Two weeks ago, the European Union and Mercosur, the powerful South American trading bloc, agreed to forge economic ties that bypass the U.S. At a two-day summit in Rio de Janeiro, 40 heads of state--including all of the leaders of every nation in three regions of the world (except for the British and Irish prime ministers, who were busy working on the Northern Ireland peace process)--met to forge the first Latin America/Europe alliance that cuts the U.S. out of the picture. Mercosur is made up of Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay, and counts Chile and Bolivia as associate members. It has a combined economy of $1 trillion. "Link to Europe bypasses US," Manchester Guardian Weekly, 7/1/99, pg 2.

According to a recent United Nations report, the world's organized crime syndicates have a combined economic output greater than all but three of the world's national economies. Grossing more than $1,500 billion per year, criminal economic output rivals that of multinational corporations. The biggest growth industry is drugs, which at $400 billion per year makes up 8% of world trade, and dwarfs the enormous automotive manufacturing industry. The report blames advances in telecommunications, and the removal of trade barriers for the upsurge in criminal activity: "As the multinational corporations have led the drive to globalize the world's economy, so the 'crime multinationals' have been quick to exploit it." Also, the removal of currency controls and the deregulation of national economies--all part of the IMF restructuring process--have created "the perfect condition for laundering money," according to the report. "Drugs trade 'dwarfs all but three of biggest economies," MGW, 7/8/99, pg 2.

Mary Robinson, UN Commissioner for Human Rights, has visited Sierra Leone to assess the effects of 10 years of war. She is the first white person of any stature to visit the refugee camps, which hold an estimated half a million people. Medical workers estimate that there are about 10,000 amputees among the refugees--many of them victims of the rebels, who routinely chop off the hands of farmers living in areas seized from government control. The number of internally displaced people could be as high as two million. After her visit, Robinson said there were "more mutilations and more violations of human rights" in Sierra Leone than in Yugoslavia. Yet the war goes on as the U.S. and Europe looks the other way, with a corrupt government on one side and a rebel group led by mutinous soldiers on the other. "Rebels may profit from reign of terror," MGW, 7/8/99, pg 5.

The results from Indonesia's general elections are finally in: Megawati Sukarnoputri's Indonesian Democratic Party for Struggle (PDI) won 34%, Golkar (the current ruling party) won 22%, and two Muslim parties--the National Awakening Party and the National Mandate Party--won 12% and 7% of the vote respectively. Both Muslim parties have ties to the PDI and may form a coalition government. A new head of state will be chosen by Parliament in December. PDI's candidate is likely to be Megawati, the daughter of Sukarno, Indonesia's last elected president. So far, Golkar has chosen to back current President B.J. Habibie, in spite of his unpopularity and his unwillingness to prosecute his former boss, Suharto, on corruption charges. "Opposition Wins Indonesia Election," AP, 7/16/99.

In East Timor, Indonesian police have refused to protect United Nations staff from attacks by militias. UN monitors have been evacuated from 13 of the territory's districts. British police, which were sent into East Timor to train and monitor Indonesian police in preparation for a fair vote, have complained that local officials are not cooperating. In response, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has postponed the East Timor referendum on independence from Aug. 8 to Aug. 21. After nearly a month-long delay, voter registration began on July 16 in East Timor and among exiled populations of Timorese in Portugal, Australia, Indonesia, Macau, Mozambique, and the U.S. So far, militias armed and trained by the Indonesian military have killed more than 200 and displaced over 60,000 people throughout East Timor. "East Timor regime obstructs UN teams," MGW, 7/8/99, pg 4, and "UN green light for independence vote," AFP wire service, 7/16/99.

Hacim Thaci and other leaders of the Kosovo Liberation Army have been accused of assassinating rivals within the KLA. Allegedly half a dozen top KLA commanders were shot dead in 1998 after butting heads with Thaci and his cohorts. The allegations have been made by a dozen former KLA officials (two of whom witnessed executions of Thaci's rivals), a former Albanian diplomat, Western diplomats, and a former Albanian police officer who worked with the KLA. A senior U.S. State Department official said that the U.S. is aware of executions within the KLA. Mr. Thaci, whose nickname is Snake, organized armed units to ambush Serbian police in the Drenica region of Kosovo, where he was known for personally executing Kosovo Albanian "collaborators," and attempting to assassinate members of Ibrahim Rugova's government. NATO has signed an agreement with Thaci to turn the KLA into a police force or possibly a provisional army. "KLA chief accused of assassinating rivals," MGW, 7/1/99, pg 3.