Voltaire Network

Opinion-editorials decyphered

Every day, the International Op-Ed section presents an overview and analysis of the positions of the major international decision makers and manipulators.

“Sudan follows the steps of Iraq”

by Moukhtar al Dobabi

10 March 2006

The call issued by the Secretary General of the United Nations Kofi Annan, to replace African forces with international troops is not a personal initiative. In effect, it is a US-European project and that explains the justifiable rejection it has found in Sudan. The deployment of international (...)

“War is not the solution to the crisis in Darfur”

by Aissam Eddine Al Hajj

10 March 2006

Sudan’s Liberation Army movement expresses is views on the role being played by the British government to solve the crisis in our country. The movement thanks the British Minister of Foreign Affairs for his presence at negotiations; the movement is even more thankful for the fact that he is the (...)

“ Darfur: Stop the killing, or pay the price”

by Jack Straw

10 March 2006

The Darfur crisis has already claimed between 70,000 and 400,000 lives. It can only be solved through a political accord that targets the cause of the conflict and that is supposed to be the objective of those gathered in Abuja, Nigeria. The United Kingdom supports the peace process and it has (...)

“ Our friend, an architect of the genocide in Darfur”

by Don Cheadle, John Prendergast

10 March 2006

Eighteen months ago, the United States made the conclusion that genocide was taking place in Darfur. However, George W. Bush, the only president to have said that genocide was occurring there has taken little action in order to stop it. The reason for that lack of action could well be Salah (...)

“Ending genocide in Darfur”

by David Tuller, John Heffernan

10 March 2006

In September 2004, the Bush administration said that murder, rape and violence in Darfur constituted genocide. Since that moment on, hundreds of thousands of people have been killed, but the responsible ones for such a massacre (the Sudanese government and the militias) continue to wage their (...)

“U.S. must act now to end genocide in Sudan”

by Joseph R. Biden Jr.

10 March 2006

In Darfur, we are witnessing a methodical kind of genocide which has claimed between 180,000 and 400,000 Sudanese lives and the displacement of 2 million people since the early 2004. That is the result of systematic elimination campaign launched by the Sudanese regime, whose target are the (...)

Darfur: Simplification and Moralization of the Conflict

by Voltaire Network

Paris (France) | 10 March 2006

The extremely complex situation in Darfur is being ignored by analysts and by the commentaries published in the western mainstream media, particularly in the United States. US media analysts deal with the Darfur issue only as an ethnic conflict, or more precisely as the “genocide” of “Africans” (...)

“The new anti-Semitism, cartoon division”

by Bradley Burston

2 March 2006

If there is something that journalists know what to do is insulting people. The good journalists know how to avoid that, including using racist terms, personal attacks and denigration of individuals. The bad journalists usually do not care about insulting people, thus contravening the (...)

“Don’t be Fooled. This isn’t an Issue of Islam versus Secularism”

by Robert Fisk

2 March 2006

The story about the cartoons has nothing to do with what has been called the issue of Islam versus secularism. The fact is that Muslims live with their religion in their daily lives, culture, but not us. They have preserved their faith beyond countless historical vicissitudes. We, on the (...)

“The freedom that hurts us”

by Sarah Joseph

2 March 2006

The battle has already come up: the religious extremism vs. freedom of speech. Reportedly, this is the bundler caused by the world tensions resulting from the publication of cartoons featuring Mohammed in Denmark and in other parts of Europe. However, apart from the media, I have been receiving (...)

“Freedom of expression or freedom to offend”

by Abdel Bari Atouan

2 March 2006

We would have preferred demonstrations in the Arab-Muslim world to be limited to a pacific expression and not to be aggressive acts like the attacks against Danish embassies and consulates. It’s true these are regrettable and unjustified acts, but we understand the irritation of the 1.5 billion (...)

“To Muslims of the world”

by Carsten Juste

2 March 2006

Muslim Citizens: Allow me to say that our newspaper, Jyllands Posten, believes in the freedom of religion and respects all individuals. We apologize for the great misunderstanding caused by the publication of the caricatures which presented Prophet Mohammed and fed feelings and fuelled (...)

“Free speech and civil responsibility”

by Tariq Ramadan

2 March 2006

There are three aspects to be taken into account while analyzing and assessing the caricatures of Prophet Mohammed. The first is that painting any prophet is forbidden in the Muslim religion. The second is that, in the Muslim world, it’s not common to make fun of our religion or others. Thus, (...)

“A call for respect and calm”

by José Luis R. Zapatero, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan

2 March 2006

With increasing worry, we witness the tensions provoked by the publication of caricatures of Prophet Mohammed in the European journals which have been considered offensive by the Muslisms. We make a call for respect and calm and we ask the voice of reason to be heard. Last year Turkey and Spain (...)

“Short glossary of a caricaturist week”

by Philippe Val

2 March 2006

Prophet Mohammed: religious and military leader born about 570 in Mecca followed by a long period of successful victories that went from Spain to the whole Middle East. A historical figure that belongs to mankind. Therefore, in those countries where freedom of expression has been achieved, he (...)

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