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Alexander, Dietrich
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4 articles of this author have been cited in the European Press Review so far.
Weak judgement a boon for Scientology
In a much awaited judgement a criminal court in Paris has found the Church of Scientology and several of its leading members guilty of organised fraud, ordering them to pay high fines. However the prosecutor's demand that the Church - classified as a sect in France - be disbanded is impossible for two reasons, writes the conservative daily Die Welt: "The legal reason: When a reform package on legal simplification was passed, a clause was struck from the law 'by accident' which would have made a ban possible. The social and political reason: Of course the court could have postponed its judgement until the missing clause was once more reintegrated into the law. But it seems that what was lacking was the will to do so. ... Although Scientology is demonstrably guilty of criminal misdeeds, the French justice system has not acted accordingly. Scientology can pay the fines from its petty cash and carry on with its activities that amount practically to dispossession. This is no great day for Justitia. Congratulations Scientology!"
» full article (external link, German)
More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » Social movements, » Weltanschauung, » France
Turkey eases the ban on headscarves
"No reason to panic," say Dietrich Alexander. "In a democratic decision-making process Turkey has loosened its ban on headscarves. The country has thus liberated itself from the constraints of an anachronistic piece of legislation brought in by Kemal Atatürk more than 80 years ago and thus become a little more honest in its search for a national identity. ... Nevertheless, it would not be good if Prime Minister Erdogan's conservative-Islamic governing party were to use its comfortable parliamentary majority to take further steps perceived by secularly-oriented Turks as breaking taboos -- such as introducing a ban on consuming alcohol in public, favouring graduates of religious Imam-Hatip schools or prescribing prudish regulations for bathing attire. After all it is important for the government to remain on good terms with the country's urban elite."
» full article (external link, German)
More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » Religion, » Turkey
Israel steps up its offensive
"Zero tolerance ! The Israeli government led by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert makes no compromises when it comes to the kidnapping of Israeli citizens – and a soldier is also a citizen. There are good reasons for this stance: it would be at the mercy of blackmailing tactics if it were to concede to any kind of negotiations with the militant extremists in the Gaza Strip on the one hand and the Shi'ite Hizbullah militants in south Lebanon on the other," writes Dietrich Alexander. "Nonetheless it's valid to question whether attack really is the best defence in Israel's current situation. The country is facing a conflict on two fronts which could quickly escalate into a full-blown war in Lebanon... Meanwhile, the Lebanese government must not make the mistake of underestimating how earnest Israel's threats are... Lebanon, which has only recently freed itself of the Syrian yoke under which it lived for decades, should not waste its gradually growing strength on a war precipitated by false friends and which it cannot win."
» full article (external link, German)
More from the press review on the subject » Security Policy / Crises / War, » Middle East
Tourism and terrorism
The terrorists who carried out the bombings in the Egyptian resort of Dahab wanted to "strike at the very heart of the Western way of life," says Dietrich Alexander. "This is a lifestyle which, in its liberality, offends the totalitarian-oriented Islamic model of fanatic Muslims and which they perceive as a provocation. They want to attack the structures that the Western way of life has 'produced'. This is why, with increasing frequency, global tourism and global terrorism become fatally intertwined. The holiday paradises of this world are becoming the preferred battlefields of these self-appointed holy warriors who, with their crazed attacks, are perverting their own religion. No one is safe, anywhere."
» full article (external link, German)
More from the press review on the subject » Security Policy / Crises / War, » Tourism, » Middle East
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