Investors face a difficult choice with the stock exchange debut of the world's largest social network, the liberal daily La Stampa comments: "Wall Street is greeting Facebook with mixed feelings. On the one hand the stock market hopes for a major growth spurt, while on the other it fears the boomerang effect of a potential speculation bubble with unforeseeable consequences. The traders face a difficult decision because of the unique nature of the network founded by Mark Zuckerberg seven years ago and used by 800 million users. On the one hand the company can expect to raise up to ten billion 10 billion dollars with the stock offering, putting its value at between 75 billion and 100 billion dollars and making this the biggest stock market debut ever. On the other hand, the network is a virtual community whose value rests solely on its online existence rather than on industrial products, as is the case with companies like Apple." (02/02/2012)

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All available articles from » Maurizio Molinari

Facebook's Initial Public Offering provides an opportunity to intensify the regulation of the company, writes the liberal weekly Die Zeit: "There are four major powers in the world right now, a US admiral recently said in Berlin: China, India, the US and Facebook. ... There's no need to talk about smashing the company yet, but resolute regulation would be a start. Regulation that forces Facebook to tell each user what the company knows about him or her. And to guarantee its users that any information the user doesn't want stored will be erased. Demands to this effect have been made for some time. But now could be a good opportunity. Stock exchanges occasionally react sensitively to public pressure. And because Facebook has long since attained the status of a global power such regulation cannot be left to national coalitions to decide but belongs on the agenda of the G20 summit of the most powerful politicians in the world." (02/02/2012)

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More from the press review on the subject » Online media, » Corporations, » Consumers, » U.S., » Global
All available articles from » Heinrich Wefing

Wall Street will see its old magic return with Facebook's planned stock market debut, writes the liberal business paper Les Echos: "It is an incredible story of the kind that's only possible in America. A twenty-year-old kid sets up his own company just to prove he can, and eight years later is the head of a business valued at a hundred billion dollars. One hundred billion: that's as much as McDonald's and two and a half times as much as General Motors. And all that for a sophomore joke, a firm with no more than 3,000 employees. That's the magic of the US financial sector, which is currently being so widely criticised. ... Facebook is already exceptional, and not just because of its founder's Hollywood -style success. ... Facebook is an entire universe and has several satellite companies, which - like the US business Zynga - have already gone public. That's what Wall Street is buying: the power of an unknown person to change the world." (02/02/2012)

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All available articles from » Philippe Escande

According to a report aired by the BBC on Tuesday, Nato has uncovered evidence of Pakistani security forces giving direct support to the Taliban. The report also sheds light on the web of complicity between the Afghan security forces and the Taliban. Nato has committed basic tactical errors, the left-liberal daily De Volkskrant writes: "Where will the Afghan soldiers and police officers stand once their major protector - Nato - has pulled out? According to the report, the Taliban have changed their strategy and are now above all exploiting the people's dissatisfaction with the government. In this way they are targeting the biggest weakness in Nato's strategy. While the allies have trained many police officers and soldiers, until now they have shown far too much tolerance for the corruption under President Karzai. One can hardly talk of a successful withdrawal strategy if Nato leaves a corrupt regime behind." (02/02/2012)

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More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » Security Policy / Crises / War, » Afghanistan
All available articles from » Bert Lanting

The EU summit on Monday spurned Germany's idea of appointing a budget commissioner for Greece but the debate about the proposal continues in Greece. Anna Panagiotarea writes about her fears regarding German Chancellor Angela Merkel in the conservative daily Eleftheros Typos: "Many of Merkel's political decisions testify to the fact that she was raised in the GDR. ... She heartily embrace the idea of a budget commissioner because she believes that he would function like a commanding officer. I believe that Frau Merkel sees the European as something like the Warsaw Pact - but with Germany replacing the Soviet Union in the leading role. She doesn't appear to be interested in the Community acquis or the 'Union of free and democratic states'. Her logic of demanding strict discipline from the weaker members of the Eurozone and pushing through a 'stimulus programme' in these countries even though it will only plunge them into recession is frightening." (01/02/2012)

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More from the press review on the subject » EU Policy, » Germany, » Greece
All available articles from » Anna Panagiotarea
Who's saying what » Greece in dire straits

Mitt Romney emerged the clear winner in the US Republican primaries in Florida on Tuesday, significantly improving his chances for the presidential candidacy. The Florida primaries were the first in which large numbers of Latin Americans participated. But President Barack Obama will benefit most from the Latino vote, writes the left-liberal daily Der Standard: "Above all its the Latino voters that traditionally make California a Democratic stronghold, and Texas a Republican one in the elections. Three years ago Obama won his presidency in Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada - and Florida, among other states. ... That makes immigration an increasingly important campaign topic. Because although more than a million illegal Latin American immigrants were deported under President Obama, he has still more credibility among these key voters than Romney, who for example enacted inhumanely strict immigration laws in Arizona." (02/02/2012)

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More from the press review on the subject » Migration, » Elections, » Society, » U.S.
All available articles from » Christoph Prantner

The Czech Republic's No to the new EU fiscal compact has left the country even more isolated than before, the economist Tomáš Sedláček fears in the liberal business paper Hospodářské noviny: "Our policy, be it that of our president or now increasingly of our government, is fundamentally against everything that starts with E, as in Europe. The No to the fiscal compact is a sad example. And the worst thing is that the pact is perfectly suited to our rulers' own policies. But it was suggested by the EU. Economists and politicians must be shaking their heads in wonder. It is a very courageous act indeed to pass up such a chance for preventing our country from running up debt. ... Do we really believe that with our No we are demonstrating our sovereignty? The US president, strong Germany and proud France must all make compromises and seek allies. How many allies do we have? Fewer and fewer. The number of states that knit their brows in bafflement our behaviour, however, is growing by the day." (02/02/2012)

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More from the press review on the subject » EU Policy, » Domestic Policy, » Czech Republic, » Europe
All available articles from » Tomáš Sedláček
Who's saying what » Europe's speed

The yield on ten-year Italian bonds dropped on Wednesday to levels not seen since October 2011. Investors seem to have gained renewed confidence in Italy, making the country a model for how to save Europe, writes the weekly magazine Le Point: "The Super Mario duo - Monti and Draghi - has undertaken to transform Italy and the Eurozone. ... Italy is paving the way for reforming the Southern European model of credit-based growth and the Eurozone's institutions. Mario Monti's shock therapy has dissipated doubts as to whether the Mediterranean countries can transform their economic model and achieve more production, investment and innovation. Mario Draghi's monetary policy reconciles the need for austerity measures and debt reduction on the one hand and growth on the other. The two Marios remind us that there is still room for manoeuvre. The debt and euro crisis is the result of antiquated economic models and institutions which the Europeans must now transform." (02/02/2012)

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

The EU Commission rejected the proposed merger between the Deutsche Börse and its New York competitor NYSE Euronext on Wednesday. According to the conservative daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung this is good news because the merger would have been detrimental for the Deutsche Börse in the long term: "The preparation of the merger ... has already cost a lot of money and effort so that the actual work on developing the company has been somewhat neglected. Given the considerable resentment on both sides, a transatlantic integration process would only have perpetuated this state of affairs over the years. The advantages of the fusion - mainly cuts in costs - existed only on paper and would have to withstand the test of being put into practice. So for Europe's stock exchanges it is good news that their largest stock exchange company will remain independent. The Deutsche Börse is strong enough to hold its own against the competition. It has good chances of development in the area of transfers of over-the-counter trading to exchange trading platforms. And it should not shy away from accessing the emerging economies without the Americans at its side." (02/02/2012)

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More from the press review on the subject » EU Policy, » Fiscal Policy, » Germany, » Europe, » U.S.
All available articles from » Daniel Mohr

Since the tax dispute with the US over US tax evaders began, Swiss banks have handed over thousands of documents to the US authorities. Switzerland hasn't shown enough backbone in this dispute, writes the national-conservative Weltwoche: "Behind the apparently friendly ideologies that have found many fans here in Switzerland lie rock-hard special interest politics and the double standards that they entail. This is evident in the way Switzerland as a comparatively rich country is being targeted while in the US and the UK foundation and trust constructions are available as perfectly legal means for concealing private wealth. Until recently the principle that democratic states do not interfere in each other's legal systems was applied. But that is a thing of the past now: on an international level it's the a 'might is right' codex that applies nowadays. ... The Swiss political leadership is obviously too weak to resist this trend and preserve Switzerland's strengths." (02/02/2012)

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More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » Tax Policy, » Banks, » Switzerland, » U.S.
All available articles from » Florian Schwab

Tens of thousands of people are protesting around the world against the controversial Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement Acta, in which 22 EU states have been involved since January 26. The protesters view the agreement as an attack on Internet freedom. But in fact they just want to go on stealing copyrighted material from the Internet with impunity, writes the daily Novinar: "The fact that copyrights are trodden underfoot day in day out on the Internet is not a shining achievement of Internet freedom, but one of its flaws. Although up to now we may have been thankful in private for the era of unpunished piracy, we never seriously believed it would last forever. In fact we must even admit that Acta comes a little late. And even if the devil really is in the detail, there's no getting around the basic idea: you can bicker all you want about what theft is, but not about whether it's forbidden." (01/02/2012)

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All available articles from » Kalin Rumenov

Latvia has not yet ratified the Anti-Couterfeiting Trade Agreement (Acta). The business paper Dienas Bizness advises the government to consider the matter carefully before putting its signature on the agreement: "Some say that the agreement substantially curbs individual freedom. Others argue that Latvia must ratify it and that signing the agreement won't change anything for the state or its citizens. The latter claim, however, has come under attack: Why on earth sign an agreement if it doesn't change anything anyway? We are all aware that it's bad to steal from shops, and that security services therefore have the task of preventing such theft. But it's one thing if a security guard catches a shoplifter with a box of chocolates in his bag and quite another for the security guard to stand at the exit systematically checking every customer's bags to make sure no one has stolen a box of chocolates." (02/02/2012)

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Spain's conservative government announced an educational reform on Monday which would remove the subject Civic Education introduced by the previous socialist government from the curriculum. The left-liberal daily El País criticises the move: "The conflict over Civic Education is an artificial construct, played up by the intolerance of the Episcopal Conference and the radical sections of society that reject all education related to alternative family models and interpersonal relationships and the need to respect these differences. ... After all children are not the property of their parents. And a democratic and non-confessional state is obliged to organise the children's education in such a way that it is as comprehensive as possible, even if the content sometimes contradicts the personal convictions of the parents or their religions." (02/02/2012)

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More from the press review on the subject » Upbringing / Education, » Spain

Several Lithuanian municipalities have recently launched initiatives for erecting new monuments, a trend the liberal daily Lietuvos Rytas finds highly laughable: "The deputy mayor of Kaunas has demanded that a commemorative plaque for the Ukranian pre-war partisan Jevhen Konovalec be hung in Lithuania's second-largest city. However he doesn't know exactly where Konovalec lived during his stay in Kaunas, or even how he was of any help to the city. Perhaps the deputy mayor simply wants to adorn his house with a pretty plaque? And there are even more original attempts to render eternal the memory of famous personalities in Lithuania. ... Be that as it may, the city of Rokiskis has outdone all the others. The mayor of this provincial town has decided to erect a monument to John Lennon, the co-founder of the legendary music group The Beatles. Because to his mind the name of the town [Rokiskis] is intimately connected with rock music ['Rokas' in Lithuanian]." (02/02/2012)

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More from the press review on the subject » Cultural Policy, » Remembrance culture, » Lithuania
All available articles from » Karaliunas, Arunas