July 5, 2006
while we have been watching the World Cup, Wimbledon, baseball and taking vacations.
If you thought things were getting better while you have been tuning out the news to watch the World Cup soccer matches or your other favorite sport or taking a vacation you would be sadly mistaken.
North Korea’s firing of missiles yesterday is a clear provocation to the world and a United Nations meeting today will most likely do nothing to stop future launches.
The carnage and destruction continue in Iraq as car bombs explode, it seems, on an almost hourly basis. The Iraqi government recently released a list of the top terrorists and people financing the terrorists, however I am not sure what this will do to actually reduce the violence in Iraq.
Fighting is increasing in Afghanistan and we are hearing reports of an increased Taliban presence around the country. No sign of capturing Bin Laden seems imminent-to the contrary-he is still issuing his comments that always seem to be “Breaking News” on our cable channels.
Israel and the Palestinians are engaging one another in skirmishes that could escalate into bigger battles if there is no renewal of peace talks in the near future which seems unlikely.
The United States is not the only country that has close elections that take weeks to determine who will be the next president. Mexico’s recent presidential election is still undecided and a recount could take weeks as many votes are still being contested.
The world trade talks are going nowhere fast. Last week in Geneva the Doha Round “failed to make progress.” The European Union trade commissioner Peter Mandelson stated that “the long overdue global treaty to lower trade barriers was at ‘five minutes to midnight.’”
The major countries including the United States could be doing more to help the trade talks move forward but no one including the EU seems to be giving the trade talks the top priority they deserve. Maybe the Europeans are too caught up in the all European World Cup Finals.
And, there has been no clear response from Iran about their nuclear weapons program to the U.S. and EU countries working on solving this critical issue. Working together on solving the nuclear weapons issue in Iran is being touted as a sign of the U.S. and EU countries working together to solve problems in the world. However, not much of substance has come from this working together as Iran is taking its time responding to the EU-U.S. latest initiative.
The G8 Economic Summit is going to take place in St. Petersburg, Russia, next weekend and that could become a contentious meeting of the world’s leading economic powers.
The United States has been critical of Russia’s road to democracy and several American politicians have even gone so far as to say that President Bush shouldn’t even attend the G8 Summit in Russia. Energy security is going to be the big topic at the meetings and it will be interesting to watch how Bush and Putin do get along when they meet in St. Petersburg.
And, I haven’t even mentioned the weather - which hasn’t been so good either. But the shuttle was successfully launched on its third try on the Fourth of July and the stock market has been going up and the fireworks were, as always, fun to watch last night and the baseball game I went to yesterday had a storybook finish as the Washington Nationals won the game against the Florida Marlins in the bottom of the ninth inning with a home run.
Events across the world will continue to explode when we least expect it so to quote Bob Dylan “keep on keeping on” and enjoy watching the final games of the World Cup, Wimbledon and baseball. |
