World Press on Iran, Turkey and the Caucasus (February 1, 2011)

Today The Washington Post published an article headlined "A democratic Egypt or a state of hate?" that is devoted to the present day situation in Egypt and the whole region of the Middle East. According to the author, Islamist movement is now extremely powerful and the political configuration of the Middle East can change dramatically. "Egypt and the entire Middle East are on the verge of convulsing. America needs to be on the right side of human rights. But it also needs to be on the right side of history. This time, the two may not be the same," says the author.

The Los Angeles Times has also published an article devoted to analyses of the effect of the Egyptian crisis on the region. In the article entitled "Hope amid the chaos in Cairo" Jonah Goldberg is
trying to find out, whether Egypt will become a democratic state or turn into an Islamist country as Iran after the Revolution. According to him, there is a reason for optimism. "And yet, I'm cheered by the
news. This is a moment in which political decency and, eventually, freedom and democracy at least have a shot. That wasn't true a month ago," he says.

The Guardian also compares the situation in Egypt with the Iranian Revolution. In the article headlined "Why fear the Arab revolutionary spirit?" Slavoj Zizek expresses an opinion, according to which there
is no reason for fear. "In the best secular democratic tradition, people simply revolted against an oppressive regime, its corruption and poverty, and demanded freedom and economic hope," underlines the author. He thinks that the recent events in the North Africa not necessarily will lead to the expansion of fundamentalism.

The Moscow Times published today an article by Vladimir Ryzhkov, a former member of the State Duma who is now one of the opposition leaders, headlined "Arab World's Riled Youth vs. Russia's Dying Star". In the article Mr. Ryzhkov compares the situation in the North Africa with that in Russia. "It has become fashionable to theorize that the Russian regime could become one of the next rotten autocracies to collapse. But there is no reason to make such a prediction. Russia is fundamentally different from the countries of the Arab world, and Russian society and politics are developing along a completely different path," says Russian politician. According to him, the reason, why Russian regime won't be overthrown, is that Russian society is completely different from the Egyptian one. In Egypt there are a lot of young people, its society is developing, in Russia the majority of the population are elderly people and the society is evidently decaying.

The Turkish news agency Hurriyet ran an article entitled "Look around and then look at us". The author is trying to examine the situation in Turkey comparing it with that in Tunisia and Egypt. According to him, Turkey differs greatly from these countries as it is a democratic state. "We are a role model because our democracy works, despite the deficiencies, and thanks to secularism," says the author.

Another article published by Hurriyet is headlined "Turkey caught unprepared over events in Egypt". As developments continue to unfold at a dizzying pace in Egypt, it is clear that Turkey's Justice and
Development Party (AKP) administration was, just like the Netanyahu government and the Obama administration, caught completely unprepared for the events in that country, the author believes. "This is certainly odd for an administration that has claimed it knows the region best because of its Ottoman past," he says with evident irony. According to him, the reaction of Prime Minister Erdogan can hardly be predicted.