We close this issue without knowing what the unfolding warin Libya will yield. But we couldn’t fail to take note of the profound changes occurring in the southern Mediterranean. We askedjournalists who know the region to reflect on the significance of the events so far and to speculate as best they could on the future. Only time will tell if they were on the mark. In that vein, cordial thanks to “Sole24Ore” correspondent Ugo Tramballi for his insights. His reflection on the wider significance of events in North African and the Middle East opens our Dossier section. Thanks are also due to Anthony Dworkin of the European Council on Foreign Relations, who attempts to track the European political response in the midst of the upheaval. On the economic side, Luca Angolino and Carmela di Terlizzi of Prometeia offer their insights, along with Elena Fenili of the UniCredit group. We’re also indebted to Ludovico Carlino for his appraisal of the threat posed by Islamic extremism in Yemen, to Antonio Picasso for his analysis of the brutally unsettled ties between Egyptian Muslims and the Coptic community, and to Farian Sabahi, who interviewed writer and magazine editor Joumana Haddad on the matter of women’s rights in the region. In addition to our usual look at China, Russia and India, we include two additional reports of special interest, Riccardo De Mutiis’s examination of Montenegro, long trapped between a deep desire to Europeanize and the persistence of organized crime, and Emilano Bos’s detailed look at South Sudan, an African state on schedule for “birth” in July. On the cultural front, Claudia Astarita probes the enduring legacy of the Chinese Cultural Revolution, Marina Gersony profiles Lativian-Italian writer Marina Jarre, and Federico Zanfi examines the troubled landscape of Tirana, Albania’s chaotic capital. Finally, please welcome Danilo Taino into our fold of writers. He is the Berlin correspondent of the Milan daily “Corriere della Sera.”
If even the renowned German philosopher and sociologist Jürgen Habermassays that his country is “a giant focused only on itself,” the time has probably come to ask the mother of all questions, at least from the European perspective.
Though environmentalist infighting may have damaged the fight against global warming, it is hard to argue with concrete evidence that world temperatures will rise two degrees Celsius, if not four. With legislation lagging, the only way to counter the menace may be to adopt a policy of ‘adaptation,’ which in essence means accepting the inevitable but working on proposals to limit both the damage done and rein in the peril that lies ahead. National will, additional research and cash are fundamental to the cause.
Building communism without alcohol is like building capitalism without advertising.” The comment, which appears on the back cover of Ernu’s book, says it all
It’s a stale cliché, I know, but journalism and drinking have long been joined at the hip, and the bromide holds true both for editors parked comfortably behind newspaper office desks and gumshoe reporters roaming the world covering wars and uprisings.
Founded in 1975, the Italian CMS Group focuses on mechanical engineering and making machine parts. It also produces a compactor used by McDonald’s. After struggling through the economic downturn, the group has come roaring back. It will soon open a plant near Shanghai, serving China and most of Asia, and is studying the prospect of entering the Brazilian market. It hasalso earned praise for its attention to social responsibility, opening a day-care center.