Issues of Global Import

13 October 2003


Turkey Agrees to Help Occupy Iraq
Eager to help America, its NATO ally, the Turkish cabinet agreed to send around 10,000 Turkish troops to Iraq. The country's parliament ratified this decision, several months after rejecting the very same idea when there was a chance Turkish troops might be shot at by Iraqis. What has changed is not the danger to Turkish troops so much as America's agreement to let the Turks pound away at a Kurdish political group. Click here to read Kensington's Opinion.

Japan's Koizumi Calls Election for 9 November
Fresh from a huge re-election bid as leader of Japan's Liberal Democratic Party, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi dissolved the Japanese Diet and called for new elections in just over four weeks. With the party solidly in his corner and his good friend President George Bush coming to Japan this week, there was not likely to be a better time to strike. Yet, as with many elections, the winner may come out worse off than the loser. Click here for more.

Iranian Woman Jurist Wins Nobel Peace Prize
The Nobel Committee announced its winners last week, and the Peace Prize went to Shirin Ebadi, an Iranian woman who happens to be a lawyer and former judge. The feminist crowd applauded, a great many human rights activists were pleased, and it fell to Lech Walesa, former president of Poland, to complain that the Pope should have won. Ms. Ebadi is not a bad choice but hardly a great one. Click here to read why.