The daily considers that "logically, the invitation given to a 'petty and cruel dictatar' as he was called by Columbia University's chief education officer, is surprising and polemical. ... It was predictable that the Iranian leader ... would take advantage of the situation to display his cynicism and evade answering questions. It would nevertheless be a step forward if all the students in the world could hold direct discussions with the planet's leaders, even the most abject, to listen to them and, as much as possible, debate their arguments. It is always best to talk. Besides the moral and religious lessons that Ahmadinejad inflicted on his audience, nothing was said on the evolution of Iran's contentious nuclear question." (26/09/2007)

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More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » U.S., » Middle East, » Iran

Historian Michael Wolffsohn considers it wrong that Ahmadinejad has been allowed to make public appearances in New York: "This potential mass murderer, who even has the temerity to announce his mass murders in advance, is being treated with a high degree of tolerance. But it's not Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who's the problem, it's us, or to be precise, us as part of an international community that allows people to do as they please - even call for the extermination of other states and deny the Holocaust... German and European politicians must wake up from the delusion that the UN embodies the world's conscience. In a nutshell: actions in a global context should be based on Western democratic values, not on UN compromises that are accepted by Iran, Sudan, Zimbabwe or other rogue states. We must remember our values, which ultimately are universal." (26/09/2007)

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More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » Security Policy / Crises / War, » Religion, » Weltanschauung, » U.S., » Iran
All available articles from » Michael Wolffsohn

Julia Raabe describes how Ahmadinejad has exploited the international stage. "He has attacked Israel ('[it's] based on racism'), talked nonsense at the renowned Columbia University ('There are no homosexuals in Iran') and publicly toyed with the idea of laying a wreath at Ground Zero - he who is 'probably the greatest sponsor of state terrorism' (to quote Condoleeza Rice). And the show will go on for as long as Ahmadinejad remains in the US. But the Iranian president has already played his role brilliantly for Washington. He has presented himself exactly as the Bush Administration sees him. And because he is the only representative of the Iranian regime that can capture the attention of the international public in such a way... there's no danger that a more nuanced picture of the situation in Iran will have to be painted in the future." (26/09/2007)

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More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » Religion, » Weltanschauung, » U.S., » Iran
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Cambridge university lecturer of English Priyamvada Gopal contests the common claim that womens' equality is an inherently western concept. "Women from non-western cultures have long mounted their own challenges to subjection ... . In India, women learned self-assertion from medieval female Hindu poets like Tarabai Shinde, who in 1882 wrote a stinging denunciation of male double standards. Early 20th century Muslim women writers attacked a range of injustices including seclusion, lack of reproductive choice, and illiteracy. ... Invocation of women's equality as the key difference between 'us' and 'them' is worrying. Apart from the simple hypocrisy of people whose own societies have yet to fully address gender, race and class inequalities, there is a long, dismal history of using the subjection of women to justify cultural condescension and colonial occupation." (26/09/2007)

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More from the press review on the subject » Minorities, » Global
All available articles from » Priyamvada Gopal

The French philosopher Regis Debray, interviewed by William Bourton and Baudoin Loss, considers that the rise of separatism in Belgium reveals challenges that lie ahead for Europe. "Fundamentally, the construction of Europe fuels its regionalisation and even favours the return of separatist movements. In this sense, Europe can be considered a divisive factor as much as a factor of unification ... . Those who built Europe ... conceived Europe as a centripetal entity ... And now we are discovering that it is centrifugal, with the extremes gaining power. We may ultimately end up with a Europe of regions as in the 16th century. History is not circular, but advances in spirals: it goes through the same cycles... One thing is certain: an atomised Europe undergoes subordination to the strongest foreign power [The United States]." (26/09/2007)

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More from the press review on the subject » EU Policy, » Domestic Policy, » Integration, » Belgium, » Europe
All available articles from » Régis Debray, » William Bourton, » Baudouin Loos

Bulgaria's teachers have been on strike since Monday in a bid to have their salaries doubled from an average of 170 euros per month. However the government insists on first implementing an education reform and then raising salaries. Boyko Pentschev comments: "Every day the classic question: what came first, the chicken or the egg? is debated in the media. What should come first? A raise in teachers' salaries or the reform of the education system? Wouldn't it be better to deal with these two issues separately? The teachers' humiliatingly low salaries have resulted in fewer and fewer people choosing this profession. And incentives like new computers won't change this... No one is striking for a reform of the education system. People want more money and they're right to do so. After all, they live in an EU country with European prices." (26/09/2007)

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All available articles from » Boiko Pentchev

Estonia plans to join the Schengen area in 2008. The daily reflects on the pros and cons: "The free movement of persons is one of the cornerstones of the EU. The introduction of the new regulations means that we will be free from restrictions we were forced to live with only after the collapse of communism - for instance passport controls on the border with Latvia... But there are still a few question marks: the regulations provide for a single visa that is valid for all EU countries. Estonia will no longer have any control over who enters the country and who doesn't. For example, people can apply to the Portuguese embassy for a visa that entitles them to enter Estonia. This raises the question of whether for instance members of the 'Nashi' youth organisation, which supports the Kremlin, could gain entry to Estonia this way." (26/09/2007)

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More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » EU enlargement, » EU Policy, » Infrastructure / Travel and Transport, » Estonia, » Europe

For the editorialist Michalis Ignatiou, the UN General Assembly held from September 25th was an unprecedented fiasco for Athens. "The Greek delegation presented itself in the United States all proud of its victory in the September 16th legislative elections. It walked right into the trap set, with provocation, by the delegation of the Former Yugoslavian republic of Macedonia [FYROM, the official name of Macedonia]. This is the first time that the problem of the name of this country 'The Republic of Macedonia' [claimed by Skopje] was placed on the international scene. The president of the United Nations General Assembly, who is none other than the former Skopje foreign mister, Sertzan Kemin, used this name when he invited the Macedonian president to speak. The wound is deep for the Greeks who claim the historical ownership of this term.” (26/09/2007)

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More from the press review on the subject » EU Constitution, » Greece

Regional independence movements have attacked the Crown on several occasions in Spain recently. The writer Juan Bas, who was born in the Basque country, calls for an open debate on institutions. "Why am I in favour of a third republic and not of a king as Head of State ? For a fundamental democratic reason in keeping with the modernity of the 21st century: because in a republic, the Head of State is the president, who is elected, rather than someone who inherits power at birth, in total contradiction with the fact we are all born equal. ... Monarchy belongs to an obsolete world with a medieval aesthetic: a world that no longer exists, except for a few exceptions." (26/09/2007)

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As in other European countries, in Denmark too there are protests against the installation of windmills for generating electricity. Energy and Transport Minister Jakob Axel Nielsen now plans to grant people who live near windmills a legal right to compensation. The newspaper comments: "It's good to see the minister recognises that living next to a windmill causes inconvenience. However, compensation should not lead to the legitimation of this rural monster - because that's what the windmills, and in particular the new outsized windmills are... The acceptance of the public can only be attained by placing the monster windmills where they belong - far out in the North Sea where they don't bother anyone." (26/09/2007)

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More from the press review on the subject » Environmental Policy, » Energy, » Denmark

The Italian photographer Oliviero Toscani has created, on request from a clothing company, a vast poster campaign against anorexia. An advertisement displaying the naked, bony body of a young woman has revived the debate on this subject in Italy. The journalist Cinzia Sasso reminds us that "5,000 new cases are identified each year. The victims are girls aged between 12 and 25 who want to be the best. According to experts this is an ethnic illness belonging to our rich, evolved, western world. ... Those who say our Miss Italy [elected last September 22nd] is too skinny and she shouldn't be allowed to go on the catwalk may be right. In France those against the displaying Toscani's provocative photos say that, no matter what the intention, a sick woman should not be exposed like this." (26/09/2007)

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More from the press review on the subject » Print media, » Italy
All available articles from » Cinzia Sasso

Over the past few years many Lithuanians have left their country to seek work abroad. For a long time this subject was hushed up, however now it's slowly working its way into the Lithuanian media, but in a negative way, as Monika Bonckute notes. "Anyone who leaves Lithuania for reasons other than a holiday is seen as a traitor. Emigrants are generally not regarded as individuals but as a homogenous mass that has failed to prove its love for its native country - as if life in Lithuania were something sacred." (26/09/2007)

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More from the press review on the subject » Migration, » Lithuania
All available articles from » Monika Bončkutė

Bert Rebhandl reviews Turkish-German director Fatih Akin's new film "The Edge of Heaven," which is set in Turkey. "The 'quick and painless' formula which enabled Fatih Akin to storm German cinemas no longer applies, nor is the exalted pain of 'Head On' prolonged here. 'The Edge of Heaven' tells the story that can be told when pain has to be integrated into everyday life. In the role of Lotte Staub' mother, Hanna Schygulla takes on this task. She follows her daughter to Istanbul in search of a loss she could have felt in Germany, but which takes on tragic dimensions in Turkey... These scenes serve to highlight what has changed between 'Head On' and 'The Edge of Heaven'..:. In his new film, Fatih Akin finds a way to convey the experience of alienation in such a way that it is no longer defined primarily in cultural terms." (26/09/2007)

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More from the press review on the subject » Film, » Germany, » Turkey
All available articles from » Bert Rebhandl

"Young Czechs are no longer interested in learning German," Jana Machalkova notes. "The kids at schools mostly want to learn English. They choose either Spanish or Russian - not German - as their second foreign language. The sinking popularity of German is also evident at universities. Jaroslav Kovar, head of the German language and literature department at Masaryk University in Brno, observes: 'In a couple of years we won't even need entrance examinations. We'll count ourselves lucky that anyone still wants to study German.' If this trend continues, the German departments may disappear completely from the country's universities, as they already have in Italy and the Netherlands." (26/09/2007)

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More from the press review on the subject » Education, » Science / Research, » Czech Republic
All available articles from » Jana Machalkova

"Lovers of the Concorde, and collectors of expensive oddities, are expected to flock to Toulouse this weekend for the biggest ever auction of bits and pieces from the defunct supersonic airliner", notes John Lichfield. "More than 1,000 Concorde spare parts, from the warehouse of the planemaker EADS (once Aerospatiale) will be on offer from Friday. If you want a real talking piece for your front room, you might consider a landing-gear set from Concorde, weighing one tonne (right-hand side, wheels not included) at € 3,000. ... The Anglo-French aircraft never recovered commercially from the crash of one of the Air France Concordes near Paris in 2000. But the plane remains very popular. All of the 13 aircraft which retired in 2003 have been offered homes at museums or airports. ... Many of the 835 lots, including the lavatory seats, are said to be 'in original wrappings'." (26/09/2007)

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All available articles from » John Lichfield