With their current policy Europe and the US are making it too hard for Iran to make concessions, writes the left-liberal daily Der Standard: "It's time cooler heads came up with a strategy that will help Iran take a step back. The main contenders are Brazil and Turkey, whose governments have already worked out an admittedly poorly timed agreement with Iran in May 2010 according to which the country would deliver 1,200 kilos of slightly enriched uranium to Turkey, and receive in return 1,200 kilos of low-enriched uranium for medical research in a reactor in Tehran. Where the political will exists to give the other side enough room to reach an agreement, creative solutions can be found. But diplomats know that war can be preferable to humiliation. So saving face is just as important as menacing with violence. For that reason other countries should step in and ensure that both sides have enough leeway to avoid a head-on collision." (24/01/2012)

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More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » Security Policy / Crises / War, » Iran
All available articles from » Anne-Marie Slaughter

Although entirely consistent, the EU ban on the import of Iranian oil is counterproductive, writes the liberal Financial Times Deutschland: "Because the pressure from outside helps the regime in Tehran to divert attention from the disastrous situation within the country. This also has to do with the country's history. Back in 1951 there was an international oil boycott and then a CIA putsch. Ever since, the idea of foreign conspiracy has been a popular instrument in the hands of Iranian politicians. And hardly anyone in Iran, certainly not a candidate in the parliamentary elections in March, can afford to show a willingness to compromise when it comes to the nuclear programme. ... What is required is truly international action against the Iranian nuclear programme, an isolation that can't be perceived as initiated by the West alone. But this means convincing above all Russia and China of the need for joint action." (24/01/2012)

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More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » Security Policy / Crises / War, » Europe, » Iran

The European sanctions stand little chance of hurting Iran, and could even strengthen its economy, writes the left-liberal daily Libération: "Sanction policies don't work and oil embargoes are even less effective because there will always be countries willing to buy. China in particular has strong demand and if it can buy more Iranian oil for less money it won't wait to be asked twice. India and South Korea are in the same situation. Iran may earn a little less money but that won't ruin its economy. People also tend to forget that Iran's non-petroleum exports, particularly to Iraq and Afghanistan, have been on the rise in recent years. Iran sells inexpensively manufactured goods, particularly low-quality textiles, to countries they are on good terms with, competing notably with Turkey. Paradoxically, this embargo could even help Tehran by encouraging it to become less dependent on oil." (24/01/2012)

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More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » EU Policy, » Trade, » Europe, » Global, » Iran
All available articles from » Thierry Coville

The sanctions imposed by the EU are morally justified but don't go far enough and perhaps come too late, writes the liberal daily Sme: "The fact that Iran's biggest trading partner will certainly not go along with them will seriously limit the impact of the sanctions. China buys roughly one quarter of Iran's oil exports, the Europeans not even a fifth. Even Russia, which supports Iran's nuclear programme and supplies weapons to its allies, will not take part in the sanctions. But the major problem is that the sanctions come late, perhaps too late. Tehran's nuclear programme is already well under way. ... And once it has a working nuclear bomb in its hands it will feel just as invulnerable as the rulers in North Korea." (24/01/2012)

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More from the press review on the subject » Security Policy / Crises / War, » EU Policy, » Energy, » Europe, » Global, » Iran
All available articles from » Peter Morvay

The EU's oil embargo will escalate the conflict with Iran and can't be maintained for long, writes the right-wing conservative daily Maygar Nemzet: "It can't be ruled out that Iran will indeed block the Strait of Hormuz. ... Then a conflict is inevitable. There are already the first indications of such a scenario; an international fighting fleet has already arrived in the Persian Gulf. ... But for now there will be a lot of negotiating. ... And we shouldn't forget that Iran sells most of its oil to Asia. Although China is willing to reduce its oil imports, Japan plans to leave Iran alone. However in the long term there is no getting around Iran. After all, it's hardly likely that every single country will treat powerful Iran with its vast oil reserves like a pariah." (24/01/2012)

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More from the press review on the subject » Security Policy / Crises / War, » Trade, » Politics, » Global, » Middle East, » Iran
All available articles from » Levente Sitkei

The Finance ministers of the Eurozone states agreed on a treaty establishing the permanent European Stability Mechanism (ESM) late on Monday evening. The bailout fund is to succeed the temporary European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) in July 2012 and make 500 billion euros available to indebted Eurozone countries. The ESM is a decisive step towards emerging from the crisis, the business paper Il Sole 24 Ore concludes: "The EFSF has a fundamental flaw that can only be corrected by the new ESM. The loans that are made available to debt-stricken countries place a burden on the budgets of individual countries. ... The distribution reflects the loan guarantees given. The ESM on the other hand is a financial institution endowed with capital that is collected from each of the states of the Eurozone. Moreover the statute foresees that the ESM will be able to guarantee the bonds issued by the funds itself. This formula could relieve struggling countries of the burden of the already issued EFSF bonds." (24/01/2012)

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More from the press review on the subject » EU Policy, » Fiscal Policy, » Europe
All available articles from » Isabella Bufacchi
Who's saying what » Ways out of the debt crisis

François Hollande, the Socialist challenger to Nicolas Sarkozy in France's presidential elections on April 22, called for a new Franco-German treaty at the opening of his party's electoral campaign on Sunday. The conservative daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung finds Hollande's tactical exploitation of relations between the two countries shameless: "As with so much else in his programme he has still to clearly formulate the objectives of a new 'Elysée Treaty'. Nevertheless it seems he wants to gain support by capitalising on the popular unease about France's economically superior and politically emancipated neighbour. Hollande is shamelessly making use of the Euro-scepticism of many left-leaning voters. He promises his countrymen that their votes will change the power relations and could effectively counter Berlin's resistance to euro bonds and debt mutualisation. That is proof not only of Hollande's lack of experience in government. It is also a regrettable break with the tradition that relations between Germany and France should not be used to further domestic political goals." (24/01/2012)

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More from the press review on the subject » Elections, » Germany, » France
All available articles from » Michaela Wiegel

The Greek government published a 170-page-long list of 4,152 tax evaders on the Internet on Sunday, including ex-politicians, artists and athletes. They owe the Greek state roughly 15 billion euros in total. The left-liberal daily Ta Nea calls for a concrete plan to collect the money owed: "This list is impressive. ... But equally impressive are the two questions it raises. Firstly: Why did the state allow the already huge mountain of debt to increase instead of reacting earlier? And Secondly: what punishment will be handed down to those who continue to refuse to pay - which is probably the case with most of these people? To answer the first question one must seek those responsible. And to answer the second, the sentence simply needs to be fixed. Only then will the list not only remain impressive but also perform a meaningful function." (23/01/2012)

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More from the press review on the subject » Fiscal Policy, » Tax Policy, » Crime, » Greece
Who's saying what » Greece in dire straits, » Ways out of the debt crisis

Romanian Prime Minister Emil Boc sacked his foreign minister Teodor Baconschi on Monday after Baconschi described the demonstrators on his blog a week ago as "a nation made dumb by watching television" among other things. The daily Gândul criticises the dismissal and suspects that President Traian Băsescu is behind the move: "Băsescu must have thought that sacrificing Baconschi would calm the people on the street. He rang up Boc to order him to fire Baconschi while the latter was meeting with his colleagues in Brussels. Once against Băsescu has mocked Romania simply because he felt like it. ... No one is interested in Baconschi's dismissal. It simply shows once more that Băsescu can do whatever he likes with the [ruling] PDL party. Sooner or later this year this will lead to a catastrophic defeat for the PDL, which may not even be able to get into parliament. This is worrying and dangerous - not just for the PDL. The downfall of a major party leaves behind a political vacuum that can be filled by all kinds of radical forces." (24/01/2012)

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More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » Online media, » Unrest / Riots, » Romania
All available articles from » Cristian Tudor Popescu

Spain's central bank has predicted negative growth of 1.5 percent for the country in 2012. Similar figures were announced today by the IMF. The left-liberal business paper Cinco Días warns that neither Spain nor Italy will be able to adhere to the austerity measures stipulated by Brussels: "Whether it's owing to lack of political will or financial difficulties, neither Spain nor Italy - and probably not France either - will be able to meet the targets for consolidating their budgets. In both cases a stimulus programme would surely be desirable, as well as increasing the bailout fund in order to avoid further risks regarding debt repayment, no matter how much Germany and the Netherlands oppose such plans. ... Neither Spain nor Italy have managed to reduce their public deficit by more than one percentage point per year so far. ... To expect Spain to bring its deficit down from 8.2 percent to 3 percent within two years is naïve and could plunge the economy into a dangerous downward spiral." (24/01/2012)

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More from the press review on the subject » EU Policy, » Fiscal Policy, » Economic Policy, » Germany, » Italy, » Spain, » Netherlands
Who's saying what » Ways out of the debt crisis

Hundreds of Polish drivers blocked several stretches of motorway across Poland on Monday in protest at what they consider excessively high petrol prices. But food prices have gone up too, the conservative daily Rzeczpospolita writes, and calls for the Polish National Bank NBP to act: "Recently rumours of a rise in interest rates have leaked out. Opponents of a lax interest rate policy will certainly say that the high prices are the effect of external influences. But the NBP has also observed a rise in the so-called base inflation, as well as in food and gas prices. Even if the central bank wants to avoid weakening the economy with multiple rises in the interest rate, it should at least send a clear signal (perhaps a one-off rise?) that it will not endorse a further rise in prices." (24/01/2012)

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More from the press review on the subject » Inflation, » Poland
All available articles from » Paweł Czuryło

Commenting on the captain of the capsized cruise ship Costa Concordia, who abandoned the ship too soon, the left-liberal daily The Guardian recommends more modern morals than those that prevailed during Shakespeare's times: "Alcoholics Anonymous has the phrase: 'Fake it till you make it.' If you want to become a different sort of person, first act like you are, and the acting will eventually transform you. Pretend to be the person you want to be and you will end up becoming more like that person. This cuts right against the grain of familiar assumptions that moral change comes from within, that the most important thing is expressing who you really are - 'To thine own self be true', as Polonius puts it in Hamlet. From this perspective, an honest confession of our own weakness - our lack of courage, for instance - becomes the only real expression of virtue. In other words, an emphasis on authenticity can easily become an alibi for a refusal of character development." (24/01/2012)

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More from the press review on the subject » Ethics, » Society, » Catastrophe, » Italy, » Global
All available articles from » Giles Fraser

The founder of the closed file-sharing site Megaupload, Kim Schmitz, rejected charges of Internet piracy and money laundering before a court in Auckland, New Zealand, on Monday. But like many other people the self-styled Mr. Dotcom has made a lot of money with this business, the liberal daily Corriere del Ticino points out: "There are plenty of people who see Mr. Dotcom as the Robin Hood of the Internet. But one thing must be made clear: not all websites that put copyright protected products on the Web do it for charity reasons. We're talking about 175 million US dollars here that Schmitz has made by distributing films, songs and software. Robin Hood has precious little to do with this matter. ... But the problem of piracy won't be solved by closing down Megaupload. Already new websites are springing up that promise the same, perhaps with providers who are out of reach, in places like Russia. The Internet remains a jungle in this respect." (24/01/2012)

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More from the press review on the subject » Online media, » Media, » Global
All available articles from » Osvaldo Migotto

The Portuguese President, Aníbal Cavaco Silva, expressed doubts in an interview on Friday about whether his pension would cover his expenses. In his blog 100 Reféns, Tiago Mesquita voices his indignation over such an insensitive remark: "He's about as socially sensitive as a Black & Decker drill. How can this man be Portugal's president? His public statements are like elevator music. At first no one notices, but the longer you're in the elevator the more irritating it becomes until you feel sick. Cavaco Silva's remarks are vacuous. ... And by the way, Mr President: what expenses? Your government car? Food? Travel? Clothing? But who pays for all that? ... I can only see two dignified solutions: the first is a formal apology to the Portuguese for this lamentable, despicable and unfitting remark followed by your immediate resignation. The second is to resign immediately and then apologise to the Portuguese. It's up to you." (23/01/2012)

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More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » Society, » Portugal
All available articles from » Tiago Mesquita