Weekly World Wrap
The world this week is a summary of the world's main events provided as a free service each week as email by The Economist.
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Additional commentary by Acerbic.Press
A HOT BATTLE
Eight American soldiers died and 40 were wounded in the fiercest battle of the war in AFGHANISTAN. About 1,000 Americans, together with Afghan forces, came under heavy fire in their search for al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters in mountains near Gardez. In Kabul, three Danish and two German peacekeepers were killed while dismantling a missile.
The assault, and the resulting casualties, stoked back up the war of words involving both those who see Afghanistan as a slippery slope to another Viet Nam, and those who think that our next step ought to be an invasion of Iraq. Concerns were also raised over whether the U.S. has sufficient military forces to commit them everywhere they would be useful. People are again looking eagerly at redeploying troops remaining in Europe.
The death toll in Hindu-Muslim clashes in the western Indian state of GUJARAT rose to more than 600.
If there's anything good about this, it may be that internal conflicts within India will help to continue taking the focus off tensions in Kashmir. India is highly unlikely to have a nuclear war with itself.
CHINA'S National People's Congress was informed that welfare spending would increase by 28% to combat the effects of unemployment caused by the country's membership of the World Trade Organisation.
Massive numbers of workers will indeed be turfed out if the country's large and largely bankrupt state run companies finally are put to a well-deserved death. China already has a significant unemployment problem due to peasants leaving the country and hoping to find something in the growing zones, which this will acerbate in the short term. However, without economic development resulting from redeployment of labor and captial, it's doubtful that China's economic growth rate can ever hope to keep up with its demographic one. The prospect of the world's largest country going through an Argentina-like crisis is frightening.
Senior NORTH KOREAN officials visited the European Union's headquarters in Brussels on a fact-finding mission. They were briefed on the EU's economic, industrial and trade policies. Observers pondered the significance of representatives of the "axis of evil" casting an eye over Europe's efforts at political and economic union.
N.K. knows it's on America's bad list. Best second choice is to build some bridges to the Europeans. If there's going to be a global trade war, better to be in one of the larger camps than out in the cold by yourself. Perhaps they can sell some missles to the E.U.'s vaporware military force.
INDIA'S Supreme Court sentenced Arundhati Roy, a prize-winning novelist, to a day in prison for "lowering the court's dignity". She has been campaigning against huge dam-building schemes in the country.
How can you lower the dignity of a body that will convict you of lowering its dignity?
Tommy Suharto, son of INDONESIA's former dictator, was charged with murder.
Lesson: If you made your money because of political connections that evaporated, move somewhere that hasn't signed an extradition agreement.
VIOLENCE AS USUAL
VIOLENCE of all kinds spiralled in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza claiming the lives of more than 70 Palestinians and over 30 Israelis. Many of the victims, on both sides, were children.
The mantra for both sides right now seems to be that the best way to end violence is to increase it. Who woulda thunk?
Although SYRIA gave its backing to Saudi Arabia's call for all Arab countries to normalise ties with Israel if it returned to its 1967 borders, it clouded the issue by insisting that the plan also guaranteed the right of return of Palestinian refugees.
The Palestinians are already exercising their right to return insults, rocks, bullets and even an occasional whistful request for restraint. What's Syria's holdup?
IRAN'S reformist parliament approved the outline of a bill banning the use of physical and psychological torture to gain information from detainees. The bill still faces many hurdles.
The Iranian clerical court, which rules against essentially any measure that might introduce a scent of liberalism, has been practicing cheers in which they form human pyramids, just to increase the height of the hurdles.
As ZIMBABWE prepared for its presidential election this weekend, the opposition contested in court Robert Mugabe's bid to reintroduce restrictive legislative laws that the Supreme Court had thrown out last week. Commonwealth leaders, meeting in Australia, decided to delay a decision on Zimbabwe's suspension from the organisation until after the election.
Hoping against hope that Mugabe will be defeated, and will leave, so they don't have to actually take any action that might be taken against them some other time.
The stalled peace talks between CONGO'S internal warring factions resumed in the South African resort of Sun City after a compromise was reached on the size of delegations. None of the foreign armies still in Congo is represented at the talks.
Meanwhile, the negotiatiors get to stay around the resort and have some fun. We hope that their meetings around the pool are more civil than the ones occuring between rival forces in the African jungles.
African mediators flew to MADAGASCAR to try to end the stand-off between the incumbent president and the new self-declared one. The country now has two governments and two capitals.
But still only one population to pay taxes.
THE PRICE OF VICTORY
For the first time, prominent Democrats in Congress raised questions about the conduct of the United States' WAR ON TERROR. Republicans attacked them for their lack of patriotism. Meanwhile, to the fury of the Democrats, the new homeland-security chief, Tom Ridge, refused to appear before Congress to explain his $38 billion budget in the next fiscal year. Mr Ridge maintained that he was an adviser to the president rather than a cabinet officer answerable to Congress.
Most people in business complain because they feel that they have accountability without authority. Tom's solved that problem. No statutory responsibility, no statutory authority, still get paid. I feel secure, knowing someone smart enough to pull that off is on the case.
CALIFORNIA'S Republican primary was won by Bill Simon, a conservative newcomer to politics who comfortably beat Richard Riordan, a former mayor of Los Angeles.
Is California getting more conservative, or did they finally figure out they didn't want to claim L.A.?
There was enough evidence to press criminal charges against BILL CLINTON over his lies about his relations with Monica Lewinsky, according to a report by Robert Ray, an independent counsel. But, on his penultimate day in office, Mr Clinton's lawyers cut a deal to spare him from criminal prosecution--with Mr Ray.
It's been a year and a half. There's nothing else we could talk about here?
SWISS JOIN THE WORLD
The SWISS agreed in a referendum to join the United Nations. Doubters worried that Switzerland's famed neutrality might be compromised.
Not as long as being neutral still pays well.
Boris Berezovsky, one of RUSSIA'S richest men, who is in exile because of fraud charges he faces back home, accused the Russian security services of blowing up blocks of flats in Moscow and elsewhere in 1999. He claimed that the bombings were a pretext for the prime minister of the day, Vladimir Putin, now Russia's president, to relaunch an election-winning war against rebel Chechnya.
Sounds like Boris has a promising future writing attack political ads. It doesn't look like he'll ever need the money, but it's nice to know you have a fallback career if the need arises. Is he practicing for the next Russian presidential election?
The MONT BLANC TUNNEL, linking France and Italy, was set to reopen nearly three years after a fire killed 39 people.
French wine flows south, Italian political serial comedy flows north, both countries benefit. Look for an improvement in the E.U. aggregate economy.
KOSOVO'S legislative assembly elected Ibrahim Rugova as president after a deal had been struck between rival ethnic-Albanian parties to share power in the UN-administered province.
A bright spot. Is it possible, occasionally, to successfully build a nation? Even if it's a tiny splinter of what once was a successful nation?
MACEDONIAN POLICE killed seven men accused by the authorities of planning a terrorist attack on the American and other western embassies in the capital, Skopje. Five of the dead were said to come from Pakistan or the Middle East.
Terrorism, like the Hydra, grows two new heads for each one that's cut off. The price of freedom remains, as always, eternal vigilance.
ARGENTINA CUTS BACK
In ARGENTINA, President Eduardo Duhalde won a breathing-space: Congress approved a budget with cuts of 14% over last year's spending and provincial governors agreed on a temporary cut in revenue transfers. But the measures seemed unlikely to impress an IMF mission that arrived in Buenos Aires to start talks on a new loan agreement.
Last year's budget was the final straw that got them into this mess to begin with. A 14% cut may, barely, get them to a point where they can work their way out of it. But they don't have what one would call a good track record on implementing reforms they know they need. We'll see.
Roberto Madrazo, a former state governor of flexible views, was proclaimed the winner of an election for the presidency of MEXICO'S Institutional Revolutionary Party, the largest opposition party. The election was marked by claims of fraud.
Vicente Fox won an historic victory in elevating to the presidency a party other than the PRI. However, he's not worked any miracles since then, and one of the biggest things he might have delivered, an American amnesty for illegal aliens from Mexico and Central America, is probably DOA since 9/11. Will there be a letdown backlash that brings the PRI back to power, much as some of the former communist parties in Eastern Europe are returning (albeit in new socialist clothing)? Probably, but the PRI won't be quite the same after being in opposition, and that's progress, if not nirvana.
In COLOMBIA, a senator was murdered days before a congressional election. Police blamed her killing on the FARC guerrillas. Meanwhile, the American State Department reported that Colombia's human-rights record remained "poor" and that the army officers continued to collaborate with right-wing paramilitaries.
Best way to solve Colombia's problems? Legalize and regulate the drug traffic. Kill the profit margins. Chances? Zero.
STEELY IN MARCH
The United States whacked tariffs of up to 30% for three years on most STEEL IMPORTS from many of the world's biggest producers, who greeted the move with outrage. America was accused of setting back the cause of free trade; the EU promised an immediate complaint to the WTO; and commentators predicted a trade war. America insisted that its action
was warranted and necessary.
Trade war beckons? My doomsday scenario: tit-for-tat tariffs, global economic depression, demogogic and charismatic nationalistic leaders, world war. Wait, we did that already.
AMERICA'S STOCKMARKETS perked up after recent signs of economic
recovery. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose several percentage points to hit its highest level for some months before slipping back. The tech-heavy Nasdaq also made useful gains.
The economy is recovering. The stock market is getting ahead of itself. Roll your dice and pick. Best defense: diversify, and keep your job skills current. There's rarely a shortage of need for competence.
AMERICA'S CAR MAKERS saw sales slip by 3.5% in February compared with a year ago. However, expectations were exceeded, partly because the economy is picking up and certainly because of a 0% finance deal. General Motors was happiest; sales improved a modest 0.4% while Ford and DaimlerChrysler both saw drops of 11%.
Be patriotic, buy an SUV. Expect to pay a few bucks more, tho. Steel prices are on the rise.
On the surface, things look bad for FORMICA. The plastic-laminate company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection to allow time to wipe clean its debt problems. It is unlikely to repeat its success of yesteryear when plastic-clad interiors were considered the height of good taste.
They should look overseas. There's a huge market for new construction in Afghanistan.
Divorced mother of four Suzy Wetlaufer, 42, was urged by colleagues to resign from the editorship of the highly-regarded HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW after it emerged that an interview she had conducted with "Neutron" Jack Welch, 66, had become overly in-depth, leading to a romantic entanglement. The article did not appear in print; Miss Wetlaufer admitted that she had got "too close" to her subject.
So what's the HBR's problem here? Are they worried about her ability to guarantee objectivity, or do they just not like Jack?
CALLED TO ACCOUNT
Stung by the Enron scandal, President George Bush drew up a
far-reaching plan to extend REGULATION OF THE ACCOUNTING INDUSTRY and toughen up the penalties for wrongdoing. Among the proposals: CEOs will have to swear by their financial statements each quarter.
Immediately elevating them to the moral level of politicians making campaign promises.
ANDERSEN'S tribulations showed no sign of abating. The deeply wounded accountants agreed to pay $217m to settle litigation resulting from an audit of Baptist Foundation of Arizona, a non-profit investment fund that collapsed in 1999; it operated like a pyramid scheme under Andersen's nose. Andersen admitted no culpability.
Accenture, formerly Andersen Consulting, partners must be thanking the fates each night that Andersen insisted in legal agreement over their split that Accenture stop using the Andersen name.
FREDDIE MAC, America's mortgage-guarantee agency, gave Andersen the chop as its auditor. MERCK praised Andersen for its "excellent auditing services"; unfortunately in an announcement that the drug giant would also dismiss the troubled bean counter.
That Merck praise will look really good on Andersen's resume as it goes hunting for new work.
A war of words between CELERA GENOMICS and the publicly funded HUMAN GENOME PROJECT continued. A research paper by HGP came close to accusing Celera of cheating on the assembly of its version of the human genome, published a year ago. Celera mounted a vigorous denial, pointing out numerous errors in the paper.
Next up to the Supreme Court: who owns the essence of being human? Following that: how can they collect from those of us who are benefiting from that information without paying license fees?
