Beirut Bombing

The image is a disturbingly familiar one -- a video of an Islamic fundamentalist, claiming responsibility for bloodshed -- but this time it isn't what we expected. Instead of Iraq or Saudi Arabia, it's coming out of Lebanon, a country sometimes called the "Switzerland of the Middle East." After a massive car bomb exploded in Beruit's downtown on Monday, killing 15 people including former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, a previously unknown group, Victory and Jihad in Bilad As-Sham, claimed responsibility in a videotape that broadcast by al-Jazeera television. Bilad As-Sham refers to the historical area of Syria, but it can also mean the entire region of Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Palestine. Lebanon's army has since been mobilized, and some fear that the killing could through the country back into the kind of civil war that plagued Lebanon from 1975-1990. The attack in Lebanon's capital city was also possibly a signal that Islamic fundamentalists are trying to carry jihad into the nation. "This was a martyr operation," stated the video, euphemistically referring to the suicide attack. "It is the beginning of many martyr operations against non-believers in Bilad As-Sham." Lebanese investigators are still investigating the group's claim. Hairi was know as "Mr. Beirut" for the work he did both during his term as prime minister following the civil war, and his work in the private sector as the head of a wildly successful building firm.

German papers on Tuesday responded to the attack in various ways. The Sueddeutsche Zeitung writes that while the world's eyes are turning first towards Syria for responsibility, the situation is too complex to be quick to judge. "It's possible that someone in Damascus lost their nerve, and wanted to send the anti-Syrian opposition an unmistakable signal. It's also possible that, following the thought process of the Middle East, that someone wanted to harm Syria by linking it to the suspected murder. But, finally, it's also not unthinkable that the death of the filthy-rich Hariri had nothing to do with politics. He might have had competitors who would use any means possible."

The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, meanwhile, writes that perhaps we'll never be sure exactly who was behind Hariri's murder because he was such a controversial figure. Hariri was becoming "more and more the focus of anti-Syrian movements within Lebanon." Whatever the case finally turns out to be, the attack itself is a great loss: "The murder of Hariri and many others in the middle of Beruit is a heavy setback in the fight against Middle Eastern terrorism," it concludes. (12:02 p.m. CET)

A Tale of Two Bushies

President George W. Bush is set to visit Europe on Feb. 23, and his trip will include a one-day stopover in Mainz, including a one-day stopover in Mainz, the southwestern German city on the banks of the Rhine. The media is already reporting on the unbelievably heavy security his visit will entail, including measures like closing schools (even though officials haven't said the public will actually be able to see Bush at any point). To put both the upcoming visit and the current state of German-American relations into perspective, we've put together a few points of comparison with another state visit to Mainz, this one made by an earlier Bush president.

When: May 1989

Who: President George Herbert Walker Bush

Events:

• Leisurely boat ride down the Rhine with Helmut Kohl.
• Addressed 3,000 Germans and Americans (to big applause) in the Rheingoldhalle.

Quote: Then-President Bush: "The relationship between the US and the Federal Republic of Germany has never been better."

Who: President George W. Bush

When: February 2005

Facts:

• Schools closed, public transport diverted and both river and air traffic suspended - small planes banned from coming within 40 miles of the city
• Two highways will be closed while Bush is driven the 20 miles form the Frankfurt airport to Mainz.
• Police are expecting between 5,000 and 6,000 demonstrators.

Quotes: Wolfgang Lembach, an official in the regional government: "We have had Clinton, Gorbachev, the pope, Reagan and Chirac in Mainz. But this visit is the biggest challenge we've ever faced."

Mainz city spokesman Markus Biagioni: "Everybody who does not have to do something here should avoid Mainz on Feb. 23." (1:34 p.m. CET)

Sex-Trafficker Scandal Hooks Fischer

A brewing outcry over a German visa loophole that may have allowed Eastern European criminals to smuggle thousands of prostitutes and illegal workers into the EU between 2000 and 2002 has boiled over into a full-blown scandal. Joschka Fischer, Germany's foreign minister and most popular politician, claimed political responsibility on Monday for the mistakes that led to the snafu. "I bear the political responsibility for the possible mistakes of my workers," Fischer said outside Green Party headquarters in Berlin. The lenient tourist visa regulations that were put into effect in 2000 have since been changed, but not before unusually high numbers of visas were issued for travellers coming from Eastern European states. The Kiev embassy alone approved 400,000 visas in 2001. The opposition alleges that the numbers clearly reflect high numbers of sex-slaves, which are a problem in Germany. At the same time that he accepted responsibility, Fischer responded to these claims in a typically straight-forward way: "It's not as if forced prostitution began with the Social Democrats and the Greens," he said. (10:53 a.m. CET)

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