French press review 5 June 2013

France says it has proof of Assad using sarin gas. And Turkey's create divisiions in its ruling party, as social networking sites do the media's job.

Libération's front-page headline is a single word: "Certainty".

The story confirms last week's suspicions that the Syrian army has indeed used chemical weapons in the war against anti-government fighters. The question now is, what does the world do about it?

The diplomatic, or cynical, answer is, probably nothing.

Opposition sources say that 100,000 people have already died in the Syrian conflict while that brave institution "the international community" has stood by, wringing its hands.

The fact that, according to the French government, we now have categoric proof that, as well as bombs and bullets, Bashar and the boys have been using sarin gas against their own people is probably not going to force any fundamental change.

The struggling populations of Jobar, Homs and Aleppo can look forward to, at best, a debate at the United Nations, even if Russia will veto any move to censure the authorities in Damascus. Business as usual.

Already US diplomats have moved to distance Washington from results confirmed by laboratories in Paris and London. The Americans are waiting for "conclusive proof" of the use of chemical weapons, simply because Barack Obama has already stated that the use of such weapons was the "red line" which would oblige his administration to take military action against Damascus. Clearly, that red line was drawn in the shifting sands of geopolitical necessity.

One is tragically reminded of the way in which the word "genocide" was not used to describe the killings in Rwanda in the summer of 1994, since a genocide would have obliged the United Nations to intervene. So an estimated 800,000 people were murdered by their neighbours but they were not the victims of genocide. That will be a further consolation for the people of Jobar, Homs and Aleppo.

Turkey gets pride of place, if that's the correct expression, on the front pages of Catholic paper, La Croix, and the right-wing daily, Le Figaro.

Both papers blame the authoritarian style of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan for the explosion of popular anger. La Croix also points to his increasing alignment with Islamic campaigners.

Le Figaro says the continuing protests are straining the fabric of the ruling party, opening a split between Erdogan and President Abdullah Gul.

Le Monde looks at the impact of the protests on Turkish media. The centrist paper reports that, last Saturday, while thousands of protestors were massing in the centre of Istanbul, the Turkish news channel CNN-Turk was transmitting a programme on . . . penguins. Censorship is routine in Turkey but has become more blatant since the start of the civic disturbances last Friday.

Le Monde says social networking sites are being used to fill the gap left by state-owned or state-shackled media.