Presseurop |

9/11, 10 years on | The East rises over Ground Zero (The Guardian, London)

Fri, 09 Sep 2011 17:40:19 +0100

We have spent the years since the attacks on US soil focusing on the terrorist threat and wars in Afganistan and Iraq. But we have been blind to the real global change : the slow but unstoppable rise of China, writes Timothy Garton Ash. (Article)

Poland | Poles dying for US citizenship

Wed, 11 May 2011 12:50:39 +0100

“US Army citizen,” headlines Gazeta Wyborcza, reporting that many young Poles with green cards (permanent US residency permits) are joining the American army to obtain US citizenship. Having completed 14 weeks of training, they are swiftly sent on missions to Afghanistan and Iraq. To date, twenty of them have been killed in action. Dangerous as it may be, many are swayed by the promise of a $1,400 (€975) salary, 30 days of paid holidays, insurance and, most importantly, immediate US citizenship. Under Polish law, it is a crime to serve in a foreign army (without special permission), which is why the Polish Ministry of Defence does not keep figures on the number of Poles recruited by the US military. According to a US Army recruiter cited by the daily, approximately 500 have already signed up and more may follow in their footsteps. “America is the land of dreams and the US army helps to make those dreams come true,” remarks one Polish recruit quoted by Gazeta Wyborcza.

(News in brief)

Terrorism | Bin Laden's legacy (Le Monde, Paris)

Mon, 02 May 2011 16:12:12 +0100

Symbolic as the death of the al-Qaeda leader is, it does not mark the end of the fight against terrorism, nor of its consequences for our way of life, writes Le Monde. (Article)

Iraq war | UK worked with Big Oil in invasion run-up

Tue, 19 Apr 2011 11:03:21 +0100

“Secret memos expose link between oil firms and invasion of Iraq,” headlines the Independent, revealing collusion between the British government and the oil industry in the run-up to the 2003 Iraq invasion. The leaked minutes of a series of meetings between ministers and oil executives are “at odds with the public denials of self-interest from oil companies and Western governments at the time,” the London daily notes. One memo shows that in late 2002, Baroness Symons, then the Trade Minister, told oil multinational BP “that the Government believed British energy firms should be given a share of Iraq's enormous oil and gas reserves as a reward for Tony Blair's military commitment to US plans for regime change.” While BP publicly maintained that it had "no strategic interest" in Iraq, it told the Foreign Office in private that Iraq was "more important than anything we've seen for a long time".

(News in brief)

Wikileaks | The war of words (Presseurop, )

Mon, 25 Oct 2010 17:19:55 +0100

The publication of more than 400,000 documents by the WikiLeaks website and several major newspapers has shed light on day-to-day events in the field, but much of the European press is critical of the manner in which this information is presented to the public. (Article)

Portugal | Wikileaks takes aim at Portuguese army

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 13:05:47 +0100

A few days following the publication of American documents on the war in Afghanistan by the site Wikileaks, "Portuguese military secrets have also been revealed on the web", reports the Diário de Notícias. Documents of the Republican National Guard (GNR) dating from 2004 pertaining to the activities of al-Qaeda and the Iranian secret service in Iraq, and even on Tony Blair's political choices, have been discovered on the same site by the Lisbon daily. A GNR spokesperson quoted by the paper downplayed the leaks, noting that six years have already passed, and that "the documents contain no particularly pertinent strategic information".

(News in brief)

United Kingdom | Clegg declares Iraq invasion illegal

Thu, 22 Jul 2010 12:37:02 +0100

“Nick Clegg's 'illegal' Iraq war gaffe prompts legal warning,” headlines the Guardian. Standing in for David Cameron during Prime Minister’s question time on 21 July, UK’s Deputy PM Clegg in a heated exchange with Jack Straw, foreign secretary at the time of the 2003 war, said: "We may have to wait for his memoirs, but perhaps one day he will account for his role in the most disastrous decision of all: the illegal invasion of Iraq." Mr Clegg insists he was speaking in a personal capacity, but the Guardian notes that “a leading international lawyer has warned that the statement by a government minister in such a formal setting could increase the chances of charges against Britain in international courts.”

(News in brief)

Iraq War | Blair, blinded by the Enlightenment (The Independent, London)

Mon, 01 Feb 2010 14:26:52 +0100

At the Chilcot inquiry, Tony Blair expressed no regrets over his decision to join the war in Iraq. Bruce Anderson in the Independent argues that he was driven by a typical delusion of Enlightenment thinking, that it is possible to reshape human nature and the world in the West’s image. (Article)

United Kingdom | Knives out for Blair over Iraq

Fri, 29 Jan 2010 17:50:12 +0100

On 29 January, Tony Blair appeared before Lord Chilcot’s Iraq inquiry to explain his reasons for leading his country into the Iraq invasion of 2003. The former British prime-minister still justifies the attack on the grounds that Saddam Hussein, according to British intelligence, possessed weapons of mass-destruction. However, the press increasingly contends that this is untrue. Left-leaning weekly the New Statesman leads the case against Blair with testimony from government experts whose advise Blair ignored in the run-up to the war. “Over the years, numerous revelations – including leaked official memos and minutes – have suggested that Blair, in spite of his repeated denials, signed up not simply to disarmament but to regime change (i.e. the overthrow of Saddam) in Iraq a full year before the invasion”. The paper quotes a senior law-lord who calls on the Iraq inquiry to declare the war illegal, which chimes in with campaigns calling for Blair’s arrest and trial as a war criminal.

(News in brief)

Dark secrets and necessary lies | Editorial

Fri, 29 Jan 2010 15:15:03 +0100

On 29 January, Tony Blair appeared before a commission of inquiry to explain the manner in which he decided to lead his country into a war in Iraq. On the previous day, a few miles away, the London conference on the future of Afghanistan was held. The issue of political transparency arising from these Bush-era wars continues to weigh heavily on Europeans. The Iraq war raised this issue because leaders manipulated public opinion to create support for the overthrow of Saddam Hussein. Afghanistan has raised it because in the absence of results in the field or a clear strategy, many citizens have the feeling that their governments are not telling the whole truth about the deployment of their troops.

One of the main intellectual influences for American neoconservatives is the German born philosoper Léo Strauss, who died in 1973. As the American editorialist William Pfaff explained in 2003, in a contested interpretation of Strauss's thought, neoconservatives – among them the architects of the Bush wars – have seized on the idea that it is "necessary to tell lies to people about the nature of political reality," which is too much for the average citizen. At the same time, the higher echelons of government will remain "an elite [that] recognizes the truth… and keeps it to itself." In democratic societies, the temptation to take refuge in the notion that the truth is only for an elite does not only exist for neoconservative ideologues. European leaders who are forced to take responsibility for complex decisions and justify them to an increasingly sceptical public also run the risk of succumbing to this attitude. The lack of transparency that characterized the war in Iraq must not be allowed to prevail in the construction of Europe. The implementation of the Lisbon Treaty entailed a significant cost to the quality of democracy. Its application, as Le Monde explains this week, is subject to an interplay of powers, which is largely incomprehensible to Europe's citizens. Both of these conditions contribute to the danger posed by elitism. Just because it might make the EU weaker is not a sufficient justification for elitism. Éric Maurice

(Editorial)

Iraq War | The truth doesn't quite matter (, )

Wed, 13 Jan 2010 15:18:01 +0100

In the Netherlands, an inquiry considers the US led invasion of Iraq as illegal, while in the United Kingdom, the Chilcot inquiry seeks to shed light on the Tony Blair's decision to lead his country into war. But politicians are still refusing to owe up to their responsibility in the disaster, regrets both the Dutch and the English press. (Article)

Iraq War | Chilcot inquiry accused of whitewash

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 14:12:17 +0100

Was the war against Iraq “legal” or not? Such is the question uppermost in chairman Sir John Chilcot’s mind as he opens today’s inquiry into Britain’s decision to join the US-led invasion of 2003. However, according to the front page of today’s Guardian, such an analysis is beyond his inquiry’s competence. Senior judicial figures, who have long argued that the war “was a serious violation of international law" are questioning the sincerity of Sir John’s claims that the war’s “legality” is the key issue, given that his panel “does not include a single judge or a lawyer”. This raises questions, the London daily notes, “about the willingness of the government, which established the inquiry, to look seriously at whether (it) acted illegally.” It would seem that the question as to whether a “legal” war would have justified the violent deaths to date of an estimated 100,000 civilians has so far not been considered.

(News in brief)

Torture | Corporal Payne comes clean

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 15:40:20 +0100

The British public is once again reeling from the news that its “boys” are guilty of unbecoming contact in foreign climes. The Independent leads with testimony of a British army soldier who has accused a superior and former comrades of the beating and torture of Iraqi prisoners. During an inquiry into the death of Iraqi civilian Baha Mousa in September 2003, former corporal Donald Payne changed his evidence and claimed he and fellow soldiers had “acted out of revenge” over the death of four comrades in southern Iraq. The objects of their revenge, 9 captured Iraqi civilians, were “routinely kicked and punched,” the London daily reports, with Baha Mousa dying from “asphxyiation and 93 separate injuries.” Mr Payne argued that he had covered up the extent of the abuse out of "misguided loyalty". He previously claimed he had only “nudged” or “slapped” detainees.

(News in brief)

Denmark | Politiken to the rescue of Iraqi refugees

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 15:05:30 +0100

"Jobs for rejected asylum seekers." Today the Danish daily Politiken launched a campaign to gather funds from its readers to create an information centre on Iraq. The goal of the project is to provide work for 100 Iraqi refugees who have been refused the right to stay in Denmark. The refugees, who are to be employed as consultants and lecturers, will be paid 32,000 Danish kroner a month (approximately 4,300 euros), a level of salary that should enable them to rapidly obtain residency rights in line with the provisions of a law designed to attract highly qualified immigrants to the country. When one family member obtains a residency permit of this kind, the rest of the family can also stay. "If the state does not want to help, civil society will have to intervene," explains the editor in chief of Politiken, Tøger Seidenfaden, in the newspaper's editorial. Both the government and the People's Party, its extreme right ally in Parliament, have announced their intention to block the initiative.

(News in brief)

Gas | All pipelines lead to Ankara (Die Zeit, Hamburg)

Wed, 30 Sep 2009 14:31:56 +0100

Ankara is the neighbour Europeans still won’t let into their club. And yet the country behind the Bosporus is soon to become the communication hub for energy supplies bound for Europe. Die Zeit doubts the EU can go on snubbing the Turks indefinitely. (Article)

Asylum Seekers | "Delight" as Besson clears Calais Jungle

Tue, 22 Sep 2009 15:35:25 +0100

“Next stop UK”, announces the front page of the Daily Mail, reporting on the closure of the refugee camp known as “The Jungle” in Calais, France, where asylum seekers from all corners of the planet gather to seek passage to the UK. The operation was “led by French riot police armed with flamethrowers, stun guns and tear gas,” with bullodozers encircling the “shanty town of tarpaulin tents and rickety shacks” where “the stench of rotting food and human waste fills the air,” reports the London newspaper, ever keen to keep its conservative readership abreast of the appalling table manners of the hordes that seek to wash up on England’s green and pleasant shores. So far 238 immigrants, mainly from Western-occupied Iraq and Afghanistan, and half of them children, have been arrested. According to aid agencies, most will be sent back to the countries where they entered the EU, Greece being one of the main points of entry. France’s minister of the Interior, Eric Besson, ordered the police swoop on humanitarian grounds, describing the camp as a base for “people traffickers”. On the other side of the Channel, Britain’s home secretary Alan Johnson described himself as “delighted” by the news. In the meantime, the victims of people traffickers seem to be of another opinion. “We are all absolutely determined to start a new life in England,” said a 22 year old from Kabul.

(News in brief)

Dennmark | Gagging Private Rathsack

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 16:14:23 +0100

Denmark is buzzing with excitement over a new book the government wants to ban. In Jaeger, i Krig med Eliten, (Special Forces Hunter at War), a former soldier, Thomas Rathsack gives a personal account of his experience of Danish commando operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. For more than a week, the Danish Ministry of Defence has been attempting to block the release of the book, which it wants definitively banned. It has further demanded that publisher Peoples Press provide it with a list of people to whom it has been sent, and written to the editors of national newspapers warning them not to publicize it, reports Danish daily Politiken. The ministry believes that the book gives too many details on the commandos methods of operation, and could prove useful to Denmark's enemies. On the the day before a court hearing on the request to ban the memoir, the newspaper has opted to publish extracts from the book. In its editorial, the daily justifies its decision, claiming that "members of the public have a right to follow the news – even when we are at war, and even when the authorities think they should be kept in the dark.” All of of today's edition of Politiken sold out this morning.

(News in brief)

Germany | European asylum law no longer credible

Thu, 10 Sep 2009 17:08:54 +0100

Leading with the headline "EU label still does not guarantee rule of law," Süddeutsche Zeitung reports on a decision of the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany, which opposed the deportation of an Iraqi asylum seeker to Greece on 9 September. According to the Dublin II Regulation, the country where a migrant first arrives in the European Union is responsible for his or her application for asylum. However, Greece, like other states on the borders of the Union, has been overwhelmed by refugees. "The scandalous treatment that Athens inflicts on refugees has been well documented," notes the Munich daily, which adds that "the court is right to block irresponsible deportations" to "so-called safe countries." If the decision sets a precedent, "Germany will have to deal with an upsurge in the number of asylum seekers," as did the Scandinavian countries. "With the help of this unexpected turn of events [… ], countries on the Union's southern borders may obtain satisfaction for their long-standing demand for more solidarity within Europe." At the same time, SZ accuses Athens of coercion: "Greece has instrumentalized its strict and negligent policy towards refugees to impose its wishes on the rest of Europe. It is distressing, but we cannot follow its example and punish refugees."

(News in brief)

Middle East | Moving closer to Syria (The Guardian, London)

Thu, 27 Aug 2009 12:30:04 +0100

Britain’s recent call to bring Syria into the EU’s European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) is part of a wider western strategy to tempt the previously isolated Ba'athist regime away from Iran and continue co-operation with the west in Iraq and Lebanon. Chris Philips at the Guardian wonders whether we are witnessing another example of human rights and democracy being sacrificed for political expediency. (Article)

Germany | Terrorist cell in deep slumber

Tue, 11 Aug 2009 14:03:43 +0100

The confession presented by Fritz G. on 10 August to the Criminal court in Düsseldorf, in the course of the trial of the members of an alleged Islamic terrorist cell, leaves no doubt: Fritz G. is indeed the leader of the "Sauerland" group, which planned several car-bomb attacks against American forces stationed in Germany in an attempt to force Berlin to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan. "They acted in the name of a terrorist group that is also known as the Islamic Jihad Union (IJU). In the light of this confession, there can be no further doubt that the IJU does exist," reports Tageszeitung. However, the daily also emphasizes that the case has revealed some positive news. The group, which had the materials to produce bombs that were 100 times more powerful than those that killed 52 innocent victims in London in 2005, suffered from a chronic shortage of personnel. The IJU delegated the four defendants to carry out the attacks because they had no other available agents – even though the defendants, who wanted to fight in Iraq, had protested that they should not be used because they knew they were being monitored by police. As TAZ notes, "information gleaned at the trial should be enough to dispel the German media myth of dozens of sleeper terrorists awaiting orders."

(News in brief)

NATO | A new chief for a shaky alliance (Presseurop, )

Mon, 03 Aug 2009 17:07:37 +0100

On August 1st, former Danish PM Anders Fogh Rasmussen was formally invested as NATO’s new secretary general, declaring that resolving the war in Afghanistan would be his main priority. But what, wonders the European press, is the outlook for the western alliance, blighted by in-fighting and seemingly with no end in sight to its battle against a resurgent Taliban? (Article)

Immigration | Wilkommen to Romania (Le Monde, Paris)

Tue, 14 Jul 2009 17:44:24 +0100

Since becoming a member of the EU, Romania has attracted waves of African, Indian, Afghan and Iraqi immigrants. Hailing from Somalia, Kasim thought he was on his way to Germany when unscrupulous traffickers dumped him deep in the heart of the Romanian countryside... (Article)

United Kingdom | Blame it on Brown

Mon, 13 Jul 2009 17:15:00 +0100

Gordon Brown’s troubled premiership may well be remembered for having provoked some of the most swingeing newspaper headlines in recent memory. In a month where 15 British soldiers have been killed in combat in Afghanistan, including eight this weekend, the Daily Telegraph leads with the headline “Brown’s ‘dereliction’”. The increasing number of British casualties in Afghanistan, which exceed those in Iraq, is blamed on defence budget cuts. Conservative party defence spokesman, Liam Fox, has especially singled out the government’s £1.4billion reduction of the army helicopter budget as “catastrophic” : under-equipped troops being forced to travel by land routes susceptible to Taliban ambush and booby-traps. Brown can expect no comfort even from moderate left, with Independent editoralist Bruce Anderson laying the blame for these deaths at the door of number 10, at a time when the British public increasingly supports the war effort in Afghanistan, up 15 points since 2006 to 46 per cent, according to an ICM poll for the BBC.

(News in brief)

ENERGY | Nabucco out to gas up

Mon, 13 Jul 2009 15:50:19 +0100

To connect Western Europe up to Central Asia so as to lower our dependence on Russian gas is the object of the future Nabucco gas pipeline, slated to be up and running in 2014. Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Austria, i.e. the five countries through which the 3,300 km pipeline is to run, signed a deal on 13 July in Ankara paving the way for the project to get started. “Assuming they come up with the money […], the biggest problem still remains to be resolved: the gas supply,” Turkish expert Necdet Pamir points out in Le Figaro.

“Azerbaijan dashed Nabucco promoters’ hopes by deciding in early July to grant priority access to Gazprom,” explains the French daily. In view of Europe’s irate reactions, however, the Azerbaijani State oil company has since confirmed that it will supply the quantities pledged. Turkmenistan, for its part, which is on bad terms with Moscow, has opted to join the European project. “Brussels hopes to clinch the same promise from Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, though in the longer term it is ogling the gas reserves in Egypt, Iraq and Iran,” concludes Le Figaro.

(News in brief)