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Gehlen, Martin
3 articles of this author have been cited in the European Press Review so far.
A youth betrayed
Libya's wasteful use of its raw material revenues has heated up the protests led by the younger generation against head of state Muammar al-Gaddafi, the liberal weekly Die Zeit comments: "The youths who will witness the depletion of the country's oil and gas resources are almost ready to leave school. And they can't help wondering what will become of them and their future. Because the old guard in Tripoli is still sitting in the corridors of power, easily recognisable with their heads of white hair and long-winded praise of the glorious wisdom of their 'Brother Leader', presiding impassively over the failure of their own policies. Because no Arab country apart from Algeria has wasted its wealth in natural resources as recklessly as Gaddafi and his supporters in Libya. Over 90 percent of Libyan workers are employed for a pittance by the state. Privatisation is at a standstill. Public life is paralysed by bureaucracy, systematic laziness and a bloated security apparatus. No wonder Libya's younger generation is also getting fired up."
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More from the press review on the subject » Security Policy / Crises / War, » Politics, » Libya
Hard times ahead
The difficult situation on the domestic front in Egypt plays right into the hands of the Islamists, writes the left-liberal daily Frankfurter Rundschau commenting on the attack in Alexandria: "The successor of the 82-year-old head of state who has pulled all the strings for an entire generation will be chosen in September. But there is no clear political heir in sight. Instead, the old guard of the military and security apparatus and the elite of economic reformers are fighting bitterly with each other. And worse still: the outrageously blatant fraud in the November elections has completely deprived the parliament of the authority to credibly intervene in the fate of the country. ... What began as preparing the political terrain for as smooth a transfer of power as possible could soon turn into a political boomerang. The Egyptian Islamists will delve deeper than before into the political underground and the influence of the moderate wing will continue to dwindle."
» full article (external link, German)
More from the press review on the subject » Security Policy / Crises / War, » Religion, » Minorities, » Egypt
A new course in the Middle East
The Frankfurter Rundschau applauds President Sarkozy's mediation efforts in the Middle East. "Shaking hands with rogues? ... New dynamism has been brought to the well-worn system for identifying good and evil in the Middle East. Under the leadership of the agile French president [Nicolas Sarkozy], the EU is attempting to sound out new courses of action. Because Europeans have always gone along with the US idea of an 'axis of evil' rather against their will. And states like Turkey and Qatar, which enjoy the trust of both the Arab world and the Israeli-American side, have proved themselves as new mediators in peace efforts with Israel. Sarkozy, too, has positioned himself well. He has put an end to his predecessor Chirac's policy of isolating Sryria, and at the same time he has built up more trust in France's relations with Israel. ... If he could resolve the conflict with Syria, it could even result in a solution of the nuclear contention with Iran."
» full article (external link, German)
More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » Security Policy / Crises / War, » France, » Europe, » Turkey, » Middle East
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