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

On April 1st The Guardian published an article by Israeli President Shimon Peres headlined “We in Israel welcome the Arab spring”. According to President Peres, the Middle East has to make a historic choice: to join the new global age of democracy, or to stay clinging to its history of closed societies and autocracy. The recent revolt in Arab countries shows that people of the Arab world are eager to establish democracy. “Israel welcomes the wind of change, and sees a window of opportunity. Democratic and science-based economies by nature desire peace. Israel does not want to be an island of affluence in an ocean of poverty. Improvements in our neighbours' lives mean improvements to the neighbourhood in which we live,” says Shimon Peres.

In the article published by The Washington Post Al Kamen admits there are some certain reasons for recent criticism of US Administration. US authorities didn’t support revolutionary movement in Egypt, Tunisia and Yemen, where dictators’ regimes were friendly to the West, but blamed Iranian officials for suppressing the democratic movement in Iran. Such ambiguous position is rather risky, thinks the author.

The crisis in the Middle East is also discussed in the article published by The Los Angeles Times. “Obama doctrine” is limited, thinks the author. The President announced that’s US duty to support civilians threatened by their governments and thus sent US forces to Libya. In the same time the situation in Syria is also dangerous, still US Administration do nothing to protect local [population from the governmental abuse.

The Moscow Times published an article by Yulia Latynina. The article is devoted to the problem of terrorism in Russia. According to the journalist, federal authorities are unable to cope with terrorism, all taken measures are ineffective and for 10 years the countries lives in fear of new terrorist attacks. The decision to fire several managers of the Moscow Domodedovo airport is not enough. They should have fired Federal Security Service’s officials and implement a new anti-terror policy, thinks Latynina.

Turkey’s Hurriyet published an article headlined “Blame foreign elements if you have nothing to offer”. The article is devoted mainly to the situation in Syria, where President Assad has recently announced that foreign powers stand behind the revolt. In fact the Arab spring is a result of internal development of the Arab countries, the Arab people are tired of corrupted regimes and desire freedom, the author believes.