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Thursday November 22nd 2001 |
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Politics this week November 22nd 2001 From The Economist print edition Endgame in Afghanistan?
See article: Distantly, the shape of peace
Twenty-one countries met in Washington to start to plan the economic reconstruction of Afghanistan. The UN said that rebuilding the country would cost more than $25 billion over 10 years. President George Bush, addressing troops in Kentucky, gave warnings that the “most difficult steps” lay ahead: the breaking of al-Qaeda and the capture of Osama bin Laden. The bounty for his capture was raised to $25m.
The safest way to travel
President George Bush signed a long-awaited aviation-security bill. As many as 28,000 of the people who screen air passengers and their baggage will become federal employees. The bill also calls for stronger cockpit doors on aircraft and more armed federal marshals on flights. An elderly woman in Connecticut died from the inhalation form of anthrax. A letter to Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont tested positive for the disease: so did the offices of two more senators.
See article: Curiouser and curiouser
The United States denounced Iraq, North Korea, Iran, Libya, Syria and Sudan for having, or seeking to acquire, biological weapons. The move accompanied proposals by the Bush administration to strengthen the 1972 Biological Weapons Convention.
See article: Where should Mr Bush put his chips now?
Rasmussen beats Rasmussen
Denmark's centre-right Liberals, led by Anders Fogh Rasmussen, won a general election, beating the centre-left Social Democrats, led by Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, the European Union's longest-serving prime minister.
See article: Anders Fogh Rasmussen
The government of Germany's chancellor, Gerhard Schröder, narrowly won a parliamentary vote of confidence tied to his promise to send troops abroad to help in the war against terrorism, but many of his coalition's Greens, who have a party congress this weekend, continue to wobble.
Mr Schröder's chief foreign-policy adviser, Michael Steiner, resigned after losing his temper with a German sergeant who is said to have failed to get him some caviare during a refuelling stopover. An ex-Communist, Georgi Purvanov, was elected president of Bulgaria, against the wishes of the country's prime minister, Simeon Saxe-Coburg, its ex-king.
See article: Up to a point, King Simeon
In Kosovo the more moderate ethnic-Albanian nationalists led by Ibrahim Rugova, who is expected to become the province's president, won a general election. After weeks of hesitation, Macedonia's parliament endorsed constitutional amendments to give the country's ethnic-Albanian minority more rights. Middle East peace effort
Colin Powell, America's secretary of state, heralded a fresh American effort to end Israeli-Palestinian violence. Anthony Zinni, a former commander of American forces in the Middle East, was instructed to help negotiate a ceasefire, and to remain in the region until his mission was accomplished.
See article: When an irresistable Zinni meets an immovable Sharon
Ninety-four suspected Islamic militants went on trial before an Egyptian military court. All were charged with belonging to a secret organisation working against the state; the relatives of some say they were tortured to obtain confessions. Five Gazan children were killed by an unexploded Israeli tank shell on their way to school.
Morgan Tsvangirai, Zimbabwe's opposition leader, was cleared of treason charges, and so will run against Robert Mugabe in next year's presidential election. Mr Mugabe, in his campaign against white farmers, threatened to break up farms larger than 2,000 hectares (4,940 acres). Daniel arap Moi, Kenya's president, strengthened his standing in the country by appointing Uhuru Kenyatta, son of Kenya's first president and independence hero, Joseph Kenyatta, to be a local government minister. Syria released a handful of political prisoners, some detained since the mid-1980s, as part of a presidential amnesty. But human-rights groups estimate that some 1,300 political dissidents are still detained. An official report into a $5 billion arms deal in South Africa found no evidence of widespread corruption, but identified conflicts of interest and murky goings-on.
See article: Gunning for profit
Miss Nigeria became the first black African to win the Miss World beauty contest. Argentina muddles on
More trouble for Argentina's government, as it struggles to persuade investors to accept a restructuring of its debt. Domingo Cavallo, the economy minister, admitted that falling tax revenues meant fiscal targets agreed with the IMF would be missed. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court quashed charges of arms smuggling against Carlos Menem, a former president. A group representing Venezuela's private sector called a one-day “strike” in protest at 49 decree-laws issued by President Hugo Chavez, which include measures to increase royalties on oil production and limit land ownership.
See article: To the barricades
In a historic chink in a trade embargo imposed in 1960, three American firms signed contracts to sell foodstuffs worth about $20m to Cuba. Spiritual support
A group of 35 westerners unfurled a banner in Beijing in support of the Falun Gong, a spiritual movement banned in China. The demonstrators, who came from the United States and Europe, had entered China on tourist visas. All were deported.
China closed 17,500 Internet cafés, claiming that too many people were becoming hooked on computer games and pornographic sites. Another 28,000 Internet cafés are to be closely monitored. The king of Malaysia, Sultan Salahuddin, died aged 75, leaving 14 children from four marriages. His successor will be chosen from one of nine traditional rulers who take it in turns to be king.
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