Events in Iraq and Iran are extensively commented on in the German press. Karl Grobe writing in the Frankfurter Rundschau (26/10) examines the approval of the Iraqi Constitution and writes: “ The Constitution has been approved in Iraq. Nonetheless, the two-thirds majority ought not to cause too hasty a jubilee. Iraq now has the opportunity perhaps the last, for the time being – to obtain peaceful development and independence. But it has no certainty. The details amply demonstrate this. […] The twenty percent of those contrary to the Constitution, registered in Baghdad, where a fifth of the Iraqi population live and where until a few years ago the ethnic and religious difference between Sunnis, Shiites and others had no importance, gives us pause for thought. […] In spite of that, there is now a chance of getting everyone to participate in nation building and isolating the terrorists. But there are no guarantees of success“. The outspoken declarations of Iranian President Ahmadinejad against Israel, which ought according to him to we wiped off the map, is commented on as follows in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (27/10): “ The fact that Ahmadinejad wins no trust abroad by such aggressiveness and fury is clear: not in the West, obviously not in Israel, which was unable to realise the rise of Iran as a nuclear power, and not even among neighbouring Arab countries. Probably, Ahmadinejad really does think what he says. If the nuclear ambitions of Iran end up by being accepted and such a man retains power in his hands, no one should be surprised if Teheran were to pursue an even more aggressive foreign policy. But the question is whether the President speaks for the whole Iranian leadership or only for the ‘Islamic revolution’ section”. His political adversary Rafsanjani must be on his guard. Will he succeed in containing Ahmadinejad and his fury?“. “ A mass still to be celebrated” is the title of the editorial of Michel Kubrer in the French Catholic daily La Croix (24/10), commenting on the Synod of Bishops on the Eucharist, which ended a few days ago. “ Numerous factors writes Kubrer concurred to raise expectations in the Synod. The election of Benedict XVI … A reform of the functioning of the Synod itself that this Assembly tested with success, and lastly a freedom of the word to which the Synodal Fathers certainly had not accustomed us in the past“. But according to Kubrer, hopes that “ this assembly would open the way to access to communion of remarried divorcees and Christians of other confessions, permit the ordination of married men, or generalise ‘inculturated masses‘ have not been realized. To make such changes would have required “ rather far-reaching steps that the Synodal Fathers showed no intention of making“. According to Kruber “ the possibility remains of hoping that Benedict XVI is more daring than they (except for the celibacy of the priesthood which he himself reaffirmed only yesterday) in the exhortation with which he will present the Synod’s final propositions“. “ The enemy within” is the headline of the report in the magazine Time (31/10) that examines the phenomenon of intransigent young Muslims “ without roots” who are “ considerably augmenting their allegiance to religious extremism“. In his report Bill Powell stresses that “ although the precise number of European jihadists is impossible to determine, continental anti-terrorism estimates that radical groups are constantly growing. A French estimate of 2004 calculated that approximately 150 of the 1600 mosques and places of prayer in the country were under the control of extremist elements“. The same goes for Holland where, “ in response to a million Muslims present in the country, the local intelligence speaks of a score of extremist groups that are currently operative“. The question according to the author “ is what will happen now among the Muslim communities in Europe to stop the tendency that seems unstoppable towards hatred and violence. The angry minority does not seem in any way willing to change attitude“. In Spain the press comments on the victory of Lech Kaezynski in the elections for President of Poland. According to El Paìs of 25/10, his “points of view on homosexuality and the death sentence bode well for the European Union”. “The Commission voted yesterday for the former mayor of Warsaw to maintain his unequivocal commitment to European enlargement says the editorial but Brussels, from now on, will presumably encounter in Poland, a recent member of the club, a tougher negotiator and a man more dedicated to concrete national interests than to transnational concepts”.———————————————————————————————————– Sir Europa (English) N.ro assoluto : 1426 N.ro relativo : 75 Data pubblicazione : 28/10/2005
