreign Minister Villepin stated that France will kick in major aid on one condition - sovereignty be restored.
"How many deaths must we count before we realize we must change approach?" he asked, emphasizing France's position that a handover of sovereignty to the Iraqis would help lessen the tensions in thecountry.
A few weeks ago, France, Germany and Russia decided not to send soldiers to Iraq. Now France is putting the heat on the US to get out of the business of running Iraq's government.
Ok, now for some other news:
China just executed a former government official for taking bribes. How much did he take? $985,000. I know right now Kenneth Lay is glad he doesn't live in China.
In the African country of Zambia, doctors, nurses and other medical personnel are on strike. The government earlier had some rumblings about arresting anyone who participated but so far the strike is ongoing.
Presidential elections are to be held this week in Serbia. The front runner, Dragoljub Micunovic, is a 73 year old lifelong politician. Consider this Serbia's "safe vote" as the average citizen is tired of UN/UE/US
criticism and contempt and Mr. Micunovic is non-controversial. Voter turnout is expected to be extremely low.
In Armenia, a Russian Air Force Mig-29 crashed. The pilot's body and plane were just located high up in the mountains.
The poorest country in South America, Bolivia, will host the 13th Latin American-Iberian Summit with Portugal, Spain and all the Spanish/Portuguese speaking countries of Latin America participating. Since the US isn't particapating, you won't see much coverage of this summit, but a significant portion of the world's population speaks these two languages and this is a major event.
Peace in Algeria? The country has suffered years of brutal internal crackdowns, but the leader of the banned Islamic Salvation Front is floating a peace offer with the government.
Update on the elections in the Republic of Georgia. The leader of the opposition says protestors should keep up their vigil. My analysis is that Shevardnadze and his bloc will soon be declared the winner. Russian troops in Abkhazia look to keep things fairly well settled. It's too soon to call, but I think Georgia just passed a hurdle.
Finally, for those keeping track of the Polisario
Front in the country of Western Sahara, a detailed history and analysis of the situation(es).
Lest we forget
Please don't forget to check out my blog.
Peace