Issues of Global Import

19 January 2004


British Terror Expert Says War Can Be Won -- By 2039
The recent Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas overshadowed another meeting held in that den of iniquity and fun -- the US Government Convention on Emerging Technologies. While the world's tech reporter's "oohed" and "aahed" over new MP3 players, iPods and such, few of them noticed a speech by Superintendent Stuart Harrison at the lesser event. A British terrorism authority, Superintendent Harrison, said the war on terror would take 35 to 50 years to win. Click here for more.

Berlusconi Trial Back on Track
Italy's constitutional court has thrown out a law passed back in June that made the holders of five top offices immune from prosecution. That means that Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's corruption trial in Milan can get back on track. The law was not necessarily a bad one, but it clearly was meant to excuse Mr. Berlusconi from facing possible punishment. Click here to read Kensington's Opinion.

Female Singer Offends Afghan Judges
Last week, Afghanistan's supreme court got itself in an intellectual knot over a broadcast of a popular singer, Salma, on state TV. She performed one song, it was an old tape, and Deputy Chief Justice Fazel Ahmed Manawi said, "This has to be stopped." It makes one wonder whether the judge has heard that the Taliban no longer governs. Click here to read why.