Neue Zürcher Zeitung 03.01.2007

In a highly instructive article, the Berlin-based Iraqi author Najem Wali explains why it was a mistake to execute Saddam Hussein. "All the people who welcomed the news of the dictator's arrest three years ago, hoped that his trial would be an opportunity to address and come to terms with an epoch in Iraqi history and a culture of indiscriminate murder and massacre. Yet they had no idea that this process would end up in a grotesque show trial and that the slaughterer would be executed under such questionable circumstances. (...) With this trial, a unique opportunity for an all-Iraqi reconciliation has been thrown away."


Süddeutsche Zeitung 03.01.2007

Architecture and morality is the subject of an article by Alexander Hosch. He describes the stars of the international architecture scene who readily undertake huge construction projects in St. Petersburg, Peking or Dubai for "tyrants and autocrats." Included is an interview with Wolf Prix, founder of the architect's office "Coop Himmelb(l)au" (sky blue/building). When asked whether European architects should design the state television building for a regime that does not allow freedom of the press, he says: "It would be absurd to cast aspersions on Rem Koolhaas for the Central Chinese TV tower. Brunnelschi also put a cupola on Florence's cathedral for what was then an authoritarian Church. An architect should not allow himself to become a mouthpiece."


Die Welt 03.01.2007

Director Peter Stein talks in an interview about his "Wallenstein" project. "As far as my staging goes, nothing has been decided so far. There are financial and legal problems. We're working on them. If I don't get over them soon, I'll give up." He also discusses auteur theatre in Germany, that has to answer to "people like that Mr. Stadelmaier. (more) It's got to the point that directors are in fact authors. They use the material of real authors as a quarry, nothing more. That's possible. I consider it nonsense and am not interested in the intellectual flatulence of these relatively stupid people who are calling themselves directors these days. Theatre people are known to be not especially intelligent – and that's the appalling thing. Nor do they need to be. Because their only function is to bring the texts of other people to life."


Berliner Zeitung 03.01.2007

Olivia Schoeller visits the USA's first Creation Museum in Petersburg, Kentucky, set up by the creationist Mark Looy. "A group of life-sized figures are gleaming in the spotlight. A human child in a linen dress plays in knee-high grass between dinosaurs. In the background, the Tyrannosaurus holds up his extraordinary jaw. When Mark Looy pushes another button, the Tyrannosaurus tips his head to and fro and begins to graze. Tyrannosaurus – a vegetarian?"


Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 03.01.2007

Chaos in Basque country. Following the most recent attacks by the ETA (news story), in which two people were killed, Paul Ingendaay believes that the peace talks of the Zapatero government have failed. "The terrorists' main demand, the Basque's right to self-determination including the Navarra region and the French Basque country, cannot be fulfilled for many reasons. Firstly, because the Spanish constitution of 1978 won't permit it, secondly because the majority of the Basques don't want it and thirdly, because the goal is being pursued not by democratic means, but with violence. Not to mention that France wouldn't dream of making political or territorial concessions to the Spanish Basques."