Akbar Hashemi's Memoirs - February 2, 2002

The explicit opposition of Germany and France to America's war policy in Iraq has angered the White House. [Donald Rumsfeld], the US Secretary of Defense, has said that France and Germany are the two old European countries and that the center of European power is shifting eastward. [US President] Bush has insulted them and they have responded to America's insults in return...

Full text of the daily:

At home and in the office, Kushak has been studying for a speech at the Aerospace Conference and revising the text of an interview about Imam Mahdi (a.s.) and the history of the Rab-e-Rashidi [building] [in Tabriz].
Mr. [Mohammad Hassan] Malekmadani, the mayor of Tehran, who was dismissed two or three days ago, was sentenced in court to five months in prison and three years of suspension from government service.
The explicit opposition of Germany and France to America's war policy in Iraq has angered the White House. [Donald Rumsfeld], the US Secretary of Defense, said that France and Germany are the two old European countries and that the center of European power is moving eastward. [George] Bush, [US President], has insulted them and they have responded to the insults of the US.
A meeting of the foreign ministers of the six countries of the region was held today in Istanbul, Turkey, on the issue of Iraq, and at the same time, large demonstrations were held in Turkey and many countries of the world against the war.
In Spain, 45,000 students formed a 45-kilometer-long wall of meat to protest the environmental pollution caused by the Prestige oil tanker off the coast of Spain. The FAO [Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations] announced that the hunger situation in the world has worsened, and in Africa alone there are 200 million hungry people and 60 million tons of food production has been reduced.
The annual Davos Economic Conference in Switzerland was held with the presence of more than two thousand world figures, and at the same time, large demonstrations were held against the globalization policy and the war policy of the United States, and hundreds of thousands of people are expected to participate in the final demonstration. The security plans [of the Davos meeting] are unprecedented. It has been announced that any aircraft seen in the air without permission will be shot down. The conference [Davos] is concerned about a severe economic recession in the world, given the current situation this year; especially under the influence of the possible war of the United States against Iraq.