Funmurphys: the Blog

Over There

Lot's of good news on the international front.

CAFTA -- the Central American Free Trade Agreement -- passed very narrowly. Free trade is good for everyone in the long run, not just Illinois farmers. Forbes thinks that the closeness of the vote makes other free trade agreements harder; this would have to come under the heading of effect and not cause in my book.

The IRA has announced that they will lay down their arms. This has been a long time coming, and I'm glad to see it. They should have done it in 1998, but better late than never, and maybe the Palestinians could learn something if they pay attention. Despite the name, I'm not an IRA sympathizer - quite the contrary in fact.

The State Department is saying a resolution to North Korea's nuclear program is close at hand. And while I firmly believe you shouldn't count your chickens before they're hatched, especially given the track record of North Korea, I am hopeful.

The 6 countries responsible for 40% of the carbon dioxide emissions announced a pact to reduce them. To me, this kind of initiative sounds much more promising than Kyoto which is a failure in conception and implementation.

Ugandans went to the polls and voted for multiparty democracy over "no-party" democracy in early, unofficial returns. Will they actually get it? That's the hard part, really.

And in news I won't qualify as "good", but it is part of the international front, the Russian government objected to an interview with terrorist mass murderer Shamil Basayev, the man behind the Beslan massacre. While I think running the interview is OK, ABC news had a duty to present the context - a remind viewers of the truly awful nature of what this guy has done, deliberately targeting children for death. I didn't see the interview, so they may well have done so.