Filme: “300” de Zack Snyder, a história ficcional da Batalha das Termópilas (480 a.C.), entre gregos e persas, que irritou Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

O filme 300 é uma adaptação ao cinema da banda desenhada 300, do norte-americano Frank Miller. A história é inspirada na Batalha das Termópilas, ocorrida em 480 a.C., onde as cidades-estado gregas se uniram para enfrentar e derrotar o invasor persa. A narrativa decorre à volta do Rei de Esparta (Leónidas) e 300 dos seus soldados, que lutaram até o último homem contra o imperador da Pérsia, Xerxes, dotado do maior exército da Antiguidade. Praticamente sem possibilidades de sobrevivência e de vitória, o sacrifício dos 300 espartanos para travar os exércitos imperiais persas, inspirou a posterior união das cidades-estado helénicas, que acabaram por derrotar e repelir os invasores do seu território. O Presidente do Irão, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, provavelmente a pensar no mau presságio que a Batalha das Termópilas traz ao seu sonho de potência nuclear, não gostou desta mistura entre ficção e realidade. A guerra de ideias já chegou à banda desenhada e ao cinema.
JPTF 2007/04/08

“Pequim, Jogos Olímpicos e Transparência” in Courrier International

Cartoon de Harry

A cinq cents jours de l’ouverture des JO de Pékin, la Chine vient de dévoiler en grande pompe les médailles qui seront remises aux vainqueurs - leur centre est garni de jade. Pour impliquer les habitants de la capitale dans la préparation des premiers JO de l’histoire chinoise, les autorités ont conçu un slogan ad hoc : “Je participe, je contribue, je suis heureux." Un accident mortel sur un chantier du métro (dans un tunnel de la future ligne qui doit relier le village olympique au nord de la capitale), que l’entreprise de construction a tenté de dissimuler, pose néanmoins la question de la transparence dans les préparatifs de ces Olympiades.
http://cartoons.courrierinternational.com//dessins/dessin.asp?obj_id=72339
JPTF 6/04/2007

“Kosovo: que preço para a independência?” in The Economist, 3 de Abril de 2007

EIGHT years ago NATO planes were bombing Serbia. They were at the beginning of a 78-day campaign, which concluded with Serbian forces being driven out of Kosovo, its southern province. For much of that period diplomats from the big countries involved were in constant contact in a frantic attempt to end the war. With Russia's help, the bombing was brought to an end by a resolution at the UN Security Council. On Tuesday April 3rd the Security Council will discuss a plan for Kosovo's independence. Russia's involvement means that the session is not expected to be easy. There are still no good solutions to the thorny problem of Kosovo, only less bad ones. As far as most western countries are concerned a workable plan for the future of the province is now on the table. Russia however rejects this settlement, which proposes independence. Kosovo was (and technically remains) a province of Serbia. The overwhelming majority of its 2m people are ethnic Albanians who want nothing less than independence. Serbia’s leaders do not accept this. Ever since the end of the Kosovo war, the territory has been under the jurisdiction of the UN. Martti Ahtisaari, a former Finnish president asked by the UN to come up with a solution for Kosovo, delivered his plans to the Security Council on March 26th. In his accompanying report, Mr Ahtisaari did some plain speaking. He says that Serbs and Albanians have “diametrically opposed positions” and that “no amount of additional talks, whatever the format, will overcome this impasse.” His conclusion is that, “the only viable option for Kosovo is independence, to be supervised for an initial period by the international community.”Kosovo is now under the jurisdiction of the UN, so a new Security Council resolution is needed to change this. If the Security Council accepts Mr Ahtisaari’s plan then not only will NATO’s current peacekeeping force stay there, but a large EU mission will help to supervise the police and judiciary. And the position of a powerful international governor general will be created, with the ability to sack local officials and strike down laws inconsistent with the Ahtisaari settlement. Vojislav Kostunica, Serbia's caretaker prime minister, hopes Russia will veto this “plan to dismember Serbia.” Independence, he gives warning, “would be an act of violence against the law.” Russian officials meanwhile insist that more talks are necessary. They see Kosovo’s independence as a precedent under international law, something that the Americans, British and others reject. Across the former Soviet Union there are several “frozen conflicts” bearing some similarities to Kosovo. One is in Nagorno-Karabakh, an Armenian enclave within Azerbaijan; another is in Transdniestria, a breakaway part of Moldova. Perhaps Russian officials believe that it is possible to keep Kosovo frozen too and thus avoid hard decisions. The problem is that Kosovo is near boiling point and could explode at any moment.Western diplomats warn that if Russia blocks Kosovo's independence at the UN, violence is certain to breakout. Also, without a Security Council resolution Kosovo's Albanians are likely to declare independence anyway. This could result in an almighty mess with some countries, perhaps including America, recognising the new state but with many others, including EU countries, not doing so. Mr Ahtisaari has told sceptics within the EU (Spain, Slovakia and Greece) that European unity is more important than their doubts. Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general, has thrown his weight behind the plan, as has the head of NATO. Western diplomats are worried that Russia will block a new resolution and spark a another conflagration in the Balkans. But Russia may not want to pick a fight against both America and the EU. No doubt some secret, bilateral diplomacy is underway, with senior American diplomats asking Russia what it wants in exchange for supporting a new UN resolution. If there is a new resolution we may not know until the history books are written what price Russia extracted in exchange for its support.
http://www.economist.com/daily/news/displaystory.cfm?story_id=8945415
JPTF 2007/04/04

Livro: “Conhecimento Perigoso. O Orientalismo e os seus Descontentes” de Robert Irwin, The Overlook Press, Woodstock & Nova Iorque, 2006

“É um escândalo e um mau comentário sobre a qualidade da vida intelectual britânica das recentes décadas que o argumento de Said sobre o Orientalismo ainda possa ser levado a sério [...] As qualidades do Orientalismo [de Said] são as de uma boa novela. É excitante está embalado num lote de vilões sinistros, bem como num numeroso bando de bonzinhos e a imagem que apresenta do mundo é ricamente imaginada, mas essencialmente ficcional” (p. 309).

Robert Irwin é um historiador britânico e professor na School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) de Londres, editor para o Médio Oriente do Times Literary Supplement. Com esta publicação intitulada Dangerous Knowledge. Orientalism and its Discontents/Conhecimento Perigoso. O Orientalismo e os seus Descontentes (que foi posteriormente editada sob o título For Lust of Knowing. The Orientalists and their Enemies/Pelo Desejo de Saber. Os Orientalistas e os Seus Inimigos) o autor dá-nos uma visão abrangente do Orientalismo, como campo de estudos, com um retrato dos percursos e obras dos principais nomes que marcaram a disciplina. Robert Irwin assume também que a motivação para esta publicação se deve, em boa medida, ao livro Orientalismo de Edward Said, publicado originalmente em 1978. Vamos por partes na análise do que nos oferece o conteúdo do livro. Os oito primeiros capítulos de Robet Irwin dão uma panorâmica do Orientalismo e retratam as suas figuras mais importantes - a esmagadora maioria das quais desconhecida do público não especializado (o mais conhecido é provavelmente Ernest Renan, que só secundariamente pode ser considerado orientalista) - , como Guillaume de Postel, um francês exótico do século XVI, que foi o fundador da disciplina; Ignatz Goldziher, um húngaro de ascendência judaica e cultura germânica, que foi o seu principal expoente na segunda metada do século XIX e inícios do século XX ; e Arminius Vambéry, também de origem húngara, mais um viajante intrépido do que um orientalista, que com os seus relatos das lendas balcânicas terá inspirado o escritor britâncico Bram Stocker, no romance Drácula. Nesta parte do livro, Robert Irwin aborda o tema de forma atraente e elegante, fazendo uma descrição das origens e evolução do Orientalismo numa linguagem acessível, entremeada com um certo humor e pormenores curiosos (por exemplo, Cristóvão Colombo levava consigo um intérprete judeu, falante de língua árabe, para lidar com os povos das Américas).

Nos últimos capítulos, especialmente no capítulo 9 (Uma Investigação sobre a Natureza de uma Certa Polémica do Século XX), o tom da escrita altera-se um pouco e dá lugar a uma crítica corrosiva, naquilo que ironicamente poderíamos chamar a “desconstrução do Orientalismo” de Edward Said. Para os menos familiarizados com o percurso de Said importa recordar que este nasceu em Jerusalém, numa família cristã árabe (protestante) da burguesia do Médio Oriente, tendo estudado numa escola de elite anglófila do Cairo e vivido a maior parte da sua vida nos Estados Unidos, onde foi professor de Literatura, na Universidade de Columbia, em Nova Iorque. Foi sobretudo um conhecido e emblemático activista da causa palestiniana (auto apresentando-se como palestiniano, naquilo que poderíamos chamar a “construção social da sua identidade”) apesar de ser provavelmente de ascendência libanesa. Sobre este, Robert Irwin começa por fazer notar (à semelhança do já tinham feito outros críticos, como, por exemplo, Bernard Lewis, Maxime Rodinson ou Albert Hourani) que o livro Orientalismo contem vários erros e imprecisões factuais (por exemplo, a sugestão que a Grã-Bretanha e a França dominavam o Mediterrâneo oriental no século XVII, ou a referência que este faz à conquista, pelos exércitos muçulmanos, da Turquia antes do Norte de África). Tal como já tinha anteriormente feito Lewis, Irwin chama à atenção dos leitores para o facto de os orientalistas alemães (com um peso enorme na disciplina de nomes como Hammer-Porstgall, Fleischer, Welhausen, Goldziher, Nöloeke e Becker) serem praticamente ignorados Orientalismo de Said, que pretendeu fazer uma análise crítica - ou melhor, uma genealogia do tipo Nietzsche/Foucault- desse campo de estudos.

Depois de se ler a argumentação de Robert Irwin, a sensação que fica é que Edward Said recorreu a um estratagema hábil mas que intelectualmente não deixa de merecer reparos. Said sugere aos seus leitores que o Orientalismo britânico e francês foram os mais importantes. A conveniência desta ideia assentou provavelmente em duas razões: primeiro, eram as línguas europeias que este conhecia melhor (ao contrário do alemão e também do russo, tendo também a Rússia uma grande tradição de Orientalismo, que este ignorou totalmente, seja por desconhecimento ou por outras razões); segundo, permitiam-lhe criar um elo de ligação (aparentemente convincente, sobretudo para o público não especializado) entre orientalismo e imperialismo, pois Grã-Bretanha e França foram os dois maiores poderes coloniais ocidentais. Todavia, se considerasse o caso alemão, como a Alemanha praticamente não teve império colonial, mas deu a mais importante contribuição isolada para o campo do Orientalismo, a genealogia de Edward Said ficava em dificuldades logo à partida (nada que não se resolva com uma velha técnica de escrita, que consiste em omitir a factualidade que é incómoda ou contradiz o que se pretende mostrar ...). Para além disso, apresentou o Orientalismo como um discurso unificado - o que também é uma distorção mais ou menos grosseira dada a diversidade e visões, frequentemente contraditórias, existentes na disciplina -, sugerindo que os orientalistas eram “agentes do imperialismo” e uma espécie de guarda avançada do “imperialismo cultural” do Ocidente. A realidade mostrada por Irwin é bastante diferente. Não invulgarmente simpatizavam genuinamente com a cultura e religião que estudavam e alguns até apoiaram causas políticas dos povos árabes e islâmicos, não sendo agentes do poder colonial, mas, na maioria dos casos, indivíduos motivados por uma grande curiosidade e uma vontade genuína de saber (curiosamente, o único exemplo que Said admite com este perfil foi o de Louis Massignon, que não foi propriamente um orientalista outsider, como este sugere, e esteve mesmo ligado ao poder político colonial francês).

Crítica contundente, perpassada de sarcástica ironia, mereceu ainda o cânone pós-moderno do Orientalismo - um dos livros de culto dos actuais Estudos Pós-Coloniais -, e a sua obsessão pela linguagem e descontruções de textos: (p. 286): “Tal como vimos, foi o discurso e as estratégias textuais que conduziram o projecto imperial, criaram plantações de borracha, fizeram o canal do Suez e estabeleceram guarnições de legionários no Sara. Como o Orientalismo é pela sua natureza uma doença ocidental, o mesmo deve ser verdade para o imperialismo. Os persas, que sob Ciro, Dário e Xerxes construíram um poderoso império e tentaram anexar a Grécia e esse império, não foram denunciados por Said por imperialismo. Pelo contrário, foram apresentados como trágicas e inocentes vítimas de distorções de dramaturgos. Mais tarde, os Omíadas, os Abássidas, os Fatimidas e os Otomanos presidiram a grandes impérios, mas as suas dinastias escaparam à censura. De facto, devem ter sido considerados vítimas da distorção ocidental.” Por tudo o que foi referido - e para além de algumas imprecisões, sobretudo no capítulo 10 ( “inimigos do Orientalismo”), notadas por Amir Taheri na recensão feita no jornal árabe Asharq Alawsat de Londres -, estamos perante um contributo relevante para um conhecimento mais equilibrado da tradição de estudos do Orientalismo; e estamos também perante uma defesa apaixonada contra os que a tentaram denegrir e banir, por razões que vão para além de considerações estritamente académicas e científicas e se encontram mais no terreno da luta política e ideológica. Adivinha-se uma recepção negativa e a irritação nos Estudos Pós-Coloniais a este “regresso dos fósseis”.
NOTA: Esta recensão foi publicada na Crítica: Revista de Filosofia e Ensino http://www.criticanarede.com/
JPTF 2007/04/03

“A matemática ocidental: a arma secreta do imperialismo cultural” de Alan Bishop in The Post-Colonial Studies Reader, 2ª ed., 2006

A matemática ocidental é uma forma de imperialismo cultural que oprime as minorias e gera exclusão social?

Na sua própria apresentação editorial ao público, O Leitor dos Estudos Pós-Coloniais surge como “uma introdução essencial aos mais importantes textos da teoria pós-colonial”. Esta publicação que já vai na 2ª edição em língua inglesa, abrange múltiplas perspectivas “reflectindo a notável diversidade de trabalho na disciplina e o carácter vibrante dos escritos anti-imperialistas dentro e fora dos centros metropolitanos.” Representa também “um ponto de partida ideal para os estudantes e as temáticas pós-coloniais e um poderoso desafio às formas como nós escrevemos e pensamos sobre literatura e cultura”. Nesta colectânea, sem dúvida um dos artigos mais vibrantes é assinado por Alan Bishop, professor Emérito de Educação na Universidade de Monash, na Austrália. Durante 23 anos leccionou na Universidade de Cambridge, antes de ir para Monash, em 1992, como professor de Educação. O seu artigo “A matemática ocidental: a arma secreta do imperialismo cultural”, inserido no já referido Leitor dos Estudos Pós-Coloniais editado por B. Ashcroft, G. Griffin & H. Tiffin (Routledge, Londres, pp. 71-76, na 1ª ed.), contém uma importante reflexão epistemológica sobre a matemática ocidental e o seu ensino, que merecia mais atenção e divulgação em Portugal, pelo seu carácter inovador. Como Bishop sugere, a matemática, sob uma capa de (pretensa) objectividade e universalismo, tem sido utilizada como um instrumento de “imperialismo cultural“ ao serviço da sociedade capitalista, para silenciar identidades e culturas de povos não ocidentais (existem vários “sistemas matemáticos alternativos“ cujo saber é menosprezado). Por exemplo, na Papua Nova Guiné foram detectados cerca de 600 sistemas de contar diferentes. Isto sugere que devemos reconhecer a “etno-matemática“ como um “mais localizado e específico conjunto de ideias matemáticas“, fora da Matemática (ocidental) dominante. Desta forma, tem-se assistido a uma crescente exclusão e marginalização de crianças e jovens de grupos minoritários, cuja cultura é desvalorizada. O autor deste notável artigo científico é um reputado académico britânico, conselheiro de governos e instituições internacionais. Foi Presidente da Associação de Matemática do Reino Unido, pertencendo ao comité da Real Sociedade de Educação Matemática, tendo sido representante do Reino Unido na Comissão Internacional para o Ensino da Matemática, e conselheiro de agências governamentais sobre as políticas de educação na matemática. Efectuou também um investigação para aconselhamento do influente Comité Cockcroft no Reino Unido, que mudou a política de educação em muitos países, incluindo a Austrália. É membro da Associação de Matemática de Vitória, na Austrália. É conselheiro da UNESCO para assuntos de educação matemática.
NOTA: Se ficou convencido que a “matemática ocidental” é mesmo a “arma secreta do imperialismo cultural” veja agora a crítica feita por Russel Jacoby em “From Utopia to Myopia: How the aesthetic pose crippled political thinking“ na Boston Review http://bostonreview.net/BR24.2/jacoby.html
JPTF 2004/04/01

“Abrindo caminho para uma sociedade muçulmana paralela” na Alemanha in Spiegel online International, 29 de Março de 2007

A recent ruling in Germany by a judge who cited the Koran underscores the dilemma the country faces in reconciling Western values with a growing immigrant population. A disturbing number of rulings are helping to create a parallel Muslim world in Germany that is welcoming to Islamic fundamentalists.

She didn't know it, nor did she even expect it. She had good intentions. Perhaps it was a mistake. In fact, it was most certainly a mistake. The best thing to do would be to wipe the slate clean. Last week, in the middle of the storm, Christa Datz-Winter, a judge on Frankfurt's family court, was speechless. But Bernhard Olp, a spokesman for the city's municipal court, was quick to jump in. Olp reported that the judge had been under emotional stress stemming from a murder that had been committed in her office 10 years ago, and that she was now planning to take a break to recuperate. He also mentioned that she was "outraged" -- not about herself or her scandalous ruling, but over the reactions the case has triggered. The reactions were so fierce that one could have been forgiven for mistakenly thinking that Germany's Muslims had won the headscarf dispute and the controversy over the Mohammed cartoons in a single day and, in one fell swoop, had taken a substantial bite out of the legal foundations of Western civilization. The ensuing media furor came from both sides of the political spectrum. The left-leaning daily Die Tageszeitung ran a story on the case titled: "In the Name of the People: Beating Allowed," while the right-wing tabloid Bild called it "An Outrageous Case!" The same unanimity across party lines prevailed in the political realm. "Unbearable," was conservative Bavarian Interior Minister Günther Beckstein's ruling, while Lale Akgün, a member of parliament of Turkish origin and the Social Democratic Party's representative on Islamic issues, commented that the Frankfurt judge's ruling was "worse than some backyard decision by an Islamist imam." Even the deputy head of the Green Party's parliamentary group, Hans-Christian Ströbele, noted that a German judge is obligated to uphold German law. The original purpose of the case was not to carry the clash of cultures into the courtroom. Instead, the case brought before Frankfurt's family court was that of a 26-year-old German woman of Moroccan origin who was terrified of her violent Moroccan husband, a man who had continued to threaten her despite having been ordered to stay away by the authorities. He had beaten his wife and he had allegedly threatened to kill her. But German law requires a one-year separation before a divorce can be completed - and exceptions for an expedited process are only granted in extreme situations. When the woman's attorney, Barbara Becker-Rojczyk, filed a petition for an expedited divorce, Judge Christa Datz-Winter suddenly became inflexible. According to the judge, there was no evidence of "an unreasonable hardship" that would make it necessary to dissolve the marriage immediately. Instead, the judge argued, the woman should have "expected" that her husband, who had grown up in a country influenced by Islamic tradition, would exercise the "right to use corporal punishment" his religion grants him. The judge even went so far as to quote the Koran in the grounds for her decision. In Sura 4, verse 34, she wrote, the Koran contains "both the husband's right to use corporal punishment against a disobedient wife and the establishment of the husband's superiority over the wife." Put plainly, the judge argued that a woman who marries a Muslim should know what she's getting herself into. In Germany, no less. Leading German feminist Alice Schwarzer argued that this was tantamount to a "softening of our legal system" that is "by no means a coincidence." Germany's only minister of integration at the state level, Armin Laschet, a member of the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) from the state of North Rhine Westphalia, sees the Frankfurt ruling as the "last link, for the time being, in a chain of horrific rulings handed down by German courts" - rulings in which, for example, so-called honor killings have been treated as manslaughter and not murder. This, says Berlin family attorney and prominent women's rights activist Seyran Ates, is part of the reason one should "be almost thankful that (judge Datz-Winter) made such a clear reference to the Koran. All she did was bring to the surface an undercurrent that already exists in our courts." Out of a sense of misguided tolerance, says Ates, judges treat the values of Muslim subcultures as a mitigating circumstance and, in doing so, are helping pave the way for a gradual encroachment of fundamentalist Islam in Germany's parallel Muslim world. It's an issue Ates often runs up against in her cases. "In Frankfurt," she says, "someone expressly openly for the first time what many are already thinking."
Ver artigo integral em http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,474629,00.html
JPTF 29/03/207

“61% dos espanhóis contra o véu islâmico nas escolas” in El Pais, 30 de Março de 2007

El 61% de los españoles está en contra de que las niñas musulmanas lleven velo en la escuela, mientras que la sociedad está prácticamente dividida entre los que apoyan (41%) y los que se oponen (39%) a que los musulmanes recen en la Mezquita de Córdoba, según el primer Barómetro del año del Real Instituto Elcano. La oposición al uso del velo en el colegio crece con la edad, pasando del 52% para los menores de 30 años al 70% de los mayores de 65. También con respecto al rezo islámico en la mezquita, la tercera edad es más contraria (55%) y desciende hasta el 27% entre los menores de 30. Por otra parte, un 46% apoya la exhibición de los crucifijos católicos en las escuelas, mientras que se muestra en contra un 29%. Preguntados por la posibilidad de que los niños españoles estudien el Corán como estudian la Biblia en clase de educación cívica, un 48% se manifiesta en contra, frente a un 31,5% a favor. En el plano político, los españoles ven con buenos ojos que los musulmanes residentes en España puedan votar en las elecciones. Un 67% está a favor, frente a un 25% en contra. Sin embargo, este porcentaje es menor que cuando al entrevistado se le pregunta por los extranjeros en general y sin distinguir religión. Entonces defiende el derecho a voto un 70,5 por ciento.
http://www.elpais.com/articulo/sociedad/61/espanoles/velo/islamico/escuelas/elpepusoc/20070330elpepusoc_1/Tes
JPTF 30/03/2007

Propaganda iraniana sobre os reféns britânicos

“Livro escolar belga insulta Atatürk, fundador da República da Turquia” (por figurar numa lista de homossexuais famosos) in Zaman, 28 de Março de 2007

Following the broadcast of videos with explicit content about Atatürk by a Greek youth on the famous Internet site youtube.com, Belgium has engaged in similar infamy by listing Atatürk among the important homosexual and bisexual personalities of history. A book by the minister of education of the province of Valon in Belgium and distributed to all schools in the province claims that Atatürk was one of history's important and famous homosexual or bisexual figures. Mustafa Kemal Atatürk was included on a list of "Famous homosexuals and bisexuals in history" on the 105th page of the 144-page book titled, "Fight Against Homophobia." The small book, prepared at the instructions of Valon Education Minister Marie Arena and distributed to all students in primary and secondary education, emphasizes that homosexuality is not actually a negative thing and that there were many famous and important homosexual or bisexual people in history. Today’s Zaman’s efforts to reach Marie Arena proved fruitless. It is unknown what source this information was based on, though it will certainly spark harsh reactions in Turkey. A leading paper in Belgium, De Standaard, covered the issue and in a related report wrote that Atatürk, the founder of modern Turkey, was included on the list and noted that it was yet unknown whether the Turkish Embassy in Belgium was aware of the incident. Belgium is one of the few countries in the world that grants its citizens the right to same-sex marriages and child adoption by homosexual couples. It is stated that the distribution of the book was aimed at “enlightening the future of the young generation in Belgium” and informing them correctly by giving information on the history of homosexuality and the general sociocultural perception in regard to homosexuality. The book also touches on the equality of women and discusses the viewpoints of other societies regarding homosexuality, with an aim to prevent the younger generation from harboring negative opinions on homosexuality. Among famous homosexuals in history, according to the book, are Alexander the Great, Leonardo da Vinci, and Goethe. Other interesting names on the list are some spiritual leaders of the Catholic world such as Pope Benoit IX and Pope Jules III. Turkey currently has some other problems with Belgium, such as allowing the escapte of Fehriye Erdal, the murderer of Özdemir Sabancı, brother of late famous businessman Sakıp Sabancı. Belgium is also a country where members of the separatist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and the Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C) freely walk the streets. Belgium is also trying to punish the denial of the so-called Armenian genocide. Meanwhile a Belgian court found a security company guilty of discrimination after it refused to employ Turkish national Murat Çalışkan on the basis of his being a foreigner. The court accused the company of “apparent racism” and ruled that it should pay compensation to Çalışkan. He said he would use the compensation money in the fight against racism and donate it to immigration centers.
http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=106725
JPTF 2007/03/29

Comentário “A Turquia e o futuro da União Europeia”

Cinquenta anos após o Tratado de Roma, assinado a 25 de Março de 1957, o projecto europeu está numa fase de indefinição. Neste contexto difícil, quais as implicações da adesão da Turquia para o futuro da União?


1. Provavelmente o aspecto mais crítico da actual União Europeia (UE) é a indefinição de rumo no projecto europeu. Qual o objectivo último da integração? Um grande mercado comum com uma moeda única? Uma potência político-militar mundial? Uma Europa federal? Ou uma confederação de Estados soberanos? Mas há um outro aspecto também importante, que passa mais despercebido, e que hoje está em aberto. Historicamente, a UE tem funcionado com base num equilíbrio político e financeiro entre “grandes” e “pequenos/médios” países, entre contribuintes líquidos e beneficiários de ajudas estruturais. O cerne deste equilíbrio tem sido este: os países grandes (os caso mais óbvios são a Alemanha e a França, mas também o Reino Unido) têm um peso fundamental na decisão política – visível, por exemplo, nas votações por maioria qualificada do Conselho (ligado directamente à sua população, desde o Tratado de Nice). Em contrapartida, uma parte significativa dos países pequenos/médios são os tradicionais beneficiários das ajudas estruturais (por exemplo, Grécia e Portugal, aos quais acresce, agora, a generalidade dos doze novos membros, Bulgária e Roménia já incluídas). Por outras palavras, e na linguagem crua da realpolitik, quem paga (o benefício dos outros) é também quem decide (politicamente).

2. Foi neste contexto, marcado pelo maior alargamento de sempre e por um ambiente internacional conturbado, que surgiu a questão da adesão da Turquia. Vários argumentos têm sido avançados sobre as vantagens desta: i) vantagens estratégicas de ter um grande país situado numa zona geopolítica importante; ii) vantagens de abastecimento energético ligadas ao acesso ao petróleo e gás natural; iii) vantagens de um mercado que já tem mais de 70 milhões de consumidores; iv) vantagens de uma mão-de obra jovem e em quantidade significativa; v) vantagens para evitar o “conflito de civilizações” com o Islão. Vale a pena analisá-los. Em primeiro lugar, as vantagens estratégicas. É indiscutível que a Turquia se encontra numa zona geopolítica importante. Aliás, por isso mesmo, é um membro antigo da NATO. Mas qual a vantagem estratégica como membro da UE? Vai permitir uma política externa e de defesa mais credível, pode argumentar-se. Mas será crível que, com cerca de trinta membros, a UE possa conseguir os consensos necessários para tal política, quando, no passado, não os conseguiu? Para além disso, e exceptuada uma evolução extraordinariamente favorável no Médio Oriente, os “ganhos” previsíveis são passar a ter, como vizinhança, um país com ambição nuclear (o Irão), outro envolvido conflito sectário violento (o Iraque) e um terceiro empenhado em destabilizar o Líbano (a Síria). Em segundo lugar, o argumento do acesso ao petróleo e ao gás natural. Importa notar que a Turquia não é um produtor e fornecedor relevante. Assim, se o argumento é ter membros com grandes recursos energéticos, então deveria integrar-se a Rússia, o Azerbaijão, ou o Cazaquistão. Se a questão é da passagem desses recursos, a Turquia já está associada à UE, através de um acordo de integração económica. Para além disso, está ligada militarmente pela NATO, da qual são membros a maioria dos países da UE. Não se percebe a razão pela qual estas soluções deixaram de servir. Quanto ao terceiro argumento, o do mercado de mais de 70 milhões de consumidores, este esquece o já referido acordo de união aduaneira, que vigora desde os anos 90, e abriu o mercado turco às empresas da UE, como também abriu o mercado europeu às empresas turcas. Em relação ao quarto argumento, se a necessidade é de mão-de-obra qualificada, países como a Ucrânia e a Rússia têm população mais qualificada. Se a necessidade é de mão-de-obra jovem, não qualificada e barata, há todos os dias centenas de emigrantes do Magrebe ou da África subsariana a tentarem vir para trabalhar para UE. Por que não deixá-los vir trabalhar? Quanto ao quinto argumento, que é o de evitar o “conflito de civilizações”, é simplista pela visão essencialista da realidade. Sendo o Islão heterogéneo – sunitas e xiitas são apenas uma faceta dessa heterogeneidade –, e existindo clivagens religiosas importantes (entre o Islão ortodoxo e as “seitas heréticas”, aluitas, alevis, druzos, etc.) e étnicas (árabes, persas, curdos etc.), é ingénuo acreditar num “apaziguamento civilizacional”. Mas há um risco verosímil, que é o de importar rivalidades. Apenas um exemplo. Nem países xiitas como o Irão, por razões religioso-políticas, nem países árabes como o Egipto e a Arábia Saudita, por razões históricas e ambições políticas, aceitarão uma primazia turca.

3. O argumentário usual, aparentemente convincente, que ouvimos num país pequeno e atlantista como Portugal mostra-se frágil, pois a Turquia já está integrada num quadro euro-atlântico (união aduaneira e NATO). Na realidade, são semi-vantagens mitigadas com riscos estratégicos. Para além disso, o up-grade da integração na UE é percebido pela França, Alemanha, Holanda, Áustria e outros países, como sendo-lhes desfavorável na decisão política, nos encargos financeiros e no futuro do projecto europeu. Tudo isto vai muito para além da questão da abertura dos portos e aeroportos turcos ao tráfego cipriota (e da própria reunificação de Chipre), que se discutiu em finais de 2006. Estamos a assistir ao primeiro round de um longo jogo diplomático, onde a estratégia, de ambos os lados, é afastar o ónus da quebra das negociações e, da parte turca, aproveitar-se ainda das divisões e do sentimento de culpabilidade europeia. Mas há uma incontornável questão de realpolitik: alguém está a ver a UE a funcionar num modelo onde quem paga mais (a Alemanha e a França), perde poder de decisão política para o principal beneficiário das ajudas financeiras (a Turquia)?

JPTF 2007/03/1

Os 50 anos da União Europeia, com alguma depressão à mistura - desenho de Alex, no jornal La Liberté de Friburgo

“A Turquia suspende compra de F-16 aos EUA”, devido a proibição de uso em Chipre in Zaman, 24 de Março de 2007

Turkey has reportedly suspended negotiations with the US over the purchase of an additional 30 F-16 fighters after Washington set the condition that they not be flown over the divided Mediterranean island of Cyprus.Military sources close to the Turkish Air Force Command (THK) told Today's Zaman that US technology restrictions, including a ban on their usage by Turkey over Cyprus, irked Ankara. "The US condition that fighters should not be used over Cyprus made us mad," said a source at the THK.The US has not imposed any such restriction on the around 300 F-16s already in Turkey's inventory, said the same sources, adding that the possible adoption of an alleged Armenian genocide bill by the US Congress sometime in April has no direct links with Turkey's suspension of talks over the F-16 purchase. Turkey and the US have also been in dispute over the price of the F-16s, estimated at around $2.9 billion. The US Congress approved earlier this year the sale of an additional 30 advanced F-16 Block 50 aircraft as well as associated equipment and services under Foreign Military Sale (FMS) credit to Turkey. US's Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA), when it notified the US Congress in late September last year of the Turkish decision to buy additional F-16s, said, "This proposed sale will not adversely affect either the military balance in the region or US efforts to encourage a negotiated settlement of the Cyprus questions." The island of Cyprus has been divided into a Turkish north and Greek south since 1974.According to well-informed military sources, the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) have been attaching great importance on the attitude of the US over Turkey's outlawed terrorist organization the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), reported to have been preparing for attacks inside Turkey in their bases in neighboring northern Iraq.“Rather than Armenian genocide bill, the PKK issue has the potential to turn upside down Turkish-US strategic relations on the part of Ankara. If the US does not take action against the PKK in northern Iraq or allow the Turkish military to stage a cross-border operation, the THK may even consider to abandon the idea of buying around 100 JSF fighters from the US,” stated one air force source.During the American-Turkish Council (ATC) meeting due to start in Washington early next week, both the PKK and the Armenian genocide bill are expected to top the agenda, in addition to the F-16 and JSF purchases.
http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=106289
JPTF 2007/03/25

“Grupo de escritores ataca falhanço da União Europeia em por fim à violência no Darfur“ in The Independent, 24 de Março de 2007

Cahal Milmo

A coalition of Europe's most eminent intellectuals today delivers a devastating critique of the failure to end the violence in Darfur by the European Union, as its politicians embark on a weekend of lavish 50th birthday celebrations. In a letter to the 27 leaders of EU states gathering in Berlin and published by The Independent, 10 of the continent's leading writers and thinkers evoke the atrocities of Auschwitz and Srebrenica in their call for immediate action against the Sudanese regime. The signatories - Sir Tom Stoppard, Seamus Heaney, Sir Harold Pinter, Dario Fo, Günter Grass, Umberto Eco, Bernard-Henri Lévy, Franca Rame and Václav Havel - demand that the EU imposes the "most stringent sanctions" on the leaders of Sudan. As Tony Blair and his fellow leaders sit down to a special summit in the German capital tomorrow to unveil a "birthday declaration" hailing the achievements of the single market, the letter argues there is little to celebrate when mass killings in Darfur continue. The gathering to mark the formation of the first, six-strong, European club with the Treaty of Rome in 1957 will include a banquet tonight along with a street party, fireworks and the strains of Beethoven. In Darfur, it is likely several hundred more refugees will arrive at crowded camps while unknown numbers will fall victim to a campaign of rape and enslavement. More than 200,000 people have died in Darfur, the western region of Sudan, since a campaign of violence against rebel groups targeting ethnic African farmers and herdsmen began in 2003, with the backing of the Khartoum government. A further 2.5 million people have been displaced in the four years of fighting led by the Arab Janjaweed militias, amid evidence of systematic looting, sexual violence and village burnings. The US has described the violence as "genocide". Alluding to Srebrenica, the UN-protected Bosnian "safe area" where 8,000 men were massacred in 1995 by Serb paramilitaries, as well as the Nazi death camps, the signatories, who include four Nobel literature prize-winners, make it clear that the EU is ignoring its founding purpose by failing to bring an end to the war in Darfur. The letter said: "Has the European Union - born of atrocity to unite against further atrocity - no word to utter, no principle to act on, no action to take, in order to prevent these massacres in Darfur? Is the cowardliness over Srebrenica to be repeated? If so, what do we celebrate?"Amid the pomp and parties this weekend, the Berlin Declaration will be unveiled. The document will contain an affirmation of the basic dignity of the individual.The writers call for unilateral action by the EU to impose a travel ban on the Khartoum government, including the Sudanese President, Omar Bashir. The sanctions should also include freezing of assets held in EU banks and a ban on the use of health facilities and the import of luxury goods into Sudan, they say. The letter will increase the pressure on Mr Blair over Darfur. He wrote this week to the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, whose country holds the EU presidency, outlining his own proposal for UN sanctions. Number 10 said Mr Blair would be seeking to discuss the measures with his fellow leaders this weekend. It was announced this week that refugee camps in the region are full. Sudanis refusing to hand over two officials named as war-crime suspects by the International Criminal Court.
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/politics/article2387863.ece
JPTF 24/03/2007

TV Al Aqsa, próxima do Hamas, entrevista os filhos de Rim Al Riyashi, uma bombista suicida que se fez explodir em 2004

por Guido Olimpio

La tv palestinese Al Aqsa, vicina alle posizioni di Hamas, ha diffuso l’intervista ai due figli di Rim Al Riyashi, una donna kamikaze palestinese che si è fatta saltare per aria nel 2004 al posto di confine tra Gaza e Israele. Cinque le vittime dell’attentato. Nel servizio televisivo i bambini Dohah e Mohammed sono invitati da un giornalista a recitare poesie che inneggiano al martirio, definiscono la loro mamma «una bomba di fuoco». I piccoli sorridono, ovviamente non si rendono conto del significato delle parole, sembra che giochino. Il filmato, rilanciato dall’istituto di ricerche israeliano Memri, è una rappresentazione della propaganda e dell’uso dei più piccoli da parte di movimenti radicali. L’azione suicida è vista come un gesto positivo, come qualcosa di naturale. E colpisce vedere come i figli di Rim siano in grado di dire quanti «ebrei ha ucciso» la madre. In passato a Hebron o Nablus, città palestinesi dalle quali sono partiti molti kamikaze, si vendono figurine con i volti dei «martiri»: dal semplice guerrigliero all’uomo bomba. Una degli effetti più devastanti dell’intifada è stato quello di alimentare nella società palestinese la cultura della morte e del martirio. Una realtà abilmente sfruttata da gruppi come Hamas o la Jihad per spingere altri seguaci sulla sua stessa via. A prescidere dalla loro età. In nome della causa si può sacrificare una donna come un bimbo.
http://www.corriere.it/Primo_Piano/Esteri/2007/03_Marzo/22/video_tv_hamas.shtml
JPTF 2007/03/23

“Ele batia-lhe e ameaçava-a de morte. Mas como marido e mulher nasceram ambos em Marrocos, a juíza não viu caso para alarme” in Spiegel online

por Veit Medick e Anna Reimann

The case seems simply too strange to be true. A 26-year-old mother of two wanted to free herself from what had become a miserable and abusive marriage. The police had even been called to their apartment to separate the two - both of Moroccan origin - after her husband got violent in May 2006. The husband was forced to move out, but the terror continued: Even after they separated, the spurned husband threatened to kill his wife.
A quick divorce seemed to be the only solution - the 26-year-old was unwilling to wait the year between separation and divorce mandated by German law. She hoped that as soon as they were no longer married, her husband would leave her alone. Her lawyer, Barbara Becker-Rojczyk agreed and she filed for immediate divorce with a Frankfurt court last October. They both felt that the domestic violence and death threats easily fulfilled the "hardship" criteria necessary for such an accelerated split. In January, though, a letter arrived from the judge adjudicating the case. The judge rejected the application for a speedy divorce by referring to a passage in the Koran that some have controversially interpreted to mean that a husband can beat his wife. It's a supposed right which is the subject of intense debate among Muslim scholars and clerics alike."The exercise of the right to castigate does not fulfill the hardship criteria as defined by Paragraph 1565 (of German federal law)," the daily Frankfurter Rundschau quoted the judge's letter as saying. It must be taken into account, the judge argued, that both man and wife have Moroccan backgrounds.

"The husband can beat his wife"
"The right to castigate means for me: the husband can beat his wife," Becker-Rojczyk said, interpreting the judge's verdict. In an interview with SPIEGEL ONLINE, Becker-Rojczyk said the judge indicated to her that it makes no sense to insist on an accelerated divorce. The judge's advice? Wait for the year-long waiting period to elapse. The fax from the Frankfurt court granting the conflict of interest claim. The lawyer and her client were shocked. Immediately, they filed a claim alleging that the judge should have recused herself due to a conflict of interest. They felt that, because of the point of view presented by the judge, she was unable to reach an objective verdict. In the reply sent to Becker-Rojczyk, the judge expressly referred to a Koran verse - or sura - which indicates that a man's honor is injured when his wife behaves in an unchaste manner. "Apparently the judge deems it unchaste when my client adapts a Western lifestyle," Becker-Rojczyk said. On Tuesday evening, Becker-Rojczyk expressed amazement that the judge was still on the bench, given that the controversial verdict was handed down weeks ago. Becker-Rojczyk had elected to go public with the case to attract attention to the judge's conduct. It seems to have worked. On Wednesday, after the Tuesday evening publication of the story on SPIEGEL ONLINE, the attorney received a fax from the Frankfurt court granting the conflict of interest claim and excusing the judge from the case. Still, it is unlikely that the case will be heard again before the mandated year of separation expires in May. But the judge who heard the case may have to face further consequences for her decision. On Wednesday, numerous politicians in Berlin voiced their horror at the verdict - and demanded disciplinary action against the judge.

Further investigation
"In my opinion, this is a case of extreme violation of the rule of law that can't be solved with a mere conflict of interest ruling," Social Democrat parliamentarian Dieter Wiefelspütz told SPIEGEL ONLINE. "There have to be further consequences. This is a case for judicial supervision - this case needs to be further investigated."The deputy floor leader for the Christian Democrats, Wolfgang Bosbach, agreed. "This is a sad example of how the conception of the law from another legal and cultural environment is taken as the basis for our own notion of law," he said on Wednesday. This isn't the first time that German courts have used cultural background to inform their verdicts. Christa Stolle of the women's rights organization Terre des Femmes said that in cases of marital violence, there have been a number of cases where the perpetrator's culture of origin has been considered as a mitigating circumstance - although such verdicts have become seldom in recent years. But there remains quite a bit of work to do. "In my work educating sexist and short-sighted Muslim men," asked Michaela Sulaika Kaiser of the Network for Muslim Women, "do I now have to convince German courts that women are also people on the same level with men and that they, like any other human, have the right to be protected from physical and psychological violence?"
http://www.spiegel.de/international/0,1518,473017,00.html
JPTF 2007/02/22

50 razões para gostar da União Europeia, segundo o The Independent

1 The end of war between European nations
2 Democracy is now flourishing in 27 countries
3 Once-poor countries, such as Ireland, Greece and Portugal, are prospering
4 The creation of the world's largest internal trading market
5 Unparalleled rights for European consumers
6 Co-operation on continent-wide immigration policy
7 Co-operation on crime, through Europol
8 Laws that make it easier for British people to buy property in Europe
9 Cleaner beaches and rivers throughout Europe
10 Four weeks statutory paid holiday a year for workers in Europe
11 No death penalty (it is incompatible with EU membership)
12 Competition from privatised companies means cheaper phone calls
13 Small EU bureaucracy (24,000 employees, fewer than the BBC)
14 Making the French eat British beef again
15 Minority languages, such as Irish, Welsh and Catalan recognised and protected
16 Europe is helping to save the planet with regulatory cuts in CO2
17 One currency from Bantry to Berlin (but not Britain)
18 Europe-wide travel bans on tyrants such as Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe
19 The EU gives twice as much aid to developing countries as the United States
20 Strict safety standards for cars, buses and aircraft
21 Free medical help for tourists
22 EU peacekeepers operate in trouble spots throughout the world
23 Europe's single market has brought cheap flights to the masses, and new prosperity for forgotten cities
24 Introduction of pet passports
25 It now takes only 2 hrs 35 mins from London to Paris by Eurostar
26 Prospect of EU membership has forced modernisation on Turkey
27 Shopping without frontiers gives consumers more power to shape markets
28 Cheap travel and study programmes means greater mobility for Europe's youth
29 Food labelling is much clearer
30 No tiresome border checks (apart from in the UK)
31 Compensation for passengers suffering air delays
32 Strict ban on animal testing for the cosmetic industry
33 Greater protection for Europe's wildlife
34 Regional development fund has aided the deprived parts of Britain
35 European driving licences recognised across the EU
36 Britons now feel a lot less insular
37 Europe's bananas remain bent, despite sceptics' fears
38 Strong economic growth - greater than the United States last year
39 Single market has brought the best continental footballers to Britain
40 Human rights legislation has protected the rights of the individual
41 European Parliament provides democratic checks on all EU laws
42 EU gives more, not less, sovereignty to nation states
43 Maturing EU is a proper counterweight to the power of US and China
44 European immigration has boosted the British economy
45 Europeans are increasingly multilingual - except Britons, who are less so
46 Europe has set Britain an example how properly to fund a national health service
47 British restaurants now much more cosmopolitan
48 Total mobility for career professionals in Europe
49 Europe has revolutionised British attitudes to food and cooking
50 Lists like this drive the Eurosceptics mad
http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/article23
JPTF 2007/03/21

Reportagem na mesquita Lal Masjid em Islamabade, Paquistão: “O seu negócio é a jihad” in Guardian, 20 de Março de 2007

por Declan Walsh

"Have you seen Best of Baghdad?" enquires Abdul Rashid Ghazi, proffering a fresh cup of tea. It is Friday morning, just before prayers, and we are sitting in a cramped room at Lal Masjid, a radical mosque in central Islamabad. Beside us a wispy-bearded young man is hunched over a computer, copying movies. Best of Baghdad, it turns out, is one of them.
A slick piece of jihadist propaganda, the 15-minute video shows numerous US soldiers in Iraq being shot by a sniper called Juba. Every sequence is similar. The camera follows the GI from a distance, watching him stand near a vehicle or chat to a friend. There is a bang. The picture jolts and the wounded soldier crumbles to the ground. His panicked comrades swarm around. Iraqi civilians sprint for cover. "It's wonderful," says Ghazi.
Lal Masjid, or the Red Mosque, has become a potent symbol of the power of Pakistan's radical Islamists. It sits incongruously but defiantly among the tree-lined streets and neatly pressed bureaucrats of the capital. The supreme court, parliament and prime minister's office are maybe a mile away. Lal Masjid is run by the university educated Ghazi and his brother Abdul Aziz, the firebrand preacher - and their business is jihad.
"I met Osama bin Laden once, in Afghanistan," muses Ghazi, recounting a trip to the al-Qaida leader's headquarters on a farm near Kandahar in 1998. "Then he was very much against the American presence in Saudi Arabia. He is still a hero to us all."
Ghazi is quick to add that he does not agree with the slaughter of innocent civilians, such as at the World Trade Centre in New York, which is against Islam. But, September 11 is just an "allegation" against bin Laden, he says, and his admiration for the militant leader remains strong. When their father was killed some years ago - shot as he crossed the mosque courtyard - Bin Laden sent a letter of condolence. Still today, Abdul Aziz compares the al-Qaida leader to the biblical figure of Abraham in his Friday sermons.
In some Muslim countries, such as Egypt or Jordan, such unabashed support for Bin Laden might land a cleric in jail. Not in Pakistan. Instead Lal Masjid enjoys a large following. There are the faithful who crowd into the mosque for five-times daily prayers, but also the thousands of young men and women who fill the two madrasas the two brothers have built next door.
Ghazi is the public face of Lal Masjid. Speaking in soft tones and fluent English, he outlines his unbending view of the world. He supports the killing of US soldiers in Afghanistan, Iraq or anywhere else and he calls for the imposition of strict Sharia law, a sort of Taliban-like state, in Pakistan. Saudi Arabia, the country that currently comes closest to this vision, "is not complete" he says. "Only Islam can bring peace and harmony. Only Islam can give you justice. Pakistan was established on the basis of an Islamic system, and we should have one."
I point out that most Pakistanis may not agree - the religious parties have never scored over 13% in general elections. But Ghazi does not believe in democracy. "Democracy is about elections. Islam is about selection," he says. "For example a drug addict doesn't know what is good for himself or his family. But he has the same vote as a person who is intellectually strong, who understands what is good. That is where the problem is."
Western diplomats working in the high-security embassy quarter less than a mile away are worried about Lal Masjid. It's partly to do with the reports of AK-47s and other weapons stashed inside - Ghazi insists they are licenced - but mostly the diplomats wonder why President Pervez Musharraf cannot shut down this obvious incubator of radicalism at the heart of his capital.
In truth, the Pakistani government has tried. But so far its best efforts have conspicuously failed. In January the city authorities tried to close Lal Masjid, pointing out that, like many mosques in Islamabad, it had been illegally constructed on public land. Ghazi responded with an iron fist. Hundreds of young women from Jamia Hafsa, his female madrasa, rushed to occupy a public children's library next door. Newspaper readers were alarmed to see a picture of several hundred burka-clad figures sitting in the library. One image showed a small boy amongst them, dressed in military fatigues and brandishing a toy rifle.
The government then tried to end the occupation by surrounding the library with hundreds of police and threatening to storm the building. In response Ghazi dispatched young men armed with sticks onto the street. A few tense weeks later the police backed down.
Today an uneasy truce has been negotiated. The library is controlled by a "students sction committee" while Ghazi negotiates with the government. In the meantime, the library is open. "Other children are free to come. All are welcome," he says. To end the humiliating siege, Ghazi and his brother are demanding the immediate reconstruction of seven previously-destroyed mosques, and the imposition of an Islamic state. "The library is not important. But a mosque is a most sacred place," he says.
I ask to speak to some of the protesting students. Sadly, he says, that would not be possible. Once an over-zealous student told a visiting journalist that he wanted to kill George Bush, which was a little embarrassing, he explained: "They are just young people. They don't mean it."
Prayer time nears and, slurping the last of his tea, Ghazi rises from the floor and excuses himself. I pocket my newly minted Best of Baghdad CD and leave. In the street outside worshippers are filtering into the mosque, watched by ranks of wary-eyed police. A black flag flutters over the library. And on the street outside, clutches of young men with masked faces stan guard, bamboo staves tightly gripped in their hands.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/pakistan/Story/0,,2038568,00.html
JPTF 2007/03/20

“Fui o cérebro do 9/11” , confessa Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in Times, 15 de Março de 2007

por Tim Reid

The suspected mastermind of the September 11 terror attacks in New York has confessed publicly for the first time to the atrocity during an unprecedented military trial at Guantanamo Bay. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who was moved from a secret CIA prison to the US naval base on Cuba in September, admitted to planning, financing and training the 19 hijackers who carried out the attacks, according to tribunal transcripts released by the Pentagon last night.

“I was responsible for the 9/11 operation, from A to Z,” claimed a statement in his name that was read out by a US military officer representing him at the hearing. The confession was read with Sheikh Mohammed present.He also claimed responsibility for a host of other terrorist attacks and plots, including the financing and training of Richard Reid, the failed British shoebomber, the attack on the World Trade Centre in 1993 and the bombing of a nightclub in Bali, Indonesia, in 2002. The statement said that Sheikh Mohammed had plotted a second wave of attacks after the strikes on September 11, 2001, with hijacked airliners. The targets were to have been the Library Tower, Los Angeles, the Sears Tower, Chicago, the Plaza Bank, Washington State, and the Empire State Building, New York.Sheikh Mohammed, who is believed to have been at Osama bin Laden’s side during the September 11 attacks, is the most senior alQaeda figure to have been arrested since 2001. He was captured in Pakistan in March 2003.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article1517747.ece
JPTF 2007/03/15

“Nuclear iraniano passa a figurar nas notas de banco” in Le Figaro, 14 de Março de 2007

por Delphine Minoui

Quand il s'agit de titiller la fibre nationaliste de leur population, les autorités iraniennes ne sont jamais à court d'idées. La banque centrale d'Iran vient de mettre en circulation un nouveau billet de banque frappé d'un symbole nucléaire. De couleur orange, vert et mauve, il présente, en son verso, un atome autour duquel tournent des électrons, le tout sur un fond représentant une carte de l'Iran. Avec cette phrase, rédigée en persan, et attribuée au prophète Mahomet: « Si la science existe dans cette constellation, les hommes de la Perse l'atteindront. »
Dans le domaine monétaire iranien, il s'agit d'une petite révolution. Le nouveau billet de 50 000 rials (l'équivalent de 4,10 euros) représente la plus grande coupure émise par la banque centrale iranienne. De quoi alléger les poches des ménagères qui, jusqu'ici, avaient l'habitude d'aller faire leur marché avec des liasses de 10 000 rials, et plus récemment de 20 000 rials. « Ça fera moins de sous à transporter », se réjouit Afkham Alizadeh, une mère de famille.
Le nouveau symbole de ce billet provoque, en revanche, l'inverse des effets escomptés. « Je me fiche de ce logo nucléaire. Les autorités feraient mieux de se pencher sur des solutions à la crise économique au lieu de chercher à servir leurs propres intérêts », râle Ali Farahani, un chauffeur de taxi. « Avec ce billet, les autorités iraniennes veulent faire croire à tout le monde que la nation iranienne est prête à payer n'importe quel prix pour défendre son droit au nucléaire. Mais ce n'est pas le cas ! », confie, pour sa part, Hossein Zamanipour, un commerçant de 50 ans. « À l'heure du bras de fer entre Téhéran et l'Occident sur son dossier nucléaire, cette initiative relève de la provocation », dit-il.
Une provocation de plus ? Ce nouveau billet fait ironiquement son apparition au moment où la République islamique, soupçonnée de vouloir développer l'arme nucléaire, risque de faire l'objet de nouvelles sanctions. Les États-Unis, la Grande-Bretagne, la France, l'Allemagne sont actuellement en train de se rapprocher d'un accord avec la Russie et la Chine, qui devrait déboucher sur le vote d'une nouvelle résolution de l'ONU d'ici à la fin de la semaine. Elle devrait inclure, selon certains diplomates occidentaux, un embargo sur les exportations d'armes, une interdiction de prêts gouvernementaux à l'Iran et un gel des avoirs de davantage de personnes et d'entreprises liées au programme nucléaire de Téhéran. Washington, qui a déjà lancé d'autres mesures de rétorsion économique parallèles, n'exclut pas, non plus, l'option militaire.
« La confrontation ou la soumission »
Face aux pressions renforcées, le gouvernement de Mahmoud Ahmadinejad continue pourtant à tenir tête. Hier encore, Gholam Hossein Elham, le porte-parole du gouvernement, rappelait que l'Iran avait « complètement exclu » la suspension de l'enrichissement d'uranium. De son côté, Ahmadinejad vient de provoquer un nouvel effet de surprise en annonçant, dimanche, son intention de se rendre à une réunion du Conseil de sécurité de l'ONU en vue de défendre le droit de la République islamique aux technologies nucléaires civiles. Le mois dernier, le président iranien s'était déjà fait remarquer en comparant le programme nucléaire de son pays à « un train sans frein ni marche arrière ».
Inquiète des retombées internationales de tels discours, la population iranienne n'est pas la seule à tirer la sonnette d'alarme. Depuis l'annonce des premières sanctions, en décembre dernier, le président iranien s'est retrouvé sous une pluie de critiques de la classe politique, y compris d'anciens alliés conservateurs. Pour regagner la confiance internationale - et pour éviter une attaque américaine -, les adversaires réformateurs d'Ahmadinejad osent même aujourd'hui suggérer ouvertement la suspension de l'enrichissement de l'uranium.
« La République islamique n'a que deux choix devant elle : la confrontation ou la soumission », observe le journaliste réformateur Ahmad Zeid Abadi. « Il est donc préférable de suspendre l'enrichissement pour reprendre les négociations », dit-il. Des propos qui rejoignent le récent appel à la modération lancé par l'ancien président Mohammad Khatami. « Nous devons payer un certain prix pour obtenir des négociations, ne pas se diriger vers la crise et garantir les droits (de l'Iran) pour l'avenir », déclarait-il, lundi, dans une interview accordée au quotidien économique iranien La Science et le Progrès.
http://www.lefigaro.fr/international/20070314.FIG000000259_le_nucleaire_iranien_s_affiche_sur_les_billets_de_banque.html
JPTF 2007/03/14

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