The verdict of the court in Oslo in the trial against Breivik gives Norway the chance to make a fresh start and initiate a much needed confrontation with the social problems of these times, the news magazine Der Spiegel writes: "So not closure, but rather a new start for Norway: what the committee of inquiry revealed about the failures of the security systems sheds a disastrous light on the willingness of the political class to deal with the urgent problems of modern society. Unpleasant debates about fear of foreigners, immigration, criminality among immigrants, the security authorities' resources and so on are suppressed, irregularities overlooked. From this perspective also, the clearly formulated verdict against Breivik pronounced by an upright judge is a welcome development: terrorism and violence don't end at a country's borders; it is the task of the state to call a halt to dangerous ideologies."   (26/08/2012)

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More from the press review on the subject » Crime, » Justice, » Society, » Norway
All available articles from » Gisela Friedrichsen
Who's saying what » Consequences of an attack

Breivik will be able to go on corresponding with like-minded people across the world even after being sentenced. The left-liberal tabloid Aftonbladet warns that his ideas will continue to find fertile ground: "Breivik's time is over. What remains is eternal solitude behind walls and barbed wire. The world will forget him and turn its eyes elsewhere. But the notion that heinous Islamists, feminists and cultural Marxists are conspiring together to destroy the Western world as we know it will continue to be spread across Europe, on websites and by xenophobic politicians. It's as if July 22, 2011 had never happened. As if people had learned nothing." (25/08/2012)

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More from the press review on the subject » Crime, » Justice, » Society, » Norway, » Europe
All available articles from » Oisín Cantwell
Who's saying what » Consequences of an attack

The mass murderer Anders Breivik will spend his life behind bars but not his pathological beliefs, the left-liberal news portal Polityka Online fears: "In jail there's no regulation preventing Breivik from giving interviews, publishing books or other outpourings of his sick mind like the manifesto he put out shortly before his crime. So the real question is: let's assume he really is set free in 2033 and suddenly shows up again on Europe's streets. What kind of Europe will that be? Will the ideologists of fear and racism, the proponents of antidemocratic, Islamophobic movements be nothing but history? Or will Breivik's manifesto against multicultural European society be read like Hitler's 'Mein Kampf'?" (27/08/2012)

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More from the press review on the subject » Crime, » Justice, » Society, » Norway, » Europe
All available articles from » Marek Ostrowski
Who's saying what » Consequences of an attack

According to rebel reports from Syria, more than 200 people were killed in a new massacre in a Damascus suburb on Saturday night. The photos provided to back up these reports are however far from irrefutable, writes the liberal daily La Stampa, noting that the only thing that is clear now is that Assad's regime has acted with fresh impetus in recent days: "The only documents that provide evidence of the massacre are the pictures on the website of the opposition which show mounds of dead bodies in the Abu Auleiman al-Durani mosque. But it is unclear when the pictures were taken and who killed whom. … What is completely clear however is that the mood in Syria has changed. While the opposition once again stresses the brutality of the regime and there is no more talk of its fall, the regime is once again adopting a triumphant stance. … Assad has shown himself in public again and described the revolts against him as a 'plot'. … At the same time, with his public appearance yesterday the Syrian Vice-President Faruk al-Sharaa silenced reports that he had fled. The fact that these reports have now been refuted gives Assad a new boost." (27/08/2012)

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More from the press review on the subject » Crises / War, » Domestic Policy, » Syria
All available articles from » Giordano Stabile
Who's saying what » Civil war raging in Syria

At the party conference of the right-wing liberal VVD party, Prime Minister Mark Rutte delivered his first speech on the early parliamentary elections to be held on September 12 in the Netherlands, thus launching the election campaign. The speech once again demonstrated that Europe is Rutte's weak point, the Christian-social daily Trouw concludes: "The VVD has come to a standstill regarding content. This was painfully clear from what Rutte had to say about European cooperation. Rutte is fond of casting those who formulate a vision of Europe's future as starry-eyed dreamers. The Netherlands is a trading nation, Rutte says, intimating that it is not in the Dutch people's interest to see anything beyond trade in the European Union. However the ongoing debt crisis has shown that this viewpoint is far from adequate. Europe is and remains Rutte's weak point. And he is not even trying to remedy this problem." (27/08/2012)

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More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » Elections, » Netherlands

During his visits to Berlin on Friday and Paris on Saturday the Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras managed to win his European partners over to his programme, but he now faces the task of persuading his opponents at home, the left-liberal online paper To Vima writes: "With his trip Samaras has, so to speak, dismantled the external front [of the key EU partners against Greece] for now. So he can finally turn his attention to the front against him at home, which is far more dangerous. … Because the measures he has promised are almost certain to trigger very strong social and political reactions. It will probably come to problems with the different factions of the cooperating parties. There are already viewpoints that could endanger a united course of the socialist Pasok party, the Democratic Left and also the conservative Nea Demokratia. At any rate, the Athens front may well turn out to be much tougher than that in Berlin - with all that entails." (26/08/2012)

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More from the press review on the subject » EU Policy, » Domestic Policy, » Fiscal Policy, » Greece, » Europe
All available articles from » Antonis Karakousis
Who's saying what » Greece puts the Eurozone to the test

The national convention of the US Republican Party begins in Tampa, Florida today, at which Mitt Romney is to be officially nominated as presidential candidate. The liberal-conservative daily Die Presse takes a critical look back at the campaigning for the US primaries: "Well organised groups like the Tea Party can put paid to moderate candidates against the will of the party leadership - and against party discipline. … The personalisation allows issues to find their way into the campaign that don't belong there. … The funding system is also questionable. Candidates not only have to pay a considerable part of the campaign with fund raising, but the campaigns increasingly turn into absurd material battles. … This just spoils the political culture and achieves nothing, a recent study shows: according to one calculation model the candidate of the party to which the president doesn't belong wins when the economic situation in the individual states is bad - and it is. In the last eight elections the researchers have been right. Which means we could basically dispense with all the mudslinging this time round." (27/08/2012)

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More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » Elections, » U.S.
All available articles from » Helmar Dumbs

In a televised interview last week Czech President Václav Klaus recommended EU disintegration modelled on the split-up of Czechoslovakia in 1992/1993. Historian Jan Rychlík vigorously opposes the idea in the left-leaning daily Právo: "Klaus is reducing the EU to mere economic integration and saying that a homogeneous economic area could be created by means of treaties among the participating states. But this is a misapprehension. Treaties are valid only as long as they are respected by those who sign them. An economic union without supranational political integration would disintegrate as soon as the first major economic crisis came along. Every state would immediately introduce protective mechanisms in the name of 'national interests'. We witnessed precisely this in the case of the Czech-Slovak customs union. … Without political integration a homogeneous economic area is not sustainable. A collapse of the EU would lead to new customs barriers and sooner or later also to new obstacles to the free movement of capital and manpower." (27/08/2012)

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More from the press review on the subject » EU Policy, » Domestic Policy, » History, » Czech Republic, » Slovakia, » Europe
All available articles from » Jan Rychlík

The US computer giant Apple has won two separate cases in its patent dispute with Samsung. Samsung was ordered on Friday to take some of its devices from the South Korean market and to pay Apple over 1 billion dollars [almost 8 hundred million euros] in damages. Although both in Apple's favour, the judgements will benefit consumers in the long run, the liberal business paper Financial Times Deutschland comments: "Apple claims ownership of ideas that pretty much suggest themselves (like multitouch) or are comparatively simple (like its rounded corners). Even the pattern for App symbols is less a ground-breaking development than more or less what you find on old Nokia mobile phones or even on Windows. ... The judgement will likely make competitors subject their products to greater scrutiny and wait even longer before bringing them onto the market, for fear of legal action on Apple's part. For customers that means less choice and higher prices in the short term. ... But in the long run competitors will have to set themselves apart even more, in terms of both design and operation. They will have to go their own, more innovative ways - to be more unmistakable and even more of an alternative to Apple." (27/08/2012)

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More from the press review on the subject » Corporations, » Justice, » Asia, » U.S.

The US astronaut Neil Armstrong died on Saturday from complications following heart surgery. He was 82. But the dream of exploring space has by no means died along with the first man to set foot on the moon, the conservative daily El Mundo writes: "The death of legendary astronaut Neil Armstrong, the first man on the moon, raises the question of whether the human dream of leaving earth to conquer space is still alive. It is true that the US space agency Nasa has seen cuts in its funding. But the landing of Curiosity rover on Mars, which will investigate whether there ever was or could be life on the planet, is a major triumph for the US space travel programme. Even though it will be years before we can send a manned spacecraft to Mars, Curiosity's landing shows that we are following in Armstrong's footsteps undeterred. … The possibility that we could set foot on the red planet is becoming more real. The dream lives on." (27/08/2012)

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Croatia's accession to the EU, expected for July 2013, will take place in circumstances very different to those that prevailed when Slovenia joined eight years ago and there was no sign of a crisis, the daily Žurnal24 notes: "Here in Slovenia the businessmen adjusted much more easily to the new situation because years of economic growth ensued and domestic demand flourished. Although the Croats are happy about EU membership and optimistic about the advantages of the free market, they are perhaps not aware that the Europeans are also economising now. But the traders, above all those along the country's motorways, are still reckoning with a barrage of thick foreign wallets. … But will they offer the tourists more than other EU countries do?" (27/08/2012)

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More from the press review on the subject » EU enlargement, » Economic Policy, » Slovenia, » Croatia
All available articles from » Katarina Pernat

Romania's state cultural broadcaster TVR Cultural is to be closed down, while the cultural institute ICR - the Romanian equivalent of the British Council - has had its budget cut by a third, and as of January the National Cultural Fund will have to get by without revenues from the state lottery. Prime Minister Victor Ponta has declared war on culture, the blog portal Voxpublica comments: "Of course, by national comparison the 'savings' that result from these cuts are laughable. None of Romania's major problems will be solved with the few million euros saved. The only thing that will really be 'executed' is the meagre support allocated to people working in the cultural sector. In fact the cuts are both a highly irresponsible gesture vis-à-vis our country's culture and an act of vengeance against all those vocal people who won't let themselves be gagged or pushed around. But what else can you expect from a prime minister whose doctorate is a photocopy - and if not a photocopy then a clone - of someone else's?" (27/08/2012)

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More from the press review on the subject » Fiscal Policy, » Cultural Policy, » Romania
All available articles from » Mihai Gotiu

The US cyclist Lance Armstrong appeared unperturbed in his first public appearance after capitulating to the accusations of the US Anti-Doping Agency Usada. For Robert Zieliński of the conservative daily Polska, Armstrong's case represents a watershed in sporting history: "Because with these developments one of sport's greatest icons has fallen. He was a great hero, not only with his Tour de France victories, but also in his own battle with cancer. But at the same time the truth must be confronted: the grand cyclist was unfortunately just a run-of-the-mill fraudster. Like almost all of the great cyclists (epo was undetectable for a long time) and the majority of the great athletes of past decades. This fact is extremely hard to accept - especially for those who love this sport." (27/08/2012)

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More from the press review on the subject » Sport, » U.S., » Global
All available articles from » Robert Zieliński

The US Anti-Doping Agency Usada has stripped cyclist Lance Armstrong of his seven Tour de France titles and barred him from competition for life. But like his namesake astronaut Neil Armstrong, Lance Armstrong deserves recognition and not ostracism, Michele Fazioli writes in the liberal daily Corriere del Ticino: "The world saw [Lance] Armstrong as a symbol of victory: over his opponents, over sickness and over fate. Yes we can: land on the moon, beat cancer and win the Tour de France seven times. ... I'm on Armstrong's side. Firstly he deserves the benefit of the doubt. And secondly he was subjected to stringent controls at each race and never tested positive. And now after all these years the authorities say they've discovered he was doped. Is a sporting agency that strikes retroactively and conjures up test tubes from the freezer at all believable ? ... Honour be to (Neil) Armstrong, astronaut and symbol of the great challenges humanity lives up to. Honour be to (Lance) Armstrong, who suffered, fought and won both in the Tour and in life." (27/08/2012)

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More from the press review on the subject » Sport, » Doping, » U.S., » Global
All available articles from » Michele Fazioli

The Paralympics that are due to start on Wednesday in London can help to make the disabled be perceived as equal members of society, the left-liberal daily The Independent comments with a nod to the various meanings of 'para': "It takes place 'beside' the Olympic Games, but goes 'beyond' them in its 'how do they do that?' wonder, and we hope it will be 'distinct from but analogous to' the Olympics in the esteem in which it is held. One of the proudest parts of London's bid for the Olympic and Paralympic Games was the importance accorded to the latter: the chance for Britain to lead the world in changing attitudes towards physical disability. Because attitudes are changing, in this country and around the world, and we hope that the Paralympics will help to change them further." (27/08/2012)

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More from the press review on the subject » Minorities, » Sport, » Olympics, » United Kingdom