The Washington Post has published series of articles devoted to Osama bin Laden’s death. The notorious terrorist’s death is welcomed by almost all authors. Dana Milbank thinks that it’s the beginning of a new epoch. “Pax bin Ladenis is over,” says Milbank. Katrina vanden Heuvel thinks that the global war with terrorism is coming to an end and soon international terrorism will be defeated. Others are less optimistic. Harold Meyerson believes that President Obama’s remarkable achievements in the sphere of national defense highlighted the weakness of Republican Party criticism.
On May 4th The Washington Post published an article by Robert Malley, a member of the International Crisis Group, headlined “The Arab Spring is driving the Hamas-Fatah unity deal”. The author admits that the crackdown on Mubarak’s regime will affect the situation in the Middle East and change the balance of power in Palestine. However, it’s still not clear whether the Muslim Brotherhood will become a major political force in Egypt, or whether the country will reconsider its alliance with the USA and peace with Israel
On May 3rd The Los Angeles Times published an article entitled “Regretting Bin Laden's death”. The author quotes a prominent Christian clergyman who said that killing is immoral in any circumstances and thus Christians should regret Osama bin Laden’s death. According to the author, one should not forget that human life is preciously valuable and even criminals are not worth killing.
Today The Los Angeles Times published an article headlined “Turkey's neighborhood troubles”, devoted to the Turkish authorities' attitude to the ongoing crisis in the Middle East or the so-called Arab Spring. According to the author of the article, Turkey should be more active in criticizing the use of military force against protesting civilians and try to stop violence in Syria, one of Turkey's major partners in the region.
On May 3rd The New York Times published an article “Farewell to Geronimo” byThomas Friedman. The author believes that, while US agents managed to kill Osama bin Laden, his fellow Muslims almost killed his ideology: “The Arab and Muslim people have a chance to do their part, to kill bin-Ladenism.” According to Friedman, the Arab Spring has shown that the Arabs can achieve peace and well-being without using violence, that secular democracy can do what Islamism cannot – to provide people with the necessary living conditions.
The same day, the British newspaper The Guardian published an article headlined “For 10 years, Osama bin Laden filled a gap left by the Soviet Union. Who will be the baddie now?”. According to the author, governments need an enemy to secure their power. The USSR and then international terrorism were such enemies. Now Osama bin Laden, the world's best-known terrorist, is dead and the question is : who will be the next one?
Turkish news agency Hurriyet also published an article devoted to bin Laden’s death. In the article, headlined “After bin Laden”, the Turkish journalist expresses the opinion that international terrorism has not been defeated with bin Laden’s death. His ideology is alive, his organization named al-Qaeda is still powerful, belief in a “Zionist conspiracy” exists and there are young people who are ready to continue bin Laden’s work.
