Libya I divided into four sections. The first was a brief summary of reaction to Qaddafi's escalation of strikes against the rebels – Spain's El Pais headlined “Qaddafi bombs the revolt” and Italy’s Il Messaggero quite aptly headlined “Forty years of arrogant and absolute power were bound to end like this.” Next, I covered speculation as to the fate of the Libyan government. Polska argued that “Qaddafi has ruled Libya for forty years and he will not yield to protests,” and the British Telegraph judged “Qaddafi defiant as [his] regime collapses.”
Beyond those, this time I split the usual 'Role of the West' section into two paragraphs dealing with commentary on US and EU policy separately. On the former, Spain’s El Pais reports that, “In the case of Libya, where U.S. influence is very limited, the priority for Washington is to avoid a bloodbath that could create the need for a complex and unpredictable international intervention.” Interestingly, the Spanish SER radio reported that “some [in the] media say that the anti-American feeling in the Arab countries is disappearing… because of Obama´s commitment…to support the uprisings...” On the EU, the German Tagesthemen is strongly critical, commenting that: “Qaddafi is crazy and the world has been aware of this for a long time…. It is unbelievable that the EU has not yet imposed sanctions against the regime. Europeans allowed Libya and Qaddafi to buy them with oil and promises to keep away African refugees…” While the German Deutschlandfunk comments “If the dictator is ousted, the EU loses its partner and its reputation. This is the threat the EU faces in Libya…,” the Polish Rzeczpospolita judges that “No one in the West will risk the rage of the Arab street by trying to protect [Qaddafi]. Either way, the Spanish Abc warns that “The EU needs to make efforts to accelerate an outcome because a civil war could put Europe at the door of a case of self-destruction similar to that of Somalia.”
On the US-Pakistan dispute, I did not have much material to work with, so much of what I included was more straight reporting than commentary. Frankfurter Allgemeine reported that: “For the people on the streets this is just another evidence of how America is sabotaging Pakistan's activities behind the scenes. Against this background, it is not surprising that the billions of dollars for aid packages to Pakistan meet with growing skepticism."
On Wednesday, I once again devoted most attention to European press coverage of the events unfolding in Libya, and secondarily to ongoing concerns about Somali pirates:
- My section on press reaction to the continuing and escalating violence began with a stark headline in the Italian Corriere della Sera: “Qaddafi’s scream: Here until death.” The German Süddeutsche highlights that Qaddafi “takes a different approach than his former neighbors, the dictators of Tunisia and Egypt, who threw the towels after a few days of unrest. Qaddafi is… resisting with a kind of brutality that can only surprise those who did not want to see the darkness of the regime for four decades.”
- Next, I wrote about speculation in the European press on what the future holds for Libya. The French La Croix notes that “Qaddafi seems to be in great trouble…many high-ranking Libyan officials have resigned,” though Le Parisien cautions that “Qaddafi thinks he is not dead yet… he seems to be out of breath, but he is still in action.” Under the headline “A destiny of destruction,” the Italian Quotidiano Nazionale stresses that “in Libya there are no political parties able to organize a transition towards a new government, like in Tunisia... In Libya there are only alliances among tribes, paramilitary groups, armed bands that follow single leaders. The situation is closer to the one in Yugoslavia in 1991.”
- In the ‘Role of the West’ section I mainly looked at the role of the EU. Some continue to criticize the EU’s response. The German Südwestrundfunk radio comments: “What a cynical division of labor: for years, Qaddafi spared Europeans refugees, and in return, they showered him with money and recognition.” Frankfurter Allgemeine agrees: “The approach to [Qaddafi] is not a glorious chapter of the EU." Frankfurter Rundschau, however, notices a change in the EU’s approach, saying: “Brussels and EU capitals obviously realized that the Arab spring is more than a mild breeze.” But it warns that “The wind of change blowing through the Arab world could turn into a storm if the Europeans do not respond quickly.”
- Like the US-Pakistan dispute section Tuesday, my paragraph on the Somali pirates was short. The main impetus for reporting on the topic was because the previous day “Somali pirates kill[ed] four Americans in cold blood,” as Spain’s El Mundo headlined. The UK’s The Times noted that the hostages were “killed amid confusion as pirates negotiate[d] with [an American] warship fleet.” The Italian Corriere della Sera pointed out that “The US military maintains that the pirates killed the hostages before launching a grenade at the cruiser. This version leaves room for several questions.”
Thursday’s Early Alert again featured Libya, though this time I wrote on two other topics: protests in Greece and concerns over oil prices. On Libya, I again wrote a section on reaction’s to violence the previous evening and on commentary on the role of the West. On the former, the perception in most of the European press seemed to be that Qaddafi’s regime was losing control: indeed, the British Daily Telegraph headlined that “Civil war breaks out as Qaddafi begins his fight to the death.” The German Tagesspiegel cautioned that an “alarming power vacuum” is emerging in Libya, and warned that “The threat is great that Libya ends as a failed state.” With regard to the role of the West, the Italian Corriere della Sera reported that “after many doubtful days, the US and Europe are moving in the same direction, i.e. against Qaddafi and his government... They have only one weapon to try to stop this slaughter: i.e. economic and commercial sanctions...” However, the German Die Welt lamented that while America as “the lead power has too much to do on other fronts,” Europe only offers a lot of “warm words and hot air.” The Polish Gazeta Wyborcza noted that, “A wave of freedom uprisings engulf the Arab countries but the European leaders are much more concerned with another wave, i.e. the illegal immigrants who may flow to Europe, with EU governments disputing who is to deal with future refugees.” In a rather strongly worded editorial, the German Frankfurter Rundschau condemned Europe’s “egoistic pussyfooting” and warns that “Europe is damaging itself systematically. It is time that it realizes this.”
Outside of those sections, I also wrote a paragraph on press reaction to Obama’s most recent speech and his administration’s policy. The Turkish Hurriyet headlined: “The President finally spoke: This violence must stop.” A commentator in the Italian La Stampa notes: “Obama breaks his silence over… Libya, revealing two priorities: To avoid a hostage crisis in Tripoli and to reach a multilateral response...” But a commentator in the Italian Il Tempo lamented that “Nobody is stopping this slaughter. The US Secretary of Defense [says]: ‘It’s France and Italy’s task,” and likewise, a commentary in the Spanish Abc declared “beyond the rhetoric, the fine speeches of Obama and uncommitted and abstract good vibes from the European Union, one perceives a resounding confusion compounded by a very clear lack of leadership.”
On Greece, I focused on ““the first general strike of this year… to protest against the rigid methods of tax savings by the Greek government,” which the Spanish La Razon noted “resulted in a confrontation between demonstrators and police agents.” Interestingly, the Italian Corriere della Sera pointed out that protesters shouted “like Tahrir square….After Ben Ali and Mubarak, now it is Papandreou’s turn,” though the German Süddeutsche editorializes that "Athens is not Cairo, even though some opposition forces would like this. But even though the protests in Greece are nothing new, they are bad news for the government….” On petrol price concerns, the Polish Rzeczpospolita warned that “Growing tensions in Libya have become the biggest threat to global oil supply since the invasion of Iraq eight years ago.” The German Die Welt reassured that "there is no reason to panic because Libya's significance for the oil markets is limited.” But while Frankfurter Allgemeine agreed that "there is no severe oil shortage in the world,” it cautioned that “uncertainty will result in an increase in the price of oil and gas.”
Later on Thursday, I began a special project with the Media Hub director: to set up a meet-up in Brussels with editors of women’s media outlets across Europe for networking and to consider the possibility of joint collaborations on campaigns important for female audiences. The actual get together won’t happen until I’m long gone, but I was tasked with contacting all the US embassies in Europe to ask for information top three print and online women’s outlets in each country. Slowly but surely I have been building up a database on the names, editors, and circulation figures for women’s media outlets across Europe.
Friday’s Early Alert once again centered on events in Libya, and I also reported again on petrol price concerns:
- Regarding reactions to further violence, Italy’s Coriere della Sera headlined “Tripoli in its final battle.” Polska noted that, “Hidden in a military bunker on the outskirts of Tripoli, Colonel Qaddafi carries out his last insane plan which is to hold power at any cost.” Spain’s La Vanguardia points out that “The Libyans probably already know, through Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya, that Muammar Qaddafi has once again become an international pariah, and this time permanently. Too many have died in a week of popular uprisings and slaughter. It's now or never. So they keep coming to the streets, to die.”
- The European press continued to speculate on Libya’s future, with Italy’s Il Messaggero terming the country “The world’s biggest risk.” The French Les Echos warned that “no peaceful transition seems possible in Libya, which lacks political parties…who knows what sort of regime will replace Qaddafi’s?” and Spain’s La Razon headlined, “Europe fears a new Somalia,” adding that “the ghost of radical Islamism hovers over the future of Libya.”
- On the role of the West, a commentator in Spain’s El Mundo argued that “In the event that UN procedures do not work for domestic political reasons, NATO must take responsibility and think about an intervention, without UN authorization, if necessary.” The German Frankfurter Allgemeine editorialized: “It has taken the U.S. President a week to respond to the situation in Libya and the regime’s killing orders. Eight days!” though the Berliner Zeitung was more sympatric to the President’s approach, saying : “Obama knows that any regime in a crisis is waiting to be able to interpret a revolution as a coup staged from outside. Would he have spoken out in favor of the protesters, he would not have helped the protests.” On the EU, France’s Libération lamented that “a new world is being born on Europe’s southern frontier… and what do Europe or France have to say to this development, which is as big as the fall of the USSR? Little or nothing. They are only worried about immigrants and oil prices.” On migration concerns, Publico headlined “Immigration crisis divides Europe.” Indeed, while France’s Les Echos warns that “Europe is not prepared for an influx of Libyan immigrants,” the German ARD-Tagesthemen commented that: “Ruthless politicians in Berlin and Brussels are adding fuel to the fear of an influx of refugees… There is no such exodus…”
- With regard to continuing concerns over petrol prices, the French Le Figaro Economie reported that “after the interruption of oil exports from Libya, Saudi Arabia has been in discussions with European refineries to prevent an oil shortage, but the risk remains.” El Pais cautioned that while “the Saudi supply can cover the shortage of Libyan oil output, what they cannot do is cover the shortfall that would result from a similar crisis in Algeria or Iran… The fear that the revolt will spread to other major oil export countries is what is stirring up the oil market.” France’s Les Echos took a different position, commenting that “the Arab revolutions are tacking a few cents onto the price of gasoline, which is an absurdly low amount compared to the value of the blood being shed in Libya, Egypt and Tunisia…and in the long run, higher gas prices will be good news for alternative energy.”
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