Global Notebook

Expansion Brings Uncertain Future
ATHENS — April 16 may turn out to be a historic date for Europe, the day leaders of the European Union (EU) and 10 candidate countries signed documents in Athens sealing the biggest enlargement in EU history. But will it be celebrated or mourned? Will size turn out to matter? In short, will the newcomers — mostly Eastern European countries — help unite the continent or tear it apart?

The candidates include Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Malta, countries Washington has recently taken to calling the "new Europe." Letting them in could alter the political order. Many candidate countries, eager to protect national values, will inevitably defy Franco-German leadership. Poland is already expanding its influence. read more

Bush Wargame Reaches the Americas
IQUITOS — Jungle Expeditionary Forces have their deployment orders, and US Marine battalions have begun rotating in and out of south Colombia. Their mission: to eliminate officers of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and scatter the enemy to the remote corners of the Amazon. But the offensive also means that the US is fighting wars on three fronts: Afghanistan, Iraq, and Colombia.

Officially, the operation is led by the local military, assigned to push the FARC — under intensive US surveillance for years — south toward the waiting Marines. A similar operation was called off at the last minute two years ago. read more

Attitudes Shift on Crime and Punishment 
WASHINGTON, DC — US sentiments toward crime are slowly changing. Two out of three people now say they want to deal with the causes rather than simply locking up offenders, according to a poll by the Open Society Institute (OSI). They also think those convicted of nonviolent crimes can be rehabilitated.

Seventy percent believe the drug war has failed, and two-thirds view drug use as a medical problem. This contrasts sharply with a recent study by the Administrative Office of the US Courts, which says drug defendants still make up the largest category facing criminal trials in federal courts. From Oct. 2000 to Sept. 2001, nearly 31,500 defendants were involved in drug cases, 38 percent of the total. read more

Burmese Junta Stalls on Reform
BANGKOK — When 30 Nobel Peace Prize laureates gathered in Norway last December to mark the 100th anniversary of the Prize, there was one notable absentee: Aung San Suu Kyi, leader of the pro-democracy movement in Burma (known as Myanmar). By the time her Peace Prize was announced in 1991, she was already under house arrest. Ten years on, the situation hasn’t charged. 

The laureates appealed to the junta to free her and more than 1500 political prisoners, including 19 members of parliament. "In moral stature, she is a giant," South Africa’s Bishop Desmond Tutu said of the diminutive activist. read more

Burmese Junta Stalls on Reform
BANGKOK — When 30 Nobel Peace Prize laureates gathered in Norway last December to mark the 100th anniversary of the Prize, there was one notable absentee: Aung San Suu Kyi, leader of the pro-democracy movement in Burma (known as Myanmar). By the time her Peace Prize was announced in 1991, she was already under house arrest. Ten years on, the situation hasn’t charged. 

The laureates appealed to the junta to free her and more than 1500 political prisoners, including 19 members of parliament. "In moral stature, she is a giant," South Africa’s Bishop Desmond Tutu said of the diminutive activist. read more

Non-Aligned Movement Loses Summit Site
DHAKA — The next meeting of the 46-year-old Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) was supposed to be held in Dhaka, Bangladesh, in 2002. But a victory by the Bangladesh National Party (BNP) in recent elections derailed that plan. At its first cabinet meeting in October, the new government withdrew the offer to host, citing the troubled international situation and its own financial problems.

Dhaka’s about-face came after three South Asian nations — Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan — offered the US facilities to launch military strikes against Afghanistan. Yet, observers say the reasons for the pullout are mainly financial and ideological: An enormous amount was to be spent on what the new administration and others call a dead movement. read more