Opinion
. ..A growing number of people in Europe are pessimistic about the world’s future prospects at the dawn of the 21st century and deem it necessary that the Christian West reflect upon and reconsider some of its dominant convictions. And one significant element of the present situation in the USA is that a part of the USA’s political elite and society – and this despite the imminent military campaign to punish the terrorists – is trying… to avoid a potential clash of civilizations and a division between the world’s Christians and Muslims. Such concerns in the USA and Europe, however, are still overshadowed by global bewilderment and uncertainty. US Secretary of State Colin Powell has openly stated that the terrorists are exploiting a religion which is respected by the USA and has called upon the American people not to suppose that the terrorist blitz was carried out by Arabs and Muslims. At the same time, Italy’s modern prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, talked about the superiority of Western civilization. He even said that the West will continue to conquer more and more people like it did with communism… A considerable number of European politicians – but not all – would agree with his remarks. Besides, it is common knowledge that today there is no common political line in Europe which would enable events like the recent ones in the United States to be tackled in a unified fashion… So far just 14 percent of the urban, 8 percent of the rural and 5 percent of other areas have been registered. Two and a half million property owners have submitted statements for the rights to 5 million properties, about 15 percent of the estimated total of 33 million properties. There is an obvious delay, even if Public Works Minister Costas Laliotis’s excuse that the project has started from the difficult areas is well-founded.
