“In remembrance, two years later”. That’s the front-page headline in the Herald Tribune (11/9) dedicated to the commemoration of the second anniversary of the tragic terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers in New York and the Pentagon in Washington. The front page of the American daily is dominated, at the centre, by a photo of Ground Zero, accompanied by an article signed by Richard Bernstein, with the title : “The USA is losing the sympathy of the world”. “In the two years that have passed since 11 September 2001 says Bernstein the view of the USA as the victim of terrorism who earned the world’s sympathy and support has given way, in the months following the war in Iraq, to a widespread view of America as an imperialist power that led world public opinion to an unjustified and unilateral use of military force”. “The wars of post-11 September” is the headline in Le Monde (11/9), according to which “the terrorist attacks of 11 September against the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington caused a wave of solidarity with the Americans, without precedent in history”. Two years later, however, notes the French daily, “compassion has given way to the fear lest rash actions may aggravate the problems and the suspicion that the campaign against terrorism is only a pretext for the extension of American hegemony”. “The world is forgetting 11 September”, warns Donald Rumsfeld, US Secretary of Defence. Interviewed by the Corriere della Sera (11/9), he regrets the fact that in America, two years after the tragedy, “attention is waning”. An appeal to “avert other possible 11 September” is made by Romanello Cantini in the Italian Catholic daily Avvenire (11/9). He emphasises the fact that “in Iraq the ‘peace’ has already caused more American victims than the war and that the spectre of a terrible dilemma appears on the horizon: the having to choose between the exposure of the allied troops to the endless attacks of snipers and the abandonment of the country that would paradoxically confirm to terrorism its first outright victory”. Another question of interest to the international press is the difficult peace process in the Middle East, where the “road map” has been thrown into crisis by the new escalation of terrorist attacks and violence. “The Palestinian attacks headlines the Herald Tribune (10/9) come just at a time when the political uncertainty is deepening”. James Bennet and Greg Myre point out that the new terrorist attacks “contribute to the deterioration of the climate in the Middle East, where Israel has cut off relations with the Palestinians and is sending in its troops in the search for suspect militants”. “Israel and Palestine: hope is dead”, is the eloquent front-page headline in Le Monde (9/9). The paper’s editorial notes that the new clashes “ once again place Israelis and Palestinians in a situation of exacerbated conflict” and threaten “the defeat of a ‘road map’ that had already been going nowhere for several weeks”. According to the French daily, “the Sharon government is pursuing its policy of assassinating the leaders of Hamas. But, as many military men say in private and most former exponents of the Israeli information services say in public, it’s a battle without end (…). The status quo in the territories is undermining the hope of moderate Palestinians; Islamic terrorism is undermining that of moderate Israelis. The time has come for a more vigorous international mediation”. The Spanish “El Periódico” ( 7/9) says that “Aznar is doubling his efforts in defence of an explicit mention of Christianity in the Constitution of the EU”. The Spanish premier has pointed out that “without the Christian heritage it is impossible to explain Europe: not just in terms of religion, but in terms of so many other things that have been achieved in a climate of freedom, equality and human rights. The mention of Christianity should not be an obstacle for the citizens of other faiths or for those of a secular persuasion, given that the European Union is non-confessional”. The Christian heritage of Europe is also defended by another Spanish daily: writing in Abc ( 8/9), Juan Manuel de Prada points out that “presenting the juridical and social advances that now support the functioning of European states as if Christian humanism had not influenced them constitutes an intolerable exercise of cynicism and ignorance”.———————————————————————————————————– Sir Europa (English) N.ro assoluto : 1230 N.ro relativo : 60 Data pubblicazione : 12/09/2003
