The killing in London highlights the threat represented by a new generation of extremists who have been radicalised not by organisations, but by the Internet, the liberal daily Mladá fronta Dnes comments: "Until recently Western security bodies feared al-Qaeda as a source of terrorism. Now it looks like al-Qaeda has been broken up to a certain extent. But its seeds have been spread across the world. The Internet is full of jihad ideology and is making it possible for more and more 'lone wolves' to commit their own attacks. … Prime Minister Cameron spoke of an attack on the British way of life. London is a city more than a third of whose population are not British by birth. Many, like the attackers, are only second-generation immigrants. Coexistence is only possible in a climate of great trust and openness. This sensitive biotope is at risk when anyone who has Internet access and a meat cleaver can be a source of danger." (24/05/2013)

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All available articles from » Jan Fingerland

The British media have given the murder of a soldier in London extensive coverage in the past few days, and broadcast video footage of the perpetrators filmed by passers-by immediately after the attack. All this attention is fatal because it's precisely what the terrorists are aiming for, the left-liberal daily The Guardian points out: "We will not buckle to terrorism said David Cameron after the Woolwich murder on Wednesday. He then buckled. Everyone buckled. The home secretary buckled, the defence secretary buckled, the communities secretary buckled, the mayor of London buckled, the chief of police buckled, the press buckled, the BBC summoned its senior editors and they buckled. … We do have the option to exercise self-restraint in the aftermath, to control the impulse to hyperbole. We can deny the terrorist the megaphone of exaggeration and hysteria. When Cameron yesterday said we should defy terror by going about our normal business, he was right. Why did he not do so?" (23/05/2013)

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More from the press review on the subject » Crime, » Media, » Terrorism, » United Kingdom
All available articles from » Simon Jenkins

Because war only generates more terror the West urgently needs to return to the use of constitutional methods, the daily Tages-Anzeiger argues and welcomes US President Barack Obama's announcement on Tuesday that the deployment of drones will be more strictly regulated in future: "Despite all the surveillance cameras, secret interrogations and drones, the London attack and the bombing at the Boston Marathon weren't prevented. Young immigrants have been able to do terrible things with the help of pressure cookers and kitchen knives - for the sake of revenge. … These murderers are no romantic rebels. … A person who puts nails in a bomb to mutilate as many people as possible is acting without a conscience. … But it's a step in the right direction that the war on terror is being thought over. With its distortions of the law, detention camps and extra-judicial killings it is damaging the West's reputation and creating new terror. Yesterday US President Obama announced that new approaches were being sought. This is not a concession of weakness but a necessity: in this war the West must be a role model." (24/05/2013)

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All available articles from » David Hesse

The London killing was an attack on Western society but it had little to do with Islam, the left-liberal daily La Repubblica argues. The paper draws a parallel with the suicide of French historian Dominique Venner, who shot himself in Paris's Notre Dame cathedral on Tuesday, apparently in protest at the introduction of gay marriage: "The London attack is also a suicide because the perpetrator didn't flee after the deed but assumed a pose, wanting his body - his right hand - to become a symbol. Herein, and only herein, lies the parallel to the suicide of the far-right French historian Dominique Venner. … A shared obsession plagued these otherwise so different protagonists: the West. Both Venner and the London attackers believed that awakening the numbed conscience requires shocking 'symbolic' gestures. The individual no longer seeks collective answers. This is a declaration that politics is dead - that the system of representation has gone to pieces." (24/05/2013)

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All available articles from » Ezio Mauro

French President François Hollande held a speech at the 150th anniversary of the German SPD party in Leipzig on Thursday, in which he praised the German reforms known as Agenda 2010. The conservative daily Le Figaro hopes that this marks a change of course in French government policy: "François Hollande should go to Germany more often. When he's there he utters simple truths that he doesn't dare to voice in France. Let's hope that when he comes back to Paris, the president won't forget the words he delivered in Leipzig. But doubts are justified here, as the head of state has allowed an anti-German sentiment to grow in his party that speaks volumes about the antiquated mindset of certain Socialists. ... Above all he'll have to follow his words with deeds. Mission impossible? In 2003, much to the benefit of today's Germany, [then chancellor] Gerhard Schröder forgot to ask himself that question." (24/05/2013)

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All available articles from » Paul-Henri du Limbert

The European Commission is withdrawing its plans for a ban on refillable jugs of olive oil on restaurant tables following massive criticism of the move. EU Agriculture Commissioner Dacian Cioloş conceded on Thursday in Brussels that the proposal had not been discussed enough with consumer protection agencies in member states. The liberal daily Phileleftheros says Brussels got its priorities wrong with this initiative: "The only thing this debate has achieved is to increase the citizens' distrust of European bureaucracy. They already believe that the EU is growing increasingly distant from their everyday life and problems. The label on the bottle of olive oil was never a priority for Europeans. The recession, the cuts and the austerity measures are. However Brussels seems to be in no hurry to make decisions here: Europeans may not have jobs, but at least they would have been able to rest assured that they weren't getting adulterated olive oil - provided they had the money to eat out in the first place." (23/05/2013)

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All available articles from » Tourki Xenia

The civil war in Syria is fuelling religious tensions in the Turkish-Syrian border region of Hatay. After already being hard hit by the attack in Reyhanlı, the province is now seeing an escalation particularly in the conflicts between Alevis and Sunnis. Agos, the weekly paper of the Armenian minority, warns about mutual recriminations: "Unfortunately the Alevi-Sunni conflict in Turkey has both historical and current roots. To prevent these roots from proliferating, all sections of society must show a sense of responsibility. … The main responsibility lies with the Sunni majority. However the Alevis must understand that social change can only be possible if everyone, above all the majority, changes. This path leads not to setting up a certain group as the enemy, as the [Turkish Alevi MP] Aygün has done, but to find an all-encompassing language." (24/05/2013)

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All available articles from » Rober Koptaş

Former German chancellor Gerhard Schröder and former European Commission president Jacques Delors call in a commentary in the left-liberal daily El País for the austerity policy to be coupled with measures for stimulating growth: "There must always be a correlation between the willingness to engage in structural reforms on the one hand and the willingness to show solidarity on the other. There is no 'either growth or austerity'. We are convinced that the two can be combined in a meaningful way - they must be combined. ... A key area here is the fight against youth unemployment in Europe. We cannot accept that a 'lost generation' is growing up in Europe because in many countries more than half of the young people are without jobs. ... Europe can work again if governments, trade unions, business and civil society all join together to support a new initiative on youth unemployment and the 2014 efforts [the elections for the European Parliament] to bring greater democracy and legitimacy to European government." (24/05/2013)

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All available articles from » Gerhard Schröder, » Jacques Delors

The legacy of the past and radical nationalism on both sides are putting a burden on relations between Lithuania and Poland, the translator and literary critic Laimontas Jonušys laments on the online portal of the Lithuanian public broadcaster LRT: "Poland and Lithuania have had a love-hate relationship for hundreds of years. That's why even today there are Polophiles and Polophobes in our country. Nevertheless it's time to stop seeing our relations to Poland and the Polish minority in our country through the prism of history, and view it in the light of today's reality. ... We don't need good relations with Poland just because we once formed a common state. And confrontation shouldn't be avoided because of the need to forget what happened in the interwar period. We need good relations because these two modern European states, members of the EU and Nato, have overcome all the major hostilities of the past and can look forward to amicable neighbourly relations. ... Unfortunately in [today's] spectacle of hatred, radical nationalists and rabble-rousers are taking the foreground on both sides." (23/05/2013)

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All available articles from » Laimantas Jonusys

According to figures released by the Greek Finance Ministry, the country's public debt amounted to 309 billion euros at the end of March. This is roughly one billion euros less than in March 2010, shortly before Greece applied for the bailout mechanism. The haircut, the austerity memoranda and the suffering of the Greek people have been in vain, the conservative daily Kathimerini worries: "The only thing that's changed with the implementation of the bailout plans are our creditors. Instead of international banks and other bond owners, the Greek government is now indebted to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), the European Central Bank (ECB) and the EU partners. The Greek debt level remains very high, despite the haircut that ruined our health insurance system, our banks and above all our savers, who had put their trust in Greek bonds." (23/05/2013)

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All available articles from » Zeza Zikou

Speculation over an end to bond purchases by the US Federal Reserve, weak economic data from China and the collapse of Japan's Nikkei index sent European stock markets spiralling downwards on Thursday. That shows that only the US has taken the right course, the liberal daily Corriere del Ticino: "While the major risks of the new Japanese government are taking their toll on financial markets and Europe continues to discuss the pros and cons of austerity, the US is considering a step by step reduction in its use of the money press, because there are - albeit tentative - signs of recovery. ... The blend of economic policy measures has allowed the US to stop the recession and chart a course for recovery. This recovery, in turn, has bolstered the state treasury. The example of the US shows that growth is the best medicine to revive the state budget." (24/05/2013)

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All available articles from » Alfonso Tuor

2013 marks the 200th anniversary of Richard Wagner's birth. But the current Wagner hype in Germany doesn't hide the fact that both admirers and critics of the composer remain trapped in their views, the public broadcaster Deutschlandfunk comments on its website: "If this so-called Wagner year has brought anything positive, it's at least the insight that Wagner is and remains a grand seducer, a hypnotist. ... Huge amounts of new literature has been published even though more has already been written about Wagner than about Jesus, Freud, Marx and Napoleon. Yet all the questions surrounding Wagner have basically long since been answered, including the awkward ones about his fatal impact on the 20th century, his anti-Semitism or Hitler's exploitation of Wagner. ... But one of the seemingly hard and fast constants surrounding perceptions of Wagner is the fact that both his fans and his despisers doggedly ignore everything brought to light by Wagner researchers, and cling to their prejudices regarding the composer. Richard Wagner is still a 'German misunderstanding' to this day." (24/05/2013)

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All available articles from » Dieter David Scholz

The French government's plans to increase the number of university classes offered in foreign languages - above all English - has sparked a fierce controversy in the country. The liberal daily Helsingin Sanomat scratches its head at all the fuss: "The love of the French for their language and culture can only be admired. In Finland, Estonia and elsewhere English has long played a predominant role, and no one's getting all up in arms. What does that say about the Finns? French is a language of culture, spoken by 60 million people in France and many more abroad. Finnish is no such language of culture, and apart from the roughly five million inhabitants of Finland hardly anyone else speaks it. Nevertheless we believe firmly in our language and its future, without unnecessary restrictions. Perhaps Finnish is the language of trusting love." (24/05/2013)

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Pleas for donations to help sick children are shown regularly on Latvian television. They often feature weeping mothers complaining that they can't afford treatment for their children. The national conservative daily Neatkarīgā calls for a new health policy: "How cruel and inhumane can the health minister be when she refuses a sick child the necessary sum of money? During the crisis, when the Latvian economy was on its last legs and the state was bankrupt, we could have understood these refusals. The taxpayers' money was urgently needed elsewhere and there was nothing left for the sick children. But now we have a success story in our belt. Latvia fulfils all the Maastricht criteria and is on its way into the Eurozone. Now we can pay! We must change our health policy as quickly as possible. Our children must receive free medical assistance." (23/05/2013)

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All available articles from » Juris Paiders

Not just two sporting rivals but two worlds will meet in tomorrow's Champions League final between Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund, the daily Polska writes: "The Champions League finalists differ in just about everything. Currently it's Polish players [Lewandowski, Blaszczykowski and Piszczek] that account for Dortmund's strengths. ... With regards to the number of Championships won, the club from North Rhine-Wesphalia lags far behind the Bavarian team. Dortmund has won eight German football championships and three German Cups. Bayern Munich, by contrast, has been German champion 23 times, and has won the Cup 15 times. There's also a huge financial difference. Borussia Dortmund pays its players just over half as much as Bayern Munich does. Added to that, the Munich team has earned itself the nickname 'FC Hollywood' because if its players were making the headlines, it was more because of scandals than the fantastic football they were playing." (24/05/2013)

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All available articles from » Hubert Zdankiewicz