The World Today

It’s all about elections. Following his own victory, President George Bush has intensified the campaign in Iraq to clear the way for elections in January. And in response to the death of Yasser Arafat he is calling for Palestinian democracy too. But can he live with the results?

Only days into their operational tour in the US sector of Iraq, four soldiers and an interpreter of the British infantry regiment, the Black Watch, were killed in several well planned attacks.

America seems to be losing the battle for hearts and minds. A single videotape from Osama Bin Laden is enough to get the world talking, while US troops are still broadly unwelcome in Iraq and Arab world opinion of their country is visibly hostile. On the international front, has Washington forgotten early lessons on the power of persuasion?

The predicament of Margaret Hassan as a hostage in Iraq has pointed painfully to the vulnerability of aid workers – no longer automatically regarded as neutral. The dangers are apparent in Afghanistan too, where three UN workers were kidnapped. To make matters worse, western and local forces deliberately mix charitable projects with military missions.

Taiwan is about to elect a new parliament this month. In the background, increasingly belligerent noises from both sides of the Taiwan Strait about independence and unification overwhelm conciliatory gestures, and the promise of new leadership.

An African country that has put civil war behind it and produced strong economic growth deserves more than passing praise. The more so because its president is about to step down in the second orderly power transition since independence. His successor will still need all his business skills to sustain progress.