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Kurstjens, Bas
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2 articles of this author have been cited in the European Press Review so far.
Military action not an option
Despite Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's increasing violence against his people there is no chance of the West launching a military intervention against his regime, writes the liberal business paper De Tijd: "Unlike Libya Syria is in the middle of the most explosive region in the world. And while Colonel Gaddafi was pretty isolated even within his own region the Assad clan has been very successful in the past decade in playing off powerful neighbours like Israel, Turkey, Iran and Iraq against each other. In the case of Syria underlining the condemnations with military action like in Libya is not an option. Assad's regime can still count on sufficient support from the regional superpower Iran. An abrupt change of regime would also destroy the fragile balance between the different minority groups. The prospect of a second Iraq is not tempting for anyone."
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More from the press review on the subject » Security Policy / Crises / War, » Syria
Antipathy as a chance
The behaviour of the US company General Motors (GM) has led to deep-seated resentment on the part of German employees, writes the business daily De Tijd, commenting that there is, however, fresh hope for the Opel plant in the Belgian city of Antwerp: "The result of this antipathy is that Berlin has provisionally refused state aid for restructuring Opel. The question arises of how long Berlin can keep up this attitude if GM starts playing off the various European governments vying to maintain their local plants with state aid against each other. For Antwerp this latest development in the Opel saga could prove beneficial. If the German federal and state governments stick to their threat ... the Opel plant in Antwerp could find itself with an important trump in its hand. Because the Flemish government still has 500 million euros in loans and leasing constructions up its sleeve."
» full article (external link, Dutch)
More from the press review on the subject » Corporations, » Labour, » Germany, » Belgium
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