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Around the World! for August and September ‘08
by [Imperator]


Olympics
The 2008 Summer Olympics are over in Beijing, China with the United States having won the highest number of total medals and China the most gold medals.

Kim Jong II
Kim Jong II, the 66 year-old dictator of North Korea, has had a stroke that may have left him partially disabled in half of his body. He underwent surgery recently and is in stable condition. Analysts fear that if Kim dies, it could ruin recent progress to resolve North Korea’s nuclear weapon program. It remains difficult to confirm any information on his health due to North Korea’s insistence that nothing is wrong despite Kim’s absence from a major military parade that he was expected to attend.

Bolivian Violence
On September 12 the president of Bolivia declared martial law to control violence erupting in the desperately poor, central South American nation. Clashes between government supporters and secessionists have left about 30 people dead in Bolivian provinces that want more autonomy from the central government. Part of the dispute revolves around distribution of wealth from sales of abundant natural gas supplies in the nation.

U.S. Presidential Election
The two candidates for president of the United States, Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain, chose their vice president running-mates just before each party convention at the end of August and beginning of September. Obama, who has received criticism for his lack of experience, chose Joe Biden who has more than 30 years of experience as a U.S. Senator. John McCain, who has received criticism from his own conservative base for being too liberal and in some cases “boring”, chose Sarah Palin who has served two years as the Governor of Alaska and has shocked and excited voters because she is very conservative and is not well known.

Following the Democratic Convention, polls showed Obama with a 7 point lead over McCain. Following the Republican Convention, that lead was wiped out and McCain led with 5 points. Currently, most polls show Obama and McCain tied or McCain ahead by a very small margin. After weeks of Obama enjoying the media spotlight, he now has trouble getting any attention due to the media’s scrutiny of Palin’s political decisions and her life as voters try to get to know the new comer.

Russian Invasion of Georgia
On August 7, after weeks of high tensions and minor border clashes between the Republic of Georgia and the Russian Federation around the region of South Ossetia, Georgian forces launched a major offensive to retake the breakaway region that has resisted efforts to be governed from the Georgian capital of Tbilisi. Russia, which has issued Russian citizenship to residents of South Ossetia, invaded the region with a massive military offensive that forced the small Georgian army back. For several days, Russian and Georgian forces vied for control of the South Ossetian capital city of Tskhinval before Russian air and ground superiority overwhelmed Georgian forces.

Another breakaway region, Abkhazia, with the help of Russian forces, captured the last area still under Georgian control in Abkhazia. Despite Russia’s achievement of their officially declared goals of protecting the citizens of South Ossetia and Abkhazia from “Georgian aggression and ethnic cleansing”, Russia continued the war into Georgia proper with bombing raids on major cities and amphibious assaults on Black Sea settlements. When Russian forces captured Gori, a city on the road to Tbilisi, many feared Russia intended to capture the entire nation and install a puppet government to replace the democratically elected president.

International calls for a halt to the violence were accepted by both sides but Russia was slow to act on the terms of the agreements which included a withdrawal from Georgian territory. Peace envoys organized by French President Nicolas Sarkozy managed to secure the ceasefire but international relations with Russia have been damaged, especially with the United States as President Bush has used very strong language to condemn Russia’s actions. American naval ships have carried humanitarian aid to Georgia, seemingly in open defiance of Russian warnings not to support the beleaguered nation.







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