This is the third and final installment of this blog's 2006 version of As the World Turns (for a look back at "Act One” and “Act Two,” click here and here). As with the first two acts, most of this stuff here has been lifted directly from the weekly e-mail reports I get from Harper's Magazine's Weekly Review. Some has also come from our good friends at wikipedia.orgScene 1: Africa
On Thursday, December 21, 2006 war erupted between the insurgent Somalian Islamist militia and a coalition of Ethiopia and the UN-recognized transitional government of Somalia.[9] Peace talks between the interim government in the North and the Islamists of the south broke down had broken down on November 1st.
In recent months, Islamist militia backing the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) had taken control of much of the southern half of Somalia, normally through negotiation with local clan chiefs rather than by the use of force and had stayed clear of the government headquarters town of Baidoa, which Ethiopia said it would protect if threatened. In September, the transitional Somalian government called for intervention by a regional East African peacekeeping force, a move that was opposed by the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) leaders, who lobbied
African Union (AU) member states to abandon plans to send peacekeepers—particularly Ethiopians—t
o Somalia (Somalia and Ethiopia fought a bitter war in 1977–78 over the Somali province of Ogaden, which has been ruled by the Ethiopians since the partition of Somali lands in the first half of the 20th century). Three days after heavy fighting began on December 21st, Ethiopian forces launched airstrikes against the Islamist Militia across Somalia in support of the interim government. This was Ethiopia’s first public admission of involvement in Somalia.
[10] Ethiopian Prime Minister 
Meles Zenawi said that he was waging war against Somalia's Islamists to protect his country's sovereignty. On Monday December 25, 2006 Ethiopia declared war on the Islamic Courts Union, and one Ethiopian jet fighter strafed the international airport in Mogadishu, without apparently causing serious damage, but prompting the airport to be shut down. With the help of Ethiopia, government troops re-entered the capital Mogadishu on 28 December 2006, after Islamist fighters fled the city.According to Peter Beinart, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, “Ethiopia may caputre some terrorists, but it is also making a play for dominance in Africa’s horn. Somali Islamists have already vowed to wage guerilla war against the country’s new occupiers. If Ethiopia tries to make Somalia its puppet, it could spurt a nationalist insurgency backed by archrival Eritrea. And that could spark a regional war.” (TIME, January 15, 2007)
Scene 2: The Americas
In September, Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez objected to the smell of sulfur in the U.N.'s General Assembly hall, and offered to relocate the U.N.'s headquarters to Caracas.In October, in Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania, a man named Charles Roberts entered a one-room Amish schoolhouse and shot ten girls, killing five (that's Roberts and his family in the photo at left); he then shot and killed himself. What made the event memorable for me was the stunningly compassionate reaction of the Amish community. “We must not,” said the grandfather of one of the slain girls, “think evil of this man.”[BBC News]
During an October debate with his Democratic rival, Jon Tester, Senator Conrad Burns of Montana said that President Bush has a secret plan for winning the war in Iraq, but that Bush is not going to share his plan with the world.[Billings Gazette][FT] In the November mid-term elections, six incumbent Republican senators, including Burns and Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, were defeated as The Republican Party lost its majority in the House of Representatives and the Senate. (Burns lost his race by fewer than 3,000 votes.)Republican Party Chairman Ken Mehlman subsequently resigned.
In December, Congressional announced that beginning in January members of the House would work five days a week.
"Keeping us up here eats away at families," said Rep. Jack Kingston (R., Georgia), who spends more than half his week at home. "Marriages suffer. The Democrats could care less about families--that's what this says." The Democrats were also trying to stop smoking on the Hill, and attempting to block a $3,300 congressional raise.Also in November, Actor Michael Richards, who played Kramer on the TV show Seinfeld, was videotaped repeatedly screaming a racial epithet at a heckler.
In December, "donnybrooks and yelling matches" preceded the four-minute swearing-in ceremony of Mexico’s new, right-wing President, Felipe Calderon.
Scene 3: EuropeOn September 17, 2006, an audio recording surfaced, allegedly from a closed door meeting of the Hungarian Prime Minister's MSZP party held in May, shortly after MSZP won its April parliamentary election. The recording captured prime minister Ferenc Gyurcsany claiming that his winning re-election campaign was based on lies. "We lied in the morning," said Gyurcsany. "We lied in the evening."
After the recordings were made available, protest demonstrations started near the Hungarian Parliament demanding the resignation of Gyurcsány and his government. Eventually about 40,000 participated in the protests. So far no resignations have been submitted.
Scene 4: Israel and Palestine
In October, Israel pulled out of southern Lebanon, where, according to the UN, up to a million cluster “bomblets” remain unexploded.
In December one million Hezbollah supporters rallied for the ouster of Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora, a U.S. ally.
Scene 5: Asia
On September 19, General Sonthi Boonyaratglin staged a coup d'etat in Thailand, dismissing the prime minister and revoking the constitution.
In October, North Korea detonated a nuclear bomb.[BBC News]
Also in October, Journalist Anna Politkovskaya, who criticized Russia's Chechnya policy, was found shot to death in an elevator.[InterFax]
In November, Bangalore, the high-tech capital of India, renamed itself "Bengalooru," to more closely resemble the city's medieval name, "Bendakalooru."
And by December, the Taliban had established a "mini-state" in Peshawar, Pakistan.
Scene 6: The History Stacks
Scientists claimed that at the current rate of consumption, global seafood supplies will be obliterated by the year 2048.
Scene 7: The Cemetery
Augusto Pinochet (in the photo at left with Henry Kissinger) died. In1973, Pinochet led a military junta to power through a coup d'état, deposing the democratically-elected Socialist President Salvador Allende and establishing a military government. In 1974, Pinochet appointed himself President and remained in power until 1990.[2][3] Stating that Chile was under siege by communist subversives, Pinochet implemented a series of security operations, with support from the United States and other South American military governments, in which (according to the Rettig Report) around 3,000 suspected or known dissidents and leftists were killed, and (according to the Valech Report) around 30,000 more were tortured.[4][5]
Scene 8: Iraq
In October, research by U.S. epidemiologists and Iraqi physicians found that 654,965 Iraqis have died as a result of the Iraq war.
In October, nearly four months after the arraignment of PFC Steven D. Green, eight other soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division faced courts-martial in Kentucky for the rape and murder of a 14-year-old Iraqi girl and the killing of her family in March. [NYT] In November, one of them, Army Specialist James Barker admitted to raping the girl and helping murder her family.
On November 23, two hundred fifteen people were killed in a massive bombing and mortar attack on a Shiite neighborhood in Baghdad, marking Iraq's largest single-day death toll since the U.S. invasion. The killings prompted Shiite militiamen to seize and burn alive as many as twenty-four Sunnis; other Shiite residents of the capital threw stones at Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
After the midterm Congressional elections in November, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld resigned, and to replace him President Bush nominated Robert Gates, a member of the Iraq Study Group and former head of the CIA, who was investigated in 1991 by the office of the independent counsel for his role in the Iran-contra scandal, and was suspected to have passed military intelligence to Saddam Hussein's Iraq.
On December 30th, Saddam Hussein was hanged.
Scene 9: Al Qaeda Situation Room
A CIA intelligence report declassified in September concluded that prior to the Iraq war, Saddam Hussein "did not have a relationship, harbor, or even turn a blind eye toward," Abu Musab al-Zarqawi or Al Qaeda.
Scene 10: The Courts
In October, U.S. District Judge Kenneth Hoyt reduced the jail sentence of former Enron CFO Andrew Fastow from ten years to six, citing the prolonged suffering of the Fastow family in his decision. Later that same month, Former Enron CEO Jeff Skilling was sentenced to 24 years in jail. “I feel terrible about what happened,” Skilling said, referring to the company's collapse, which cost investors and employees more than $62 billion in devalued stock and pension plans. “That's not to say I did something wrong.”[New York Times]
Scene 11: The Executive Office
In September, the United States Justice Department claimed that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales "had his timeline mixed up" when he denied the United States had deported a Canadian citizen to Syria, where he was tortured.
Also in September, President George W. Bush confirmed the existence of secret extra-territorial prisons operating beyond the scope of American law.
The U.S. Army promised to stop intimidating prisoners by placing hoods over their heads, or by simulating their drowning, or by threatening them with dogs, and President Bush emphasized the fine line between "alternative" interrogation methods and torture.
In October, Bush signed the Military Commissions Act sent to him by Congress, which suspends the right of habeas corpus for terrorism suspects (that's a Guantanamo detainee in the photo at right) and grants immunity to CIA interrogators and government officials, such as President Bush, for violations of the War Crimes Act. [NYT][Chicago Sun-Times]
A United Nations official claimed that the United States has become a role model for prisoner-abusing governments around the world.[Washington Post]
Scene 12: Hope?
A federal judge ruled that American paper currency discriminates against blind people. At right, you can see designs for the new, brass Presidential dollar coins that will go into circulation this year.
Scene 4: Israel and PalestineIn October, Israel pulled out of southern Lebanon, where, according to the UN, up to a million cluster “bomblets” remain unexploded.
In December one million Hezbollah supporters rallied for the ouster of Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora, a U.S. ally.
Scene 5: AsiaOn September 19, General Sonthi Boonyaratglin staged a coup d'etat in Thailand, dismissing the prime minister and revoking the constitution.
In October, North Korea detonated a nuclear bomb.[BBC News]
Also in October, Journalist Anna Politkovskaya, who criticized Russia's Chechnya policy, was found shot to death in an elevator.[InterFax]
In November, Bangalore, the high-tech capital of India, renamed itself "Bengalooru," to more closely resemble the city's medieval name, "Bendakalooru."
And by December, the Taliban had established a "mini-state" in Peshawar, Pakistan.
Scene 6: The History StacksScientists claimed that at the current rate of consumption, global seafood supplies will be obliterated by the year 2048.
Scene 7: The Cemetery
Augusto Pinochet (in the photo at left with Henry Kissinger) died. In1973, Pinochet led a military junta to power through a coup d'état, deposing the democratically-elected Socialist President Salvador Allende and establishing a military government. In 1974, Pinochet appointed himself President and remained in power until 1990.[2][3] Stating that Chile was under siege by communist subversives, Pinochet implemented a series of security operations, with support from the United States and other South American military governments, in which (according to the Rettig Report) around 3,000 suspected or known dissidents and leftists were killed, and (according to the Valech Report) around 30,000 more were tortured.[4][5] Scene 8: Iraq
In October, research by U.S. epidemiologists and Iraqi physicians found that 654,965 Iraqis have died as a result of the Iraq war.
In October, nearly four months after the arraignment of PFC Steven D. Green, eight other soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division faced courts-martial in Kentucky for the rape and murder of a 14-year-old Iraqi girl and the killing of her family in March. [NYT] In November, one of them, Army Specialist James Barker admitted to raping the girl and helping murder her family.On November 23, two hundred fifteen people were killed in a massive bombing and mortar attack on a Shiite neighborhood in Baghdad, marking Iraq's largest single-day death toll since the U.S. invasion. The killings prompted Shiite militiamen to seize and burn alive as many as twenty-four Sunnis; other Shiite residents of the capital threw stones at Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
After the midterm Congressional elections in November, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld resigned, and to replace him President Bush nominated Robert Gates, a member of the Iraq Study Group and former head of the CIA, who was investigated in 1991 by the office of the independent counsel for his role in the Iran-contra scandal, and was suspected to have passed military intelligence to Saddam Hussein's Iraq.
On December 30th, Saddam Hussein was hanged.Scene 9: Al Qaeda Situation Room
A CIA intelligence report declassified in September concluded that prior to the Iraq war, Saddam Hussein "did not have a relationship, harbor, or even turn a blind eye toward," Abu Musab al-Zarqawi or Al Qaeda.
Scene 10: The CourtsIn October, U.S. District Judge Kenneth Hoyt reduced the jail sentence of former Enron CFO Andrew Fastow from ten years to six, citing the prolonged suffering of the Fastow family in his decision. Later that same month, Former Enron CEO Jeff Skilling was sentenced to 24 years in jail. “I feel terrible about what happened,” Skilling said, referring to the company's collapse, which cost investors and employees more than $62 billion in devalued stock and pension plans. “That's not to say I did something wrong.”[New York Times]
Scene 11: The Executive Office
In September, the United States Justice Department claimed that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales "had his timeline mixed up" when he denied the United States had deported a Canadian citizen to Syria, where he was tortured.
Also in September, President George W. Bush confirmed the existence of secret extra-territorial prisons operating beyond the scope of American law.
The U.S. Army promised to stop intimidating prisoners by placing hoods over their heads, or by simulating their drowning, or by threatening them with dogs, and President Bush emphasized the fine line between "alternative" interrogation methods and torture.In October, Bush signed the Military Commissions Act sent to him by Congress, which suspends the right of habeas corpus for terrorism suspects (that's a Guantanamo detainee in the photo at right) and grants immunity to CIA interrogators and government officials, such as President Bush, for violations of the War Crimes Act. [NYT][Chicago Sun-Times]
A United Nations official claimed that the United States has become a role model for prisoner-abusing governments around the world.[Washington Post]
Scene 12: Hope?A federal judge ruled that American paper currency discriminates against blind people. At right, you can see designs for the new, brass Presidential dollar coins that will go into circulation this year.
And in the November mid-term elections, six incumbent Republican senators were defeated as The Republican Party lost its majority in the House of Representatives and the Senate (see "Scene 2: The Americas", above).
