Why has the Kremlin reacted to a "rally organised by a coalition of relatively small and heterogeneous opposition groups, discontented citizens and political dissenters" with a "massive force of heavily-armed riot police?" asks Reinhard Meier. "Without this kind of elaborate police operation, these demonstrations would get less coverage from both Russian and foreign media. But perhaps this kind of media attention is part of the Kremlin's strategy. It's aimed at showing Russian citizens that the stability of the country, which Putin is constantly boasting about, could be endangered by irresponsible forces. The message is that this is why it's so important to vote for the well-tried establishment in the upcoming elections." (16/04/2007)

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The editorialist Sandro Viola considers the demonstrations against the government organised in Russia. "What is currently happening in Russia's big towns is a very far cry from what happened in Georgia and in Ukraine between 2003 and 2005. The rose revolution and the orange revolution were in fact triumphant marches ... . Thus they have nothing in common with the little demonstrations that have been taking place since early April. And as if this were not enough, the person holding the power in Moscow is not a wavering autocrat as were Shevardnadze in Tbilissi and Kuchma in Kiev. In Moscow, power is in the hands of Putin who is not wavering and is not discredited at all. He is even very popular: between 70 and 80% of Russians declare themselves glad to be governed by him, the former chief of secret services. This is a percentage that all the other leaders of western countries could only ever imagine in their dreams". (16/04/2007)

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Eduard Steiner comments that the several thousand people who took part in the demonstrations in Moscow and St Petersburg still can't conceal the fact that the country no longer has an opposition. Nonetheless, he points out: "Political life and the battle between the blocks are only dead according to a  Western understanding of politics. There is no doubt that the battle is still being fought, but it is being fought less visibly: those pulling the strings are behind high walls. The turbulence that has surrounded the recent increase in political or financially motivated murders demonstrates how bitter this battle is. A number of surprising resignations are also testament to the small victories of individual groups. Within the close network between politics and the economy built under Vladimir Putin, many have climbed the ladder to forge a new class of oligarchs. Their fear at the approach of the end of his term in office in March 2008 will make the coming year a turbulent one." (16/04/2007)

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"The recent enforcement of law and order in Moscow and St Petersburg are the symptoms of political unrest in Russia which has probably not been so great since 1991, when the USSR collapsed", considers the daily. "For fifteen years now, the Russians have been on the democratic path, but they unfortunately give the impression of going round in circles and inevitably returning to where they started off, where the authoritarian reflexes of the Kremlin automatically reappear. ... During his two mandates, Putin has not been the democrat that Russia needs. He never even tried to adopt such an image. He still has a few months to serve his country in the best possible way, at least allowing Russian society to freely elect a new president. But in view of what we have seen this weekend in Russia, this is not what Putin has in mind." (16/04/2007)

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In an interview conducted by Eric Aeschimann, the British historian Eric Hobsbawm considers that "decolonisation brought on the creation of new states that are either deprived of a history or have a history that they don't want to accept. More recently, the end of the cold war provoked a sort of thawing of the history that had been put on ice at the end of the Second World War. Revisions of history are being imposed or trying to be imposed all over the place. All this has opened an extraordinary space for the reinvention of History, which is largely mythical because these stories are not written by historians, but by governments, movements, organisations, pressure groups. ... A nation only exists in relation to its past. ... This being so, it is not surprising that an ethnical group or allegedly ethnic group trying to establish its identity should start to reinvent its history. " (14/04/2007)

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In an article published by different European dailies, Dutch writer Ian Buruma ponders how Islam is perceived on the Old Continent. "Fear of Islam and immigrants could lead to the adoption of non-liberal laws. ... The problem today is that the values of the Enlightenment are sometimes used very dogmatically against Muslims. They have in fact become a form of nationalism, 'our values' against 'theirs'. The values of the enlightenment should not be defended because they are 'our culture', but because we consider them fair. To thus confuse politics with culture amounts to falling into the same trap as the defenders of multiculturalism. Grave consequences ensue: by setting the Muslims of Europe against us, we will push more people to join the Islamist revolution. We should do everything to encourage the Muslims of Europe to be assimilated in European societies. This is our only hope." (16/04/2007)

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"A ban on divorce, heavy restrictions on abortions, the introduction of school uniforms - although the former hasn't a chance of success and the abortion ban failed in parliament on Friday, the conservative revolution in Poland is reaching new heights," writes Martin Ehl. "Critics say the Kaczynski brothers are implementing an anachronistic policy that relies on nationalism and is counterproductive in times of international cooperation. The result is that a large proportion of the population is turning its back on politics. ... The Kaczynskis are dependent on their ultra-Catholic and nationalist coalition partner, the League of Polish Families, with which it competes for the same group of voters. All the above-mentioned issues were brought up by Roman Giertych, leader of the League and deputy prime minister. He comes up with one controversial proposal after another while the second coalition partner, the populist Andrzej Lepper [of the farmers' party Samoobrona], has had to step out of the limelight following a series of scandals." (16/04/2007)

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Kerry Longhurst and Marcin Zaborowski, researchers specialising in Europe, denounce the systematic criticism of the politics of the Kaczynski brothers, the Polish President and Prime Minister. "Poland is, without question, socially a very conservative country - its population is 90 % Catholic, more than 60 % of Poles go to mass every Sunday and a quarter of them live and work in the countryside. No matter which political party is in power, the Polish government will always remain conservative in a European context. ... This government believes in a strong State, in a moral revival and a firm foreign policy. But let's admit that it is clumsy on the foreign front and doesn't care how it is viewed abroad. Let us beware of basing our criticism solely on the sensationalist aspects of Polish politics. In many respects, the Kaczynski brothers are only trying to emulate the France of De Gaulle." (14/04/2007)

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The daily salutes the recent publication by the European Parliament Commission of Petitions of a report denouncing the lack of control over the urban development of the Spanish coast. "The nightmare of corruption and incompetence that this document describes is absolutely correct, as is shown by the accusations of corruption that are taken to court every day. ... [The reasons for this situation] have been known for a long time, but the civil service has not proven capable of putting a stop to the real estate corruption that has destroyed so many citizens' trust in local authorities and that may undermine credibility in other democratic instances. Worst of all is the fact that all this is presenting Spain to the rest of Europe as a society that accepts cadastral corruption, building without planning permission and the destruction of the environment." (16/04/2007)

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"Figures from the Justice ministry this month have shown a new rise in the number of serious crimes committed in Cyprus", notes the daily. "Social change and greater prosperity have vastly improved the lives and opportunities of most people in this country. But they are also bringing with them the same problems that are the bane of every Western society, an explosive cocktail of family breakdown, growing delinquency and drugs – indeed Cyprus now has one of the highest rates of drug death per inhabitant in Europe. ... At the same time, the whole infrastructure of the state remains set in a model that dates back to the days when crime was almost non-existent. ... We still can have a head start on the situation. We know the trends from Greece and elsewhere, the dangers that lie ahead. So far, we have been reacting to crime. Let us use the opportunity we still have to pre-empt it, by targeting the social exclusion that breeds the criminals of tomorrow." (15/04/2007)

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The registration period for all candidates who want to run in the presidential elections due to be held in two weeks' time began today. It remains unclear whether Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan of the national conservative AKP will run, but a group of opponents to his candidacy is already forming. Erdogan's AKP has its roots in the Islamic milieu, and many fear that his election would mean the complete Islamisation of the country. According to Kai Strittmatter, the "real battle line" runs elsewhere: "The Kemalists [opposed to the candidature of Erdogan], the self-appointed heirs of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, who founded the Republic, are the old elite in Turkey. They, having controlled and plundered the state for decades, now fear they could be pushed out of power and deprived of their sources for good. ... It's remarkable that it's by no means only conservative Muslims who are backing Erdogan's AKP, but also Istanbul entrepreneurs, the Liberals, the pro-Europeans and the Turkish minorities. They all point out that Turkey has never been as open and democratic as it is today, after four years of AKP government." Strittmacher points out that it would therefore be wiser for Erdogan not to stand for President and let one of his allies run instead." (16/04/2007)

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The weekly considers that "the kingdom is looking anything but united as it heads toward regional and local elections. ... 'There are just 30 days to save devolution,' proclaimed Jack McConnell this week. Scotland's first minister was firing Labour's opening shots in the campaign leading up to elections for the Scottish Parliament on May 3rd. By awkward coincidence, these fall two days after the 300th anniversary of the formal union between Scotland and England. Mr McConnell has every right to sound alarmed. Most recent opinion polls have given the Scottish National Party (SNP), which seeks independence from Britain, a hefty lead over Labour. Those who were squelched years ago for giving warning that devolution was less a solution to separatist sentiment than a fast track to secession are laughing up their sleeves. Is the union, in fact, in peril, with Scotland the first of the four nations that make up the United Kingdom to walk free ? Not if Labour can help it." (12/04/2007)

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The IPCC, an international panel of experts on climate change established by the UN, recently published its second world climate report. According to the report parts of the northern hemisphere could actually benefit from global warming in the short term. But Viveca Dahl sees this as little cause for joy: "Who doesn't want lower home heating costs? And who would complain about longer summers? So climate change is good because it's useful to us and we don't need to worry about it any more. But the IPCC report contains a word that should make us stop and think: the word hunger. Read through it carefully and let it sink in - because this would be the consequence of long periods of drought and heavy floods. Once again, it's short-term benefits for the already privileged - and the risk of hunger for the rest." (16/04/2007)

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An exhibition about the Austro-Hungarian inventor, architect and writer Wolfgang von Kempelen (1734-1804) is currently on show in Budapest and will subsequently move to the Centre for Art and Media Technology in Karlsruhe. Among other things, von Kempelen invented a chess machine and a talking machine. He was far ahead of his time with his inventions, writes József Mélyi, curator of the exhibition in conversation with László J. Győri. "Von Kempelen invented the chess machine, which conceals a human chess player who controls the chess moves of a puppet dressed in Turkish robes with the aid of complex machinery. In the 1780s von Kempelen toured Europe with his chess machine and gave a demonstration to James Watt, with whom he discussed the future of the steam engine. Nowadays, this would be the equivalent of someone using an ingeniously constructed robot to present himself as a magician and talk to the leading pioneers of genetic engineering about artificial intelligence. The chess machine was intended for pure entertainment, but von Kempelen was more interested in constructing a talking machine - a mechanism for reproducing human speech sounds." (13/04/2007)

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For centuries, the Orthodox Church has held a festival in celebration of the miraculous recovery of a blind man after Easter. Razvan Mihai Vintilescu writes that he has no patience with the yearly spectacle of hundreds of thousands of believers clamouring and sometimes fighting each other for holy water in Romania's churches and monasteries. "This is where tradition ends and hypocrisy begins. The holy water washes blood from elbows, makes the dark circles around eyes disappear and soothes the pain of punches in the stomach. Because this is what the faithful have to endure to get a mouthful of the holy drink. Year after year, they beat each other up for this - as if it were some kind of barbaric ritual. This is where religion ends and self-betrayal begins. You're not a true believer it you don't wipe the soles of your shoes on another man's back in your fervour to obtain the sacred drink. ... These are religious hooligans: like at football games, the faithful are prepared to throw torches onto the pitch and start fights for a team shirt that is passed up to the stands." (16/04/2007)

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Since their joint accession to NATO on April 1, 2004, the three Baltic states, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, have been planning to establish a joint land battalion, but so far they haven't gotten beyond the planning phase. The Estonian newspaper blames Latvia for the delay. "This ambitious project was never going to be easy, but now it 'surprisingly' turns out that Estonia and Lithuania have entirely different types of tanks, and this will cause huge problems with the logistics. But the main problem is that Latvia has no tanks at all, nor any intention of acquiring them in time. Moreover, Latvia would have to boost its 5 000-man army by at least another 200 men, who would then join the new battalion. A joint Baltic battalion without the Latvians would be even stranger than a battalion in which each company uses its own vehicles." (16/04/2007)

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