Information Related to "World News Review July 1999"
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In Brief... World News Reviewby Peter Eddington, Darris McNeely, Cecil Maranville, David Palmer and John Ross SchroederRomania Confronts Transylvanian Separatism Romanian President Emil Constantinescu has rejected the call for Transylvanian self-government within a federal Romanian state. The devolution argument, while framed in economic terms, has clear ethnic overtones as Transylvania is home to a large population of ethnic Hungarians. The Transylvania question is but one of the ethnic minority issues that continue to plague the new NATO members and aspiring NATO members of Eastern Europe. With NATO seen as effectively sanctioning the devolution, if not independence, of an ethnically Albanian Kosovo from Serbia, keeping these other problems in check will be an increasingly difficult task (STRATFOR's Global Intelligence Update, June 9, 1999). Israel, Ehud Barak and the non-Revolution in Israeli Foreign Policy Outside Israel, from Damascus to Washington, the election of Ehud Barak is being hailed as the rebirth of the peace process. The process will be reborn, but the levels of optimism are unwarranted. The 1999 election had less to do with foreign policy than it did with fundamental domestic issues, particularly whether Israel is a secular or religious nation. Even on domestic issues, the outcome of the election was not particularly clear. However, given Barak's domestic agenda, he may have less room for maneuver than foreigners think. With Clinton urgently in need of a foreign policy triumph in the next 18 months, this points to increased U.S.-Israeli tension once the honeymoon is over (STRATFOR's Global Intelligence Update Weekly Analysis, May 24, 1999). City Folk Worried About Y2K Bug Head for the Hills in Virginia CNN-Dozens of Y2K refugees have moved to Floyd County, a sparsely populated area of the Blue Ridge Mountains that has welcomed social dropouts for generations, including the hippies of the '60s and the New Agers of the '90s. There are at least a dozen small communes where people share the work and earnings. Most of the communes grow their own food and are not connected to the commercial electrical system. There is also an established barter system for obtaining necessities. India Wages War on Polio CNN-India is fighting an ancient war in a desert village, not against an armed enemy, but against the scourge of polio. Cases of polio are reported from almost every district in the country, and an estimated 10 million children have not been immunized, according to the World Health Organization, which has set a goal of eradicating polio in India by 2000. Although the number of new polio cases reported in India has dropped from 4,791 in 1994 to 2,489 in 1997, WHO says a great deal of work remains. Venezuela and Brazil Step up Latin American Integration Efforts Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Brazilian President Henrique Cardoso have agreed on concrete measures that would lead to the establishment of a Latin American free trade zone. Their stated objective is to create an economic bloc that could counterbalance U.S. economic power in the region. Because the grand vision of regional economic integration is practically unattainable, given the current circumstances in Latin America, its only real objective is to serve the domestic political objectives of its populist and nationalist creators (STRATFOR's Global Intelligence Update, May 19, 1999). "It's the Russians, Stupid" President Bill Clinton had a sign taped to his desk at the beginning of his first term in office that read, "It's the Economy, Stupid." He should have taped one on his desk at the beginning of the Kosovo affair that said, "It's the Russians, Stupid." From the beginning to the end of this crisis, it has been the Russians, not the Serbs, who were the real issue facing NATO. It's not about Kosovo. It is not about humanitarianism or making ourselves the kind of people we want to be. It's about the Russians, stupid! And about China and about the global balance of power (STRATFOR's Global Intelligence Update Weekly Analysis, June 14, 1999). The Real Victors in Kosovo GENEVA-Everyone involved in the strange Kosovo conflict is claiming victory-except its chief victims, the Albanians. The muddled accord almost certainly assures continued violence in Kosovo and a legion of future troubles for the Balkans. Many of the one million Albanian refugees are afraid to return to Kosovo, whose borders will remain under Serb military and police control, thus cementing Milosevic's terrorism. Albanians know once NATO loses interest, the Serbs will be back. Milosevic, who keeps power by creating trouble, will now turn his perpetual-motion crisis machine on neighboring Montenegro, unstable Macedonia, Bosnia and Serbia's forgotten Muslim region of Sanjak. He will emerge from the war a hero and inspiration to the growing force of racism among Balkan Slavs and the Greeks. Russia and, to a lesser degree, China are the big winners of this botched war, and at no cost to themselves. NATO and Serbia have achieved merely Pyrrhic victories. They have made a desert, and call it peace. The Kosovar Albanians have lost everything (Eric Margolis, June 13, 1999). Montenegrin Faction Presses for Independence The Montenegrin independence movement has moved into high gear as NATO troops move into Kosovo. With Milosevic licking his wounds and NATO present in the region in force, now appears as good a time as any for Montenegro to secede from the Yugoslav Federation. However, there is a great deal weighing against secession, not the least of which is the impact a Montenegrin civil war would have on NATO efforts to stabilize Kosovo. Therefore, the pro-Western government of President Milo Djukanovic appears willing to postpone an independence bid for the time being. The question is, will Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic force the issue in Montenegro, generating a new crisis in an effort to remain in power? (STRATFOR's Global Intelligence Update, June 17, 1999). Two Million Women Sold as Sex Slaves VIENNA-At least two million women from Eastern Europe have been sold as "white slaves" in the West in recent years, according to unofficial estimates by Interpol. The practice, figures on which were released at a conference on slavery in the Bulgarian city of Varna, shows no sign of abating, with organized crime increasingly dealing in the sale of Eastern European women-often lured with promises of lucrative jobs and modeling contracts-to supply the sex trade in the West. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has warned that young female Kosovo refugees have been forced into the prostitution racket in refugee camps, and have been sent to work as prostitutes in European Union countries (South China Morning Post, 1999, Sonya Yee). Another Doomsday Clock Is Ticking, Ticking GENEVA-U.S. and European intelligence agencies are reporting mounting evidence that Russia and China have massively violated the 1972 Biological and Toxic Weapons Convention, and subsequent international and bilateral agreements to control biowarfare weapons. According to Ken Alibek, a former deputy director of the Soviet-era top-secret biowarfare program who defected to the West, Russia never ended its offensive biological warfare research. Alibek claims Russia has stockpiled many hundreds of tons of anthrax and plague, as well as smaller quantities of smallpox, Ebola and Marburg virus, and toxins designed to attack plants and animals. Russia is also developing a new strain of invisible biowarfare agents, known as bioregulators, that destroy the body's immune or neurological systems (Eric Margolis, June 20, 1999). Anthrax "Time Bomb" Ticking in Aral Sea, Researchers Say CNN-In the 1960s, Vozrozhdeniye was merely a tiny island in the vast Aral Sea. Today, with the sea reduced to half its former size, and a much larger Vozrozhdeniye closing in on the shore, some U.S. researchers believe the island is a toxic time bomb set to infect central Asia with some of the deadliest germs on earth. According to the Monterey Institute of International Studies in California, Vozrozhdeniye was a secret biological weapons test site. Soviet, and later Russian, scientists routinely released deadly agents-including plague, small pox, tularemia and anthrax-into the air over the island for much of the last 50 years, the Institute claims. EU Orders Belgian Poultry Destroyed AP-In its biggest food scandal since mad cow disease, the European Union called June 2 for the destruction of Belgian chickens, eggs and any byproducts that could be laced with cancer-causing dioxin. Belgium's dioxin food poisoning scandal spread further when the government issued a slaughter ban on pigs, fearful that many of them may also have been infected by the same contaminated animal feed. In an earlier food scandal, the EU Commission imposed a worldwide export ban on British beef in 1996. The ban came after the British government acknowledged a possible link between a brain-destroying cattle ailment called bovine spongiform encephalopathy and the equally fatal human illness, Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease. Gradually Going Under Global warming has been blamed for the sinking of two islands in the Pacific Ocean. The islands, Tebua Tarawa and Abanuea, are a part of a large group of atolls strung out over two million square miles of the Pacific. Neither was inhabited. "The sea-level rise is so horrible here the people just don't want to think about it," stated Jorelink Tibonn, general manager of the Marshall Islands' National Environmental Protection Agency. So far only small uninhabited islands have actually sunk into the ocean, but populated chains are threatened in various ways. For instance, the coastline of the Marshalls has eroded into the sea and crops are becoming difficult to grow because the rising waters are poisoning the soil with salt (The Independent on Sunday [Britain], June 13, 1999). Religion Important to Americans A recent consumer marketing survey revealed that 54 percent of Americans say "religion plays an important part in my life." Other Western countries showed much smaller figures: The Netherlands, 25 percent; The United Kingdom, 19 percent; Germany and France, 14 percent (The Los Angeles Times, from AP, June 5, 1999). Update: the War Against Infectious Diseases According to a recent report by the World Health Organization, mankind has foolishly underestimated the potential threat posed by bacteria and viruses to millions. Even with the widespread use of antibiotics, infectious diseases still kill 13 million annually-about half that figure in prosperous countries. Increasing resistance to antibiotics is a major factor. TB drugs are losing some of their effectiveness and those used to combat malaria have lost their cutting edge in Asia and Africa. "The minute we let down our guard, infectious diseases come back," said David Heymann, WHO's Director of Infectious Disease Control. The steady increase in international travel poses a serious threat to future disease control (USA Today, June 18, 1999). Catholic Church Ends Salvation Dispute With Lutherans NEW YORK: (AP/BN)-The Roman Catholic and Lutheran churches have ended a nearly five-century-old dispute over how people achieve salvation. The accord represents "a decisive step forward in the process of reconciliation," said Rev. Ismael Noko, general secretary of the Lutheran World Federation. After 30 years of consultations among theologians, the two sides announced agreement almost a year ago on a Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification, meant to resolve a doctrinal debate at the heart of the 16th century Protestant Reformation that split Western Christianity. But differences remained on the interpretation and wording of the accord, and it took several more months to complete a three-page annex and statement clarifying the churches' position. Marian Congress of Year 2000 An Important Celebration of Jubilee ROME: (ZT)-As part of the celebrations of the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000, Rome will be the host site for the next International Marian Congress which will address the topic, "Mary and the Mystery of the Trinity." The congress will be held from September 15-22, 2000, and will bring together experts in Mariology from all over the world. The Congress is organized by the Pontifical International Marian Academy. The Academy was founded in l946 to coordinate Marian studies worldwide. The Mariology Congresses are held every four years in an effort to promote progress in the scientific and speculative, as well as the historical and critical, study of Mary. England: Census of Homosexual Couples LONDON: (BBC)-For the first time in the history of England, a census of homosexual couples will be made. This marks a radical change in procedure from the census a decade ago. Then, there were no questions of a personal nature. The census form does not specifically ask about sexual orientation, instead asking specifically about cohabitation with a member of the same sex. For the first time since 1851, responders will have to declare their religious preference as well. Undoubtedly, it will be the most detailed census in British history, but many are wondering if it is worthwhile. The Labor government disagrees; it considers the "gay" question very important. The census would help decide how social benefits should be allocated, in areas that up to now were ignored. Dissent in the Ranks of Iraq's Republican Guard On June 2, the London-based newspaper Al-Zaman reported that a fatal clash erupted on May 24 between two Iraqi Republican Guard units in the Suwayrah camp, 60 kilometers south of Baghdad. The clash was quickly quelled, with a number of surviving officers being arrested for questioning. Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has shown considerable skill over the years, fending off as many plots against him from within his country as from outside. However, with an increasing number of apparent threats emerging ever closer to his inner circle, time may be running out for the Iraqi leader. French Clown Rescues 800 Romanian Children From Sewers BUCHAREST: (ZT)-Miloud Oukili, a French clown who has been living in Bucharest, Romania, for the past six years, has rescued over 800 abandoned children from the sewers where they lived. They are children who have left home, abandoned in the streets by parents who cannot support them; victims of the abuse of unscrupulous adults; who need to steal to eat. Currently, some 2,500 children share underground space in Bucharest with rats. Church Panel Backs Gay Ordinations FORT WORTH, TEXAS: (AP)-Gays and lesbians are one step closer to becoming part of the Presbyterian church's leadership. In a 24 to 14 vote, the Church Orders and Ministry committee recommended striking a clause from the church's constitution that forbids the ordination of "self-affirming, practicing homosexuals." The issue now goes to the full 560-member assembly. Approval would require a simple majority. If it passes, it then goes before the ordained Presbyterian ministers and elders nationwide for approval. World Looking Better Prepared for Y2K NEW YORK: (AP)-Six months after the first global conference on the millennium bug, experts from over 170 countries met at the United Nations to assess progress in dealing with Year 2000 problems and preparations for coping with possible computer glitches. "We are meeting as we did last December to work on the last headache of the 20th century and to ensure that it does not become the first crisis of the 21st century," said Pakistan's U.N. Ambassador Ahmad Kamal, who chairs the U.N. working group dealing with Y2K problems. Carlos Braga, director of the World Bank's Y2K program, said it was encouraging that over 100 developing countries had now initiated national programs, compared with less than 10 in January 1998. "In spite of all our efforts it's impossible to guarantee that there will be no disruptions due to the Y2K problem. With less than 200 days remaining until the century date change, this outlook is unlikely to change significantly," Braga said. At a press conference, Y2K coordinators from Europe, Asia, the Americas and Australia provided a glimpse of some of the problems and challenges they face. Mario Tagarinski said the 29 countries in East and Central Europe and Central Asia need independent assessments of their Y2K problems-and help to fix them. One country, Yugoslavia, hasn't even been heard from on the millennium bug issue, he said. At the other end of the spectrum, Venezuela has invested $200 million to ensure oil is delivered on time and the country's Y2K oil expert, Ivan Crespo, said all critical components in the oil industry will be fixed by August. |
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Origin of article "World News Review July 1999"
Keywords: Romania Barak Y2K bug India Venezuela Russia Kosovo Montenegro sex slavery biological weapons global warming ecumenism marianism homosexuality
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