World Press on Iran, Turkey and the Caucasus (April 13-14, 2011)

On April 14 The Washington Post published an article devoted to the way the international community implements sanctions against Iran. According to the author, there is a certain difference between the way the Europeans and the Americans are acting. Even though both kinds of measures are mainly symbolic, the United States follows a tougher line against the Islamic republic. The author underlines that the USA has made American oil companies stop doing business with Iran, while the EU freely allows oil sales between its member-states and Iran.

The day before, the same newspaper published an article headlined “How will Mr. Obama respond to Iran’s nuclear progress?” The authors of the article believe the ongoing upheaval in the Middle East will be the most important foreign policy test of Barack Obama’s presidency. “Yet this president did not come into office at an easy time — and the critical challenges that predated the Arab revolutions have not disappeared,” the authors say, meaning Iran’s nuclear program. The future of the incumbent President’s career depends on the way he will respond to the Iranian challenge, the authors think.

On the same day The New York Times published an article devoted to the detention of former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. Mubarak and two his sons were arrested recently and are charged with embezzlement and corruption. According to the author, the public's attitude is complicated. While some people believe that country’s former leader should be treated with respect, others insist on the execution of Mubarak.

Today, the prominent British newspaper The Guardian published an article devoted to the role Qatar plays in the present-day Middle East. According to the author, the country is a very active supporter of the Libyan rebels and is doing its best to overthrow Qaddafi’s regime. The recent decision of Qatar’s officials to deliver weaponry to Libyan rebels corroborates such an opinion.

On April 14 The Moscow Times, Russia’s only English-language daily newspaper, published an article entitled “Measuring the Revolutionary Wave”, devoted to the current crisis in the Middle East and the way it affects post-Soviet republics. According to the author, the main, lasting effect of the Middle Eastern upheavals has been to frighten neighbouring autocrats into action. Present-day regimes in Russia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus and Uzbekistan are corrupt and illegitimate and the Arab spring’s fever can hit these countries, the author believes.

Turkey’s Hurriyet published an article headlined “Erdoğan walks a different line to European values”, in which the author comments on the situation surrounding human rights and democratic freedoms in the country. The Turkish Prime Minister’s rhetoric has changed, the author says, and now he openly disowns European ideals and values, saying that Turkey is going to pay no attention to Europe’s attitude to the situation in Turkey. This is, perhaps, the first time that European officials saw the real Erdoğan, a bad-tempered and rude man, in the author's opinion.