That's the Way of the World
16 Nov Edition

What's happening outside the confined media borders of the U.S. today (anything that's not Bob Woodward related)? Let's take a spin 'round the globe, starting in Iran. Uh oh...

BBC - Iran 'resumes uranium processing'
Iran has begun to process a new batch of uranium to convert it to a gas that can be enriched into the material for nuclear bombs, diplomats say. "Conversion has resumed," a diplomat close to the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna said.

The move comes despite heavy pressure from the US and Europe for Iran to cease all nuclear activity
[...]
Diplomats told the BBC that IAEA inspectors had witnessed the new round of uranium conversion at Iran's facility in Isfahan.

Another said the move would hamper efforts to restart negotiations between Europe and Iran over its nuclear programme.

"It's not good news, no, not at all. Because people were trying to arrange for new talks and now it's more difficult," said a senior European diplomat quoted by the AFP news agency.

And while this is essentially US news, the CIA's secret prisons and other questionable practices are pissing off the Europeans:

WaPo - Europeans Probe Secret CIA Flights
Several European governments have opened investigations into a fleet of CIA-operated airplanes that have crisscrossed the continent hundreds of times in recent years. The aim is to determine whether U.S. officials secretly used local airports and military bases to transfer terrorism suspects under conditions that violate local and international treaties.

This week, officials in Spain, Sweden, Norway and in the European Parliament said they had either opened formal inquiries or demanded answers from U.S. officials about CIA flights, in response to growing public opposition in Europe to U.S. anti-terrorism tactics.

In other countries, criminal probes have deepened into the alleged kidnapping of terrorism suspects by the CIA. In Italy, prosecutors last week filed a formal extradition request for 22 U.S. citizens alleged to be CIA operatives who are charged with kidnapping a radical Muslim cleric in Milan in 2003 and flying him to his native Egypt, where he said he was tortured.

And here's a bit more from Agence France Press:

AFP - Concern widens in Europe over CIA prisoner flights
In Morocco, Le Journal weekly on Saturday cited a former agent with the national DST intelligence service as saying the country had directly participated in the CIA operation with at least 10 flights carrying prisoners landing in Morocco between December 2002 and February this year.
[...]
In Spain, El Pais cited a report by the civil guard, which has military as well as police functions, as saying the prisoner transport planes made at least 10 secret stopoffs at Palma de Mallorca in the Balearic Islands between January 22, 2004 and January 17, 2005. The Canary Islands might also be concerned by the affair.
[...]
Only the Czech Republic has gone as far as saying it turned down a US demand to house prisoners previously held at Guantanamo on its soil.

In another US-centric story that's being widely discussed and reported on around the globe is the alleged use of white phosphorus (see previous post here), based on an Italian TV documentary. Well, alleged no more:

BBC - US used white phosphorus in Iraq
US troops used white phosphorus as a weapon in last year's offensive in the Iraqi city of Falluja, the US has said.

"It was used as an incendiary weapon against enemy combatants," spokesman Lt Col Barry Venable told the BBC - though not against civilians, he said.

Col Venable denied that white phosphorous constituted a banned chemical weapon.

Jefferson Morley's World Opinion Roundup over at the WaPo has a bit more:

WaPo - Burning Issue of White Phosphorus
In the Persian Gulf, Islam Online says the Pentagon's admission vindicates its battlefield report from Fallujah a year ago that “US occupation troops are gassing resistance fighters and confronting them with internationally-banned chemical weapons."

While 80 countries have signed Protocol III of the 1980 Convention on Conventional Weapons, the United States is not one of them, notes the BBC. The treaty bans signatories from using incendiary weapons against civilian targets.

"But America is a signatory to the Chemical Weapons Convention, which it ratified in 1997, and that agreement forbids the use of any substance to kill or harm either soldiers or civilians if it is being used mostly for its toxicity," says The Times of London.

South of our border, Mexico and Venezuela aren't playing nice with each other:

Reuters - Mexico insists on Venezuelan apology in standoff
Mexico dug in its heels in a diplomatic standoff with Venezuela on Wednesday after both countries recalled their ambassadors during a heated dispute over U.S. regional free trade proposals.

Upset by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez calling Mexico's President Vicente Fox a "lap dog" of U.S. imperialism, the Mexican Foreign Ministry insisted that Caracas apologize.
[...]
Left-winger Chavez's remarks were directed at Fox's support of U.S. plans for a regional free trade pact and came after the Mexican leader criticized him and Argentina's President Nestor Kirchner for their anti-U.S. positions at a regional summit.

"Until now everything has depended on Mexico, they took the initiative to attack President Chavez and President Kirchner and then the decision to move the ambassadors," Venezuelan Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel told reporters.

Chavez also told Fox last weekend, "Don't mess with me, mister, or you'll get stung."

Mess with the bull, boy, and you'll get the horns. North of the border, Canada's holiday week may be dominated by an election:

CBC - Opposition eyeing Christmas campaign
The opposition has set Nov. 28 as the most likely date to bring down the minority Liberal government, forcing an election campaign over the Christmas and New Year's holidays. Prime Minister Paul Martin repeated again on Wednesday that he won't give in to opposition demands he call an election in early January.

If Martin doesn't change his mind, the opposition is vowing to bring down the government at the end of the month. [...] The no-confidence motion would come before the House, but probably not be voted on until the following Monday, Nov. 28. [...] If the no-confidence motion passes, the government will fall and Canadians are into an election campaign.

Sorry. Nothing very happy there. Gotta work on that some more.