LONDON — British officials believe an American exit from Iraq will be the goal of a new Bush strategy in the war, and defense sources in London were quoted in the British press Sunday as saying Britain will be doing the same with its 7,500 troops currently in southern Iraq. According to a report in the London Sunday Times, “senior sources” have been saying for some time that British Prime Minister Tony Blair postponed a phased drawdown of his country’s Iraq contingent because “he was reluctant to embarrass Bush before last week’s elections.” Now, however, reports say the British pullout [...]
SARAJEVO, Bosnia and Herzegovina — Apparently, this is a year for close referendums in the Balkans. Earlier this year, Montenegrins voted for independence from Serbia with a 0.5 percent margin of victory. The “yes” vote needed to be 55 percent for the tiny republic to become an independent state. The “yes” campaign carried the day with 55.5 percent. On the weekend of Oct. 28-29, the citizens of Serbia voted in a referendum to approve Serbia’s first non-communist constitution in 60 years. It was another close one. For the constitution to be approved, at least 3.3 million people needed to vote [...]
GUADALAJARA, Mexico — While campaigning last April in the National Action Party (PAN) heartland of Los Altos, a dry region east of Guadalajara known for tequila distilling, blue-eyed inhabitants and conservative-Catholic politics, candidate Felipe Calderon scheduled a youth rally, an event that inadvertently highlighted his biggest shortcoming: a lack of charisma. Jaded members of the national press core — who had already been riding the PAN campaign bus for three months and had barely reached the halfway point of their sojourn — described him as gris (gray), a Spanish expression for dull. As he entered the boisterous auditorium that Sunday [...]
