PRESS REVIEW" "
The main European dailies continue to reflect on the international crisis following the tragic events of 11 September, focusing in particular on what might be called the “two fronts” of the war: the military offensive in Afghanistan and bio-terrorism; the latter has come to the forefront following the letters containing anthrax sent through the post that have already caused several deaths in the USA. That the Americans are “divided in two” is the perception of Maurice Lévy in Le Monde of 24/10. According to Lévy, the Americans “seem to oscillate permanently between, on the one hand, a real sense of disquiet, a feeling of great frailty, and, on the other, a profound energy, a highly ‘interior’ and very comforting force”. The author’s central thesis is that “the Americans have, consciously or not, the feeling that a recession would present the terrorists with a second victory. The economic dynamic is becoming a central element to overcome the crisis (…). Quite apart from the support being given by each country to the fight against blind terrorism, there does exist a field that does not know any defeat, as far as our solidarity with the Americans is concerned: it is that of economic action. If Europe should once again be thrown into crisis, millions of people would once again be without work and our youth, including the most defenceless, the least well provided for, would create an explosive powder-keg at the very heart of our cities that in many cases only awaits a spark to ignite“. “By now writes Yann Mens in La Croix of 22/10 the war in Afghanistan has two facets, one in the air and the other on land”. In particular, the author of the article points out, “this is the first land operation carried out by a commando force of American special units (…) which have made the conflict enter a new phase (…). The commandos, who have only encountered slight resistance, have caused victims in the ranks of the adversary”, said General Richard Myers, but “the Taliban, for their part, have said they have repulsed the commandos and shot down a helicopter”. To the first American victims of anthrax, and the consequent “shock” that biological terrorism has caused among the public, the Herald Tribune (24/10) dedicates its front-page story, suggesting that a possible “new front” of the war has been opened: “ This new speculation on the origins of the bio-terrorist threat observes Dana Milbank and D’Vera Cohn has led to tests on post-office workers in Washington being initiated in hospitals and to the administration of thousands of antibiotics as a precautionary measure. The tests have dramatically multiplied, after the death of two employees in the postal sorting center in Washington”. The war in Afghanistan continues to occupy the front pages of the German papers, even if interest has now been displaced to the sociological aspect and psychological consequences of the war climate. Thus the Spiegel of 22/10 devoted extensive coverage to the situation of what it calls “ New York, wounded city” which gives the title to the whole number of the magazine. It contains a reportage signed by Jan Fleischhauer and Gerhard Spoerl on “ The invisible enemy“: to express something of the unreal atmosphere that reigns in the city, they write that “in the eyes of security experts, New York is composed only of objectives and suspects“. According to the article of Thomas Huetlin and Alexander Osang “ Tomorrow in your post too?“, fear of anthrax now dominates the nightmares of New Yorkers: “ first the attack, now the fear: terror has New York in its grip: the city that before never wanted to sleep at all, is now no longer able to do so.” “The Che of the Prophet” is the title of a further article in the same magazine, in which the iconography of Che Guevara is compared with that of Bin Laden.
