In the World Where You Live
05 Dec 2005 Edition

Today's spin 'round the globe starts on a torturous point: Secretary of State Rice's visit to Europe and her attempts to quell the growing cries from European allies of our use of their airspace and airports to allegedly transport prisoners in the war on terror to "black prisons" (which might be using torture to get information out of these prisoners). First off, Rice furiously attempted to turn the tables on the discussion to put some heat on the European leaders she'll be meeting with (I wonder if any news organization would go with a headline of "Steamed Rice"?):

WaPo - Rice Defends Handling of Terror Suspects
In a carefully crafted and lengthy statement delivered at Andrews Air Force base at 7:15 a.m. Monday, shortly before boarding her plane for a week-long swing through Europe, Rice provided the administration's most comprehensive effort to explain its policy on the handling of terrorism suspects across international borders. U.S. officials hope it will ease concerns raised in European capitals after The Washington Post reported Nov. 2 about a clandestine prison system in Eastern Europe and other countries.

Rice did not confirm or deny the existence of the prisons, saying "we cannot discuss information that would compromise the success of intelligence, law enforcement and military operations." But she implied that European governments were aware of U.S. intelligence operations in Europe, including assisting in a practice known as "rendition," in which terror suspects are whisked away from countries without formal extradition proceedings.

Here's a sample of what Rice will face when she meets with German Chancellor Merkel, who is more politically aligned with the BushCo administration than was the Schroeder administration:

Expatica - Merkel to question Rice on secret CIA 'rendition' flights
German Chancellor Angela Merkel will question U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice over allegations the CIA used airports in Germany for secret flights transporting terror suspects, officials said Monday.

German officials confirmed media reports they had received a list of 437 flights through Germany by CIA planes in recent years and vowed to press Rice for details at her meetings Tuesday in Berlin with Merkel and Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

"The list was compiled and given to the German government," Jens Ploetner, a foreign ministry spokesman. Der Spiegel said the list was compiled by the national air traffic control service.

The magazine said there were no indications on whether prisoners were aboard any of the flights at all.

Over at the WaPo, Jefferson Moreley has more chatter from Europe:

WaPo - World Opinion Roundup
The European public response is not likely to be receptive, say commentators from Lisbon to Prague. (These excerpts come from translations done by the Foreign Broadcast Information Service, an office of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency.)

The secret prisons are "... the opposite of what we are used to seeing and admiring in the U.S. example," wrote columnist Amilcar Correira in the Portuguese daily Publico.

"With the measures to combat terrorism, the aim is to neutralize possible terrorists and to prevent new attacks. In all wars there is transgression and torture, namely in the countries which today criticize Bush's acts. But the moral legitimacy of someone who speaks about democracy in the morning and tortures in the afternoon collapses."

"The European Union cannot put up with the existence of secret prisons in Europe . . . or the use by the USA's secret services of military bases or civilian airports for the transport of prisoners," he concludes.

Hospodarske Noviny, an influential daily in Prague, said "Bush now faces the risk that the relations with European allies, damaged by the dispute prior to the Iraqi campaign, will be further harmed by the debate on secret CIA prisons, where people suspected of connection with international terrorism may be detained and very cruelly interrogated."

The Melbourne Age notes a human rights report that puts focus onto why this is such an important issue:

Melbourne Age - Rice faces grilling over CIA flights
A report for an all-party committee of British MPs by New York University's Centre for Human Rights and Global Justice concluded: "A state which aids or assists another state in the commission of an internationally wrongful act by the latter is internationally responsible for doing so. Accomplice liability has been recognised in international criminal law since at least the Nuremberg trials."
Even giving permission for flights to refuel while en route to the Middle East to collect a prisoner would constitute a breach of the law, the report says.

Hmmm... Rice and grilling. Still no steaming. Anyhoo and finally, here's the leader (main editorial) at the Guardian:

Guardian - Extraordinary and unacceptable
Broadly speaking, the message from the secretary of state as she embarked on her trip to Berlin, Brussels and points east yesterday was a blunt "trust and cooperate" on the basis that we are all in the same boat in the "war on terror". The sovereignty of US allies is respected, Dr Rice insisted, adding that if they were failing to inform their own citizens that was a matter for them. If that clever hint is true there may be much embarrassment.
[...]
Dr Rice did not deny that rendition was taking place, only that the US does not knowingly send people to be tortured. So why are "enemy combatants" sent to countries like Egypt, Libya and Syria, with such bad records in this area? Rendition is damaging in other ways: innocent people have been detained and witnesses been unavailable for trials because the US will not admit it is holding them. Fighting terrorism isn't easy. But legality and morality have to go hand in hand. How can democracies upbraid China, Syria, Iran or Zimbabwe if "our" unacceptable human rights abuses are unchecked. Dr Rice should address these concerns and speak the truth. So must our own government.

So, is there anything else happening besides torture and rendition? Loads:

WaPo - Quake Buries Children in Rubble in Congo
A powerful earthquake Monday toppled dozens of homes and buried children in rubble in eastern Congo, killing at least two people in a region already beset by chronic violence and grinding poverty.

The quake, with a preliminary magnitude of 6.8, struck at 2:20 p.m. (7:20 a.m. EST) and was centered beneath Lake Tanganyika on the Congo-Tanzania border, about 600 miles southwest of Nairobi, Kenya, the U.S. Geological Survey said on its Web site.

WaPo - Suicide Bombing Kills at Least Five in Israel

The attack in the coastal city of Netanya killed at least five Israelis as well as the bomber, who was identified as Lutfi Amin Abu Saadeh, 21, a factory worker from the West Bank village of Kfar Rai. More than 30 people were wounded in the suicide attack, the first in Israel since late October and the second attack at the Netanya Hasharon Mall this year.

The huge blast was set off at about 11:30 a.m. local time and left bodies scattered outside the mall, at the eastern entrance to the city, about 10 miles from the West Bank. Its glass-and-marble faade was shattered in places, and was stained with swirls of blood as far as 60 feet from the site of the explosion. Body parts were found as far as 300 feet away.

CSM - Iran stays course on nukes
Iran says it is ready for "constructive and serious" talks over its controversial nuclear program, but Monday spelled out a bedrock position on enriching uranium that European negotiators deem "unacceptable."

Ali Larijani, Iran's top national security official, described a "win-win game" in which Iran would carry out the entire nuclear fuel cycle on Iranian soil, while providing Europe guarantees that nuclear material that results will not be diverted for weapons use.
[...]
But just as Iran draws its red line, Europeans are sticking to theirs, insisting that no enrichment can take place in Iran. France's foreign minister, Philippe Douste-Blazy, expressed dismay at Iran's stance Monday, saying that its insistence on enriching uranium was a "unilateral" rejection of a Russian proposal to resolve the standoff.

The Europeans and the US will support action against Iran by the UN Security Council unless there is compromise over what they see as a proliferation risk. But on Saturday, Iran approved a bill that would halt international inspections of its atomic facilities if Iran were taken before the Security Council.

AFP - Chavez party sweeps Venezuela election
President Hugo Chavez' ruling party and his allies said they had swept all 167 seats in Venezuela's legislative election giving the outspoken left-wing leader added power over the oil-rich nation.

The five main opposition parties boycotted Sunday's election and barely 25 percent of the 14 million voters took part, election officials said.

But if confirmed, the results would give Chavez the power he needs to change the constitution so that the former paratroop colonel can stand for a new term in office.

And finally, sad news indeed:

CNN - ABBA: We will never re-form
The latest ABBA compilation to hit the record stores will be its final record release, a former member of the Swedish group predicted, but fans' dream of seeing the pop quartet get back together would never come true.

Bjorn Ulvaeus said on Monday that ABBA had no intention of following in the footsteps of other famous bands that have regrouped in recent years.

"We believe that what we did then was pretty good," he told Reuters in a telephone interview during a trip to England.

"But after, we felt that the energy was running out towards the end of the 1970s, we decided, why should we do a Rolling Stones or a Queen?" he said.