What The World Newspapers Are Saying About The Death Of Osama Bin Laden
70Here in America, we've all seen the overwhelming coverage of Osama Bin Laden's death from the first announcement by President Obama through the talk show jokes...and beyond. But on this day, May 3, 2011--not quite yet 48 hours after the fact--it occurred to me: What does the rest of the world have to say about it?
Here, as presented through quotes from several papers, is a partial answer to that question:
Russia: Pravda, English speaking version.
Bin Laden dead: So what?
"An anonymous US official has said that Usama bin Laden is dead and has been buried at sea". Well, it doesn't get much more vague than that, does it? And as for verification, we are left with hearsay, the source of information being little more than a gaggle of grannies at the bakery. And already a fake photo.
Okay, so, in Russia they're assuming we're lying about the whole thing, and President Obama is now "an anonymous U.S. official". (Note: The article is dated May 2, the day after the President made the announcement.) It goes on to talk about how you just can't trust the media these days, especially those professional liars in the U.S. and U.K. This from Pravda, of all papers!
Saudi Arabia: Asharq Alawsat, "the leading Arabic International daily--English Edition".
Jihadist internet forums were full of posts threatening the US for the killing of the Al Qaeda leader... One Arabic jihadist forum included a post threatening the US with reprisals, adding that "Bin Laden may have been killed, but his message of jihad will never die." Whilst another post read "Oh God, please make this news not true…God curse you Obama!" Another message threatened the people of America, noting "it is still legal for us to cut your necks!"
Asharq Alawsat, at the opposite end of the spectrum from Pravda, provides full and thoughtful coverage of the subject. While I chose the single paragraph which discusses Jihad for this page, the several articles are worth reading from beginning to end, so this link is included. The author of the article from which the above paragraph is taken remains in agreement with Americans that the events of 9/11 were "terrible", and the Jihad portion of what he has to say is but one small chunk of a seventeen-paragraph piece.
Canada: Montreal Gazette.
Afghan Taliban say insufficient evidence bin Laden is dead
"As the Americans did not provide any acceptable evidence to back up their claim, and as the other aides close to Osama bin Laden have not confirmed or denied the death . . . therefore the Islamic Emirate consider any assertion premature," said a statement emailed to media by Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid.
It's not surprising that the Taliban would be unwilling to take the Great Satan's word for anything (the Great Satan being us, in case you're not up on their perspective in such things). What is remarkable--and I don't mean that in a good way--is that our neighbors to the north chose the voice of the Taliban to anchor their lead article for today. That's right; they specifically highlight this article as the best they've got. The Arabian coverage (via Asharq Alawsat) is quite "fair and balanced"; the Canadian coverage (at least in The Gazette) is rather Taliban-centric.
Go figure.
Great Britain: London Times.
U.S. hints at release of Bin Laden body photos
John Brennan, the White House counter-terrorism adviser, held out the prospect that stills of Osama bin Laden’s body and footage from the raid on his compound could be released today.
London is on top of it: Just the facts, Ma'am. (The article is authored by Sadie Gray.) So far, the score is two to two. Russian and Canadian coverage score poorly; Saudi Arabian and British coverage score well. Sadie's piece is brief but highly informative, so we're including a link here.
China: China Daily.
Bin Laden's death sparks relief, outrage
KABUL, Afghanistan - News of Osama bin Laden's death has stirred strong emotions, from a profound sense of relief across much of the globe to outrage among sympathizers who vowed to avenge the al-Qaida leader.
Here's the link. This article provides a broader overview than any other. It includes positive responses to the kill from Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai, and many more--along with those who supported Bin Laden and express dismay and/or a desire for revenge on the USA.
All in all, if you only have time to link-click on one article, this would be the one to tackle; it's truly excellent.
CommentsLoading...
Nice job, Ghost!
We sometimes neglect to wonder what others are thinking.
GreenGardenGuy: I know what you mean; Yahoo plus Fox News equals at least ninety percent of my usual daily news fare.
Will: Thanks. I'm not sure what triggered my curiosity this morning, but the results were definitely interesting.
Fred, this is interesting to see the reporting on this from around the world. News spreads fast, but not very accurately.
Great job! A shame, most of our news reporters today probably are just handed a file and told to write it up. You did an awesome job with this. REAL reporting.
Great post, very informative. I have to admit, with Obama releasing what I still believe to be a fake long form BC, I wouldn't put it past him to lie about this to goose up his reelection odds, but I'll reserve opinion until proof comes out one way or another. I'm no conspiracy buff by any means, but Obama is such a compulsive liar I wouldn't put anything past him. Stu
Great post, Ghost. It's interesting to see what others are thinking. I had been wondering and did a bit of digging myself, but a lot of what I came upon were in languages I can't speak let alone read. Thanks, up and useful!
Mike: Yep. My favorite so far is the Russian attribution of Obama's speech to "an anonymous U.S. official".
David: Thanks. There were plenty of other newspapers from other countries I could have included--and wanted to, for that matter--but the Hub was long enough.
Stu: I understand your skepticism but don't see an Obama-fib as workable in this case, because:
1. If we hadn't really nailed Bin Laden, there's too much time between now and Election Day. Osama could have popped up on video in 2012 and gotten the President impeached for lying about something that, single handed.
2. There are too many good people connected to the story to make for a workable coverup, including Navy personnel from top to bottom. Yes, the military takes its marching orders from the Commander in Chief, but a whole bunch of those guys (and gals) have an inconvenient habit of remembering their oath to defend the Constitution.
3. The backstory compenent is way, WAY too complex with far too many precise and intricate details. When Obama has been caught telling stories--frequently, as we know--he's usually raised suspicions by REFUSING to provide key details, such as the stonewalling surrounding his BC and academic records, etc. If the intelligence gathering scenario were fabricated with all of that precise timeline included, somebody would talk.
4. All of the news now coming out about the town where he was found...fits. It has, for example, escaped terrorist attacks in recent years. Neighbors were critical of that house because, big as it was, the residents "never invited the poor or dispensed charity". The two men who were the only people to leave the place regularly, to run errands, spoke multiple languages--and were known to different people by different names.
rkhyclak: I'm not fluent in other languages, either, though I can cuss a bit in Cheyenne. But all you need to do is add "English" to your keyword search box. That is, to pull up the English language version of the China Daily, all I did was type in "China newspaper English" and hit Enter.
Hi Ghost, thanks, good information, Stu
Very interesting and not surprising. Blah, blah blah. He's dead and that's all there is to it!
Stu: You're welcome. The research for this one actually turned out to be rather enjoyable.
BPop: I agree; there's no doubt in my mind that we nailed the guy. What I did find most intriguing was the night-and-day difference between Russia and China, with Russia in full denial and China producing the most comprehensive coverage out there (at least as of May 3).
So interesting, this variety of reactions. Good points, too, why we can be confident this is not another Obummer lie.
Fred - That actually elicited a chuckle out of the old frog. Every one has there spin. Osama has been insignificant since GWB put him on the run. It's hard to do much when you are having to focus on saving your own skin for better days.
Also voting up and useful. Thanks for doing the research Ghost. I was truly struck by the Pravda piece. Was it an editorial or an actual front page news story? JR
A friend on facebook wrote that Hilter died on the 1st May as well. Coincidence or not I wonder.
Great blog
Thanks for the update Ghost. although I believe that Obama did nail his near cousin, Osama, yet releasing a fake photo is not a good thing to do. The world is very fast now, everthing can be dug in no time.
Ms Dee: Thanks.
Frog: Yeah, I was grinning a bit myself.
jsearam: It was presented as the first piece to hit the screen when clicking on Pravda.com (English edition). Whether it was up front like that in the print edition, I have no way to tell.
jennysbus: Reincarnation protagonists are quite probably suspecting there's a connection. I consider reincarnation to be a fact but have no idea precisely what the connection may be. The most obvious would be that the two men (Hitler and Osama) were incarnations of the same radical Soul, but there are dozens of possibilities and/or permutations.
KenWu: I'm not sure what you're saying by "releasing a fake photo". Are you saying that if the death photo is released, it will be a fake? Or referring to the fake photo (not even close to resembling Bin Laden) that began circulating around the Internet almost immediately? Or...?
KenWu: I decided to delete your last comment, but ONLY because the YouTube video link went to a screen that said "Malformed URL" something-or-other. But here's your text:
"Yeap, it's bout the photo that emerged almost immediately. I read somewhere that even if more photos are released, they would surely be modified to make it less 'horror' even to the point where the death man is unrecognizable."
And here's the first link you posted, which worked fine:
Sorry bout that Ghost. I must be too dumb to have left something out when copied the link.
If you don't mind here's the link again, I've double check and it works.
Thanks,Ken. Works from this end, too.
Of course, there was never any doubt that the photo they're discussing is a fake. It doesn't even resemble Osama, at least to my eye. And no one from our side (govt.) has said we've released anything, so, duh.
The Sacramento Bee - a zealously liberal rag - reported on the front page today that Bin Laden had no weapon when he was killed. I say, "so what?" The man is a mass murderer and was as usual, in the company of other cold blooded murderers - that's good enough for me. Thank God for American soldiers to do the job right. Hooah!
Excellent piece of reporting Ghost! I love the brief overview of varying perspectives. I have noticed that another Arabic news outlet (Al Jazeera) is trying to uphold the journalists' creed for objective reporting. Kudos to them.
Thanks for mentioneering Al Jazeera; I really should have included a bit from them.
Hi Jenny,
I believe Hitler committed suicide on 4/20/45.
Stu
Stu: Maybe it took eleven more days to pry Hitler's remnanant of a Soul out of the body to face the Judge of the Dead? :)
Hm. With Osama dumped at sea, wonder if that means HE got to go in front of Poseidon as his Judge...? I've heard the sea god with the trident can be pretty stern....
Great report, Ghost! Very few people even care about what other countries think about the things we do...not wise. It amazes me that whenever America supposedly does something beneficial for everyone, we are bashed by our own allies! Go figure!!!
Thanks, Knightheart. I was really impressed by the coverage in both China and Saudi Arabia; found that intriguing to say the least.
The bashing by allies is a bit intriguing, but yeah, "Go figure!" says it pretty well.
Hey Ghost, I see a different side everyday. I live in Thailand. So I see the rest of the worlds reactions not just to what the U.S. says and does but the rest of the world. I think what you've done is open the eyes of some folks to the fact that there is a whole world out there that thinks and reacts to events differently than we may like. I was not surprised by any of the attitudes in these articles, they are following their normal discourse I have been following for years outside the "Fox" babble. See what the rest of the world thinks and feels and we'll all be better for it.
Thanks, Peter. I hope you're right (about opening an eye or two), and yes, I did remember that you live in Thailand.
I do admit to liking Fox News--to a degree--and my TV is often tuned to that station while I'm writing. That is, when there aren't any good cartoons on, at least.
But as you say, the limitations are pretty severe if you're only looking in one direction.
Ghost, you give a pretty gory view of the afterlife...
Barely gettin' started, Stu! LOL!
Knightheart,
After two years of Obama, I don't think we have any allies left except the UK. :(
Stu
Correct, except that a lot of them are just hunkering down and hoping We the People can get him out of there in 2012. It's no accident that Sarah Palin took her trip to both India and to Israel, where she met with Netenyahu and promised to come back and visit some more later on.
Get somebody like Sarah in, and we'll have strong allies again because WE will be a strong ally. Guaranteed.
Stu,
Yeah, come to think of it, you are probably right. France, well, they flip flop like rabbits on hot pavement, and any ally in the Middle East, well, that could disappear if someone sneezes or looks at them wrong!
Well, to be honest, the U.S. lately hasn't been to clear on what it stands for either. Obamalamadingdong changes directions whenever the wind changes. Our own citizens have no clue as to what we stand for anymore. With all the finger pointing in Washington and the bickering in Congress, no wonder our allies don't know where we stand...I certainly don't! The American people are wiser than the government gives us credit for, but does government listen?...pfft!
As Ghost said, we need somebody in government that has some guts and won't pussyfoot around...someone with backbone. I think Cain and Palin would be great for the 2012 election. Just imagine where this country could go with some REAL leadership running the show!
Besides which, Knightheart, a Cain/Palin ticket would guarantee low turnout on the Democrat side--bazillions of liberals would sh**ting themselves so bad, they wouldn't be able to get off the john long enough to go vote on Election Day!
ROFLOL...ah, now that would be worth seeing!!!..... Gas mask anyone?
Ghost, exactly. Our historical allies don't trust us because we let them down. Obama has completely defunded the fight against Shiite terror, costing us Israel, moderate Arab states, and Central Europe. And by reneging on the ABM promise, Southern Europe no longer trusts us either. And we are further destroying our influence with moderate Arab states by supporting the takedown of secular leaders who will be replaced by regimes loyal to Iran. Our only ally left is the UK, and they are decimating their military capability due to budget woes.
While all this is going on, Iran is gaining more and more satellites due to our policies, and Germany/Russia/China are forging strong diplomatic and economic ties. These ties will ultimately become military, and the US will be at the mercy of historically dangerous enemies. The Russia/China axis would have formed no matter what we did, resulting in a great nuclear power and land army. But the German connection could have been prevented if we supported them in their fight against local Shiite terror. But now Germany will add European space technology to the Russia/China alliance. Obama doesn't realize it, but he is creating two enormous enemies (a massive Iranian block, and a German/Russian/Chinese alliance) that will both be vehemently anti-US.
Obama has not only isolated us militarily, but has contributed to the buildup of two monster regimes that will hate us.
Perhaps even worse, the two monster regimes will hate each other. As Iran gains influence over Northern Africa and Persian Gulf states, it will have the ability to block sea lanes conncting the Mediterranean Sea to the Atlantic ocean, threatening European trade, as well as block oil coming out of the Gulf (Red Sea and Gulf of Oman). This could spark a war between Central Europe and the Iranian block, the winner possibly obtaining control of all the oil in the Persian Gulf. You could be talking about the beginning of WWIII.
While I am hardly a geopolitical expert, I don't think it takes one to see how stupid Obama's foreign policy is.
Stu
Nicely delineated,Stu.
Heck, I'm still scratching my head over the virulence coming from some CANADIAN citizens toward us.
Knightheart,
Good points. Obama is simply unfathomable. He fights tenaciously against Sunni terror, but has completely defunded the fight against Shiite terror. This has cost us Central Europe, moderate Arab states, and Israel as allies.
Then, for no stated reason, he reneged on the promise to supply Southern Europe with ABM batteries. Oops, there goes more allies.
So all we have now for a military friend is the UK. And they are dismantling their military capabilities at light speed due to budget problems.
Meanwhile, Germany, Russia, and China are forging economic and diplomatic ties, which almost certainly will become military as trust builds. So you have EU advanced space technology, the massive Russian nuclear capability, and China's gigantic ground force. Further, Japan is cozying up to China for economic reasons (investment required due to the earthquake). What if Japan joins the potential military axis and contributes its enormous naval power? See what I'm getting at? A combined German/Asian military axis would be both more powerful than the US, and anti-US. And Obama is doing everything in his power to repel all our historical military allies. Who does this guy work for?
Stu
Ghost,
I wasn't aware we were on the Canadian's s**t list. What are they griping about?
Stu
Stu, I'm not at all saying the officials in Canada have us on the list--haven't studied that, don't know. But it seems like the nastiest anti-Sarah Palin, anti-U.S. politics in general, anti-conservative comments I've been getting for the past year or so...have come from Canadians.
Which has been a head-scratcher for me, since a goodly percentage of my travel partners and hangout buddies during my days on the rodeo circuit (1960s) were Canadian cowboys. Found any number of girls up there that were warmer than the climate, too.
Got me.
On the Obama front: My eyelids snapped wide open when I read your comment about his apparent pro-Shiite bias. I'd completely missed that obviously all-important distinction.
Would it be a decently educated guess to "assume" his Kenyan father was Shiite, then?
GreenGardenGuy 13 months ago
That's an excellent bit of reporting, thank you! I wouldn't have gotten this info from my Yahoo news.