Süddeutsche Zeitung, 26.07.2005

The attacks in Scharm el-Schich are a catastrophe for the Egyptian opposition, says writer Alaa al-Aswani in an interview with Sonja Kekri. Now the government can strike again, and this will have devastating consequences. "The Egyptian government is not fighting against terror, it's creating it. Take for example the attacks on the hotels in Taba last year. At the time, thousands of suspects were imprisoned and tortured. The women were raped before the eyes of their imprisoned husbands, the suspects were tortured with electroshocks, some didn't survive. (...) If the government is looking for ten suspects, it arrests 500, people will sign the most fantastic admissions when being tortured. It's a black comedy. Those who have lost all are prepared to do anything."


Le Figaro, 26.07.2005 (France)

In Le Figaro, Middle Eastern expert Gilles Kepel endorses an interesting theory about the role the Internet plays for Islamists. "Because radical Islamists will never gain the support of the majority in their own countries, they seize upon the Internet as a sort of virtual Umma, which they can dominate without any form of censorship. "In the galaxy of Jihad, the Internet has replaced the Ulemas of yesteryear with bearded cyber-Salafists, who offer a purely literal interpretation of the holy texts. For them transcendence is digital, the afterlife and the virtual combine in their fantasy world to form a unity which is set apart from the real world and which follows their rules. The interaction between these two worlds leads to a double death: to the suicide of the 'martyr' which frees him from the schizophrenic tension between the two worlds, and to a bloodbath of the "unbelievers".


Die Welt, 26.07.2005

With an eye on potential political constellations in Germany, Eckhard Fuhr gives us some words of reassurance. In his opinion, the "Grand Coalition of 1966-1969 (made up of the Federal Republic's two largest parties, CDU/CSU and the Social Democratic Party (SPD) under Chancellor Kurt Georg Kiesinger) was not nearly as bad as its reputation. On the contrary, it implemented key reforms. "It took the first steps towards new German and Eastern politics by silently abandoning the unpopular Hallstein Doctrine and it no longer staunchly refused to make governmental contacts with representatives of East Germany. And as far as the liberalisation of society is concerned, the Kiesinger/Brandt government achieved significant gains which people like to attribute falsely to the social-liberal coalition which followed." (After the 1969 election, the SPD, headed by Willy Brandt, formed a coalition government with the FDP.)


Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 26.07.2005

Yesterday, German pre-historian Nicholas Conard presented to the public the ice age phallus that was excavated in the "Hohle Fels" caves in Baden-Württemberg. The object is anthracite in colour, made of compacted silt and measures 19 cm in length. While it is clear that the phallus was worked by hand and served practical as well as symbolic functions, there is much speculation over its precise use. Ulf von Rauchhaupt, writing in the FAZ, considers the various theses and concludes: "We know almost nothing about sexual life in the early palaeolithic ages. Speculation about male-dominated harem structures or matriarchal social forms have no basis – they are projections from current practices or ideologies." But the findings of contemporary ethnology offer some insight. "Peoples living in climatic zones that require only light or no clothing tend to have much stricter sexual taboos; the more people have to wear to keep warm, the looser their sexual mores. So, the phallus would probably have fitted well in the Ice Age." The phallus can be seen as part of the special exhibition "Ice Age Art – definitely manly" at the Stone Age Museum in Blaubeuren.


Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 26.07.2005

Gerhard Gnauck reports on a Polish box office hit. Giacomo Battiato's Pope film "Karol" has blown all records and – ahead of even "Star Wars" - is the most successful film in Polish cinemas. The critics are effervescing with enthusiasm. The Rzeczpospolita is overjoyed: "A thoroughly evocative portrait, a gift of great beauty from Battiato to Poland." The film covers the life of Karol Wojtyla from 1939 until when he became Pope. Part two is already in the making.