No continental divide between New Europe and Old Europe


Scott MacMillan is a free-lance journalist based in Prague reports that when it comes to public attitudes toward U.S. military power, there's no continental divide between new Europe and old Europe. The Europeans are conflicted, but not over Iraq: The conflict is about Europe itself.
· Continental Ways [Slate]

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ):That Fuzzy Memorandum

Last Sunday, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) ran a story, Bio-Terror: Danger hushed up, indicating knowledge of Iraqi smallpox weapons may have been widespread in the German government earlier than that. The story rests on a memorandum issued by the German health ministry, dated August 9, 2002 and notes that, judging by the fax dissemination list, it was widely circulated within the German government. Excerpts from that memorandum:

Bonn, August 9, 2002
BMG
Ref. 329
Supplementary justification to the request of August 9, 2000, re the acquisition of smallpox vaccine
For the following reasons, the prompt appropriation of 10 million Euros as well as [additional authorizations]* in the sum of 20 million Euros for the acquisition of smallpox vaccines is factually undisputable and should not be delayed:

1. Probability of an attack

Estimates of the world situation and especially news reports point to an acute sharpening of danger levels: German security agencies have documented information that smallpox is being stored not just in official laboratories in Atlanta and Koltsovo, but also illegally, e.g. in Russia, Iraq, and North Korea. There are also indications that terrorist groups are trying to produce biological weapons. Even were a release of smallpox virus to occur elsewhere in the world, it would constitute an extraordinary danger for Germany because of the extreme transmissibility of the the virus and the mobility of the world's population. The indications of a possible imminent attack of the USA on Iraq are growing. It can feared that Iraq would react with the biological weapons at its disposal, including smallpox.
· SmallPox [FAZ]
· No Porks [Bilt]