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April 29, 2001

Police Battle Rioters at Summit of the Americas
President Bush and leaders of 33 other Western Hemisphere nations wrapped up a three-day summit in Quebec, Canada, on April 22 while police battled protesters nearby. While the 34 western leaders met to discuss the establishment of a western hemisphere free trade zone, demonstrators tore down security fences and threw rocks and bottles at police, who responded by throwing tear gas canisters. The demonstrations occurred just blocks from the convention center where the 34 presidents, prime ministers, and dictators held their three-day meeting. During the three-day Summit of the Americas, Canadian police arrested more than 400 activists who oppose the proposed free trade zone, saying it would enrich corporations at the expense of the poor. The trade zone would stretch from Canada to the tip of South America. Proponents hope it will open by the year 2005.

UN Human Rights Panel Fails to Condemn China and Cuba
The United Nations Human Rights Commission completed six weeks of work on April 27 with a mixed record of success in dealing with the world's worst human rights situations. The commission's final two weeks were dominated by its most high-profile events -- the country resolutions in which nations with poor rights records are singled out for evaluation. The commission passed strong resolutions criticizing abuses in Chechnya, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Iran. But it chose not to condemn Cuba's human rights practices, supporting a weaker resolution instead, and sided with a Chinese initiative blocking any discussion of Beijing's record. The Human Rights Commission this year was loaded with countries noted for human rights abuses. Perennial commission members China and Cuba -- often accused of rights violations -- were joined by other countries with poor records such as Syria, Libya, Algeria, and Vietnam.

Koizumi Becomes Japan’s Latest Prime Minister
Reformist Junichiro Koizumi became Japan's new prime minister on April 26 after a parliamentary vote. He was sworn in by the emperor later in the day. After Koizumi won the presidency of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party earlier in the week, the vote choosing him as prime minister was a mere formality because of his party's superior numbers in Parliament. Koizumi, a well-known but relatively untested legislator, swept to power on a platform of change. He has pledged to pull Japan out of a severe economic slump, privatize the country's vast postal network, and install younger people to top government jobs. The country's 11th prime minister in just 13 years, he is replacing Yoshiro Mori, who was pressured into resigning after numerous embarrassing gaffes caused his popularity to plummet.

Japan to Shut Down Incinerator Poisoning American Military Base
The Japanese government on April 20 agreed to pay $50 million to shut down an incinerator that has sent toxic chemicals onto a U.S. Navy base for a decade. The cabinet approved the payment to the incinerator's private owner, a man with links to organized crime who had long defied pressures from the world's two most economically powerful countries to end pollution from his plant. The trash incinerator routinely has sent smoke with alarming levels of cancer-causing dioxin onto the Atsugi Naval Air Facility, 25 miles southwest of Tokyo. The base is home to the air wing of the Kitty Hawk aircraft carrier and houses nearly 7,000 U.S. Navy personnel and their dependents. The settlement was reached at a time when relations between the United States and Japan have been buffeted by the fatal collision of a U.S. submarine with a Japanese fishing boat.

Germany Says Iraq Developing New Chemical Weapons
August Hanning, the director of the German intelligence service BND, told Hamburg's "Welt am Sonntag" on 22 April that Iraq is developing a new class of chemical weapons. He said that several German companies have delivered to Baghdad components needed for the production of poison gas. And he warned that Iraq is now working on missiles that could reach as far as Germany in the future. He said: "We must assume that these weapons will be ready for use by 2015 at the latest." Hanning said that Germany has handed over its data to the United Nations.

Peru Shoots Down Missionary Plane, Killing 2
A Peruvian air force jet shot down a private plane carrying American missionaries, killing a woman and her baby daughter. The air force pilot apparently thought the private plane was smuggling drugs. The U.S. embassy in Lima confirms that the single-engine Cessna airplane owned by the U.S.-based Association of Baptists for World Evangelism was shot down April 19 as it flew over Peru's Amazon jungle. The Association of Baptists for World Evangelism identified those killed as Veronica Bowers and her 7-month old baby. The pilot was shot in the leg, but managed to land the aircraft on the Amazon River, about 120 kilometers east of Iquitos. Mrs. Bowers' husband and young son survived the crash. The government of Peru has admitted it wrongly identified the missionary plane. The incident prompted Washington to suspend programs in both Peru and Colombia in which the United States assists in tracking down drug smugglers.

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Turbo-Capitalism
Winners & Losers in the Global Economy
Edward Luttwak
In this incisive critical analysis of today's free market capitalism, Edward Luttwak shows how it is vastly different from the controlled capitalism that flourished so successfully from 1945 to the 1980s.