Word: summiteering
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This just in: Last week George W. Bush was the most popular political leader in Europe. That, at least, is one interpretation of the demonstrations in the Swedish town of Goteborg. On the day of Bush's visit for a summit meeting with the leaders of the 15 nations in the European Union, the most significant street protest was a mass mooning of the President. But once Bush had left for Warsaw, and then for a meeting in Ljubljana, Slovenia, with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the mood turned ugly. The now familiar demonstrators against globalization tossed cobblestones at police, burned...
...used to be that holding a summit of some prestigious international body was an opportunity to showcase a city's charms on the international stage; now it's mostly an opportunity to show of the riot-control skills of the local constabulary. Still, there's always the Internet. Or warships. Or China...
...familiar spectacle of international delegates (sometimes even heads of state) barricaded inside heavily fortified conference venues as riot police outside battle anti-globalization protestors. The World Bank's annual meeting in Prague last September was cut short by street protests, and an outbreak of violence at the European Union summit in Gothenburg last week - during which live ammunition was fired at demonstrators by Sweden's quintessentially tolerant authorities - underscored the danger. Organizers had feared that a counter-summit organized by French and Spanish groups would disrupt the bank's own proceedings...
...World Bank's decision doesn't exactly bode well for next month's summit of G8 leaders in the Italian city of Genoa. Up to 100,000 protestors are expected to try and reach the fabled port to register their discontent with President Bush and the other leaders of the world's most industrialized nations - and that has city authorities extremely worried, particularly in light of the difficulties in policing its narrow streets. They reportedly considered holding the summit on a ship in the bay, but later decided that would be a colossal humiliation. Still, they're planning to billet...
...Then there is the sublime: For sheer diabolical genius (of the Hollywood variety), nothing came close to the reports that European security services are preparing to counter a Bin Laden attempt to assassinate President Bush at next month's G8 summit in Genoa, Italy. According to German intelligence sources, the plot involved Bin Laden paying German neo-Nazis to fly remote controlled-model aircraft packed with Semtex into the conference hall and blow the leaders of the industrialized world to smithereens. (Paging Jerry Bruckheimer?) The Russians, who believe a Bin Laden attack in Genoa is more likely to be carried...