Main focus of Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Fear of Iran growing

After inaugurating a nuclear power plant and presenting a new military drone, Iran now wants to upgrade its navy. The European press is worried at the regime's aggressive stance and speculates that it won't be long before Israel attacks Iran.

The Times - United Kingdom

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad strewed rose petals on Iran's new unmanned drone when it was presented on Sunday. Such gestures prove the Iranian leader is an unpredictable madman, writes Hugo Rifkind in his blog for the conservative daily The Times: "Do they have any idea, the Iranian regime? Do they grasp, at all, why the world is so frightened of them? Tehran, please, listen. It's not because you pose a lurking threat to our beloved US-dominated, Zionist hegemony. I know you like to think that, but genuinely, it isn't. It's because you're lunatics. Proper, bomb-humping, women-hating, backward freaks. ... Every country has its share of mad people, sure, but in Iran they're in charge. The world simply cannot trust these people with nuclear weapons. ... It's bad enough we trust them with scissors." (24/08/2010)

» full article (external link, English)
More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » Security Policy / Crises / War, » U.S., » Global, » Iran, » Israel
All available articles from » Hugo Rifkind

Suomen Kuvalehti - Finland

In the US magazine The Atlantic, journalist Jeffrey Goldberg puts the probability of Israel carrying out an air strike against Iran at more than 50 percent. In the blog of the magazine Suomen Kuvalehti Marko Maunula sees the report as "frighteningly analytical and carefully justified. ... The strong consensus [among those interviewed by Goldberg] tells us that the idea of an Iran armed with nuclear weapons is intolerable, and that if all other means fail an air strike against Iran is inevitable. Israel's opinion on Iran having nuclear weapons is easy to understand, but the concerns of other Arab states about Iranian nuclear weapons are almost as strong. ... It will be one to three years before Iran has nuclear weapons. The people interviewed by Goldberg say that Israel's attack will come before July next year if Iran doesn't end its nuclear weapons programme. Here too, the United States is once again at the centre of the action. Israel and many Arab states in the region are demanding that the US adopt clear measures to stop Iran's nuclear programme." (24/08/2010)

» full article (external link, Finnish)
More from the press review on the subject » Security Policy / Crises / War, » Iran, » Israel

Delfi - Latvia

The news portal Delfi writes that while Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is above all considered a provocateur in the West, the most important question remains unanswered: "A few sanctions have been imposed to no real effect, and aside from that there have been a few threatening military gestures and unreliable prognoses. But in truth the world really only has to find the answer to one question: are Ahmadinejad and the Iran he controls on the same level as Pakistan and India, for example, which although they have nuclear weapons do not represent a major headache for the world? If Iran's president is a new Hitler, there's no choice but to make up for lost time and send military commandos to Iran before it's too late. But if that's not the case it's incomprehensible why he's been able to cause years of commotion." (24/08/2010)

» full article (external link, Latvian)
More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » Security Policy / Crises / War, » U.S., » Global, » Iran, » Israel
All available articles from » Māris Krūmiņš

Elsevier - Netherlands

With its first nuclear power plant and its first drones, Iran is putting the West in a dilemma, writes the right-wing liberal weekly Elsevier: "Iran is getting better and better at making its own weapons. That and the expansion of the Iranian nuclear programme are making people in Tel Aviv and Washington increasingly worried. But in view of what's happened in Iraq and Afghanistan no one is expecting a new, open war in this explosive region. And targeted air strikes could provoke a military reaction on the part of the unpredictable Iranian leadership, which could also use the threat of a common enemy to strengthen its weakened political situation at home. As a result, in answer to this new Iranian provocation the West must content itself with continuing to up diplomatic and economic pressure, and above all to close ranks. That in itself is often difficult enough." (24/08/2010)

» full article (external link, Dutch)
More from the press review on the subject » Security Policy / Crises / War, » Iran
All available articles from » Robbert de Witt

» To the complete press review of Tuesday, August 24, 2010