Around the World in 60 Seconds

Switzerland -- WikiLeaks:

Following the release of 250,000 cables from American embassies and diplomats that led to the toppling of the corrupt twenty-three year dictatorship in Tunisia, WikiLeaks is at it again.  Ex-Swiss Bank Executive Rudolf Elmer provided the transparency website with information on over 2,000 accounts of prominent “business people, politicians -- people who have made their living in the arts and multinational conglomerates.”  WikiLeaks Founder Julian Assange expects to expose tax evasion, money laundering, and other criminal activity within the next two weeks.  Already a smear campaign against Mr. Elmer has begun.

Iran -- Successfully Lifting Petroleum Subsidies:

Gas pumps in Tehran

After Bolivia’s failed attempt to lift its petroleum subsidies, Iran is successfully erasing out its own fuel subsidies with surprisingly little resistance.  Government officials cite subsidized national oil consumption as limiting export quantities and incomes.  However, these official ignore the benefits of stimulating a more diversified export industry with cheap oil and lower production costs.  Gasoline jumped from $0.38/gallon to $1.44/gallon officially, but most motorists are buying their gas market-priced at $2.64/gallon.  The Iranian government avoided the mass protests and general strikes that afflicted Bolivia by paying a $40/month compensation directly into citizens’ bank accounts.  Bank card holders were not allowed to touch their new cash payments for the two months leading up to the subsidy elimination, stirring excited anticipation for the bank accounts to open and the gas subsidies to be lifted.

Israel -- Stuxnet Worm:

Iranian President Ahmadinejad tours the nuclear facilities in Natanz

US and Israeli intelligence forces stymied progress of Iran’s nuclear program by unleashing “the most sophisticated cyber weapon ever deployed.”  The US Government worked with Siemens to identify vulnerabilities of their PCS7 industrial computer controllers, the exact control system Natanz, the Iranian nuclear facility, employs.  The intelligence agencies then jointly designed a computer virus that spreads but remains dormant in common computers.  It exclusively attacks enrichment specific controls in the PCS7 and masks centrifuge destroying commands by replaying a smooth functioning “loop” to fool alert systems.  The heist-like story is best told in the NYTimes’ “Israel Tests on Worm Called Crucial in Iran Nuclear Delay.” Coupled with the assassination of two important Iranian nuclear scientists in November -- another movie-like story of motorcyclists approaching the scientists’ vehicles on their highway commutes, slapping small bombs to the Iranian’s doors, and remotely detonating the vehicles’ explosions when the motorists sped safe distances away -- officials now predict that Iran’s nuclear ambitions have been delayed at least three more years.

Haiti -- Baby Doc Returns:

Jean-Claude "Baby  Doc" Duvalier
at his inauguration when he was only
nineteen years old

The Haitian dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier returned to his native country after living in exile for twenty-four years.  Ignoring previous statements from President Préval that “Baby Doc’s” arrival would be met with immediate arrest, the ex-despot reentered Haiti with his intentions still unknown to the public.  Amnesty International and popular radio commentators are urging for the immediate incarceration of Duvalier for widespread corruption, for looting the treasury dry, and for human rights abuses committed in the ‘70s and ‘80s.  A year after the tumultuous earthquake, Haitian leadership remains sparse.  Contested elections in November still have yet to be resolved.  Many onlookers worry that an opportunistic Duvalier returned to take advantage of political indecision and billions in disaster relief funds.  Mr. Duvalier retains many loyal supporters inside Port-au-Prince and, for some, is a nostalgic reminder of days when the streets were safer.  When his plane landed in the island’s capital city last night, Baby Doc announced, “I came to put myself at the service of my country.”  He continued, commenting on Haiti’s shattered government, spoiled infrastructure, and decaying society, “If Jean-Claude had been here, we would never be like this.”

Around the World in 60 Seconds