Last week's invitation/agenda was full of juicy intellectual fodder from around the world, however the pungent odors of Gomery soup were irresistible and the evening's discussion centered on tasty morsels of political and electoral turmoil basted with tidbits of Gomery gossip/conjecture. See http://www.wednesday-night.com/Wed1208.aspsé Miguel Insulza, Chile's interior minister, was elected secretary-general Traditionally, Canadians ignore events in Latin America, but this election may signal some important new developments and deserves attention. On our perennial favorite topic of globalization, the 2005 A.T. Kearney/FOREIGN POLICY Globalization Index states that "global integration survived the turbulence of the Iraq war, a sharp economic downturn, and the failure of trade talks. Last year, Ireland and Switzerland [and Sweden] topped our ranking of political, economic, personal, and technological globalization in 62 countries ... the world is still coming together ... [and] even as the world economy slowed, Internet growth in poor countries and increased cross-border travel deepened global links. http://www.foreignpolicy.com/wwwboard/g-index.php Tom Friedman's suggestion that Dubya forget about Bolton and call in his father. The French referendum on the EU Constitution will be a hot item until it is over on May 29. Note that Chirac has tried to convince voters that the referendum should not be seen as a vote of confidence in his government, but all polls still are negative. We have found good coverage on the BBC including an informative Q&A http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4496593.stm