Pierre Rousselin, an editorial writer for the conservative daily, argues that "nuclear deterrence is not an outdated strategic concept. Our strike force, while initially conceived as a way of safeguarding France during the Cold War, has changed, but in no way has it become irrelevant in a world where terrorism and proliferation have supplanted the old threats. (...) The nuclear warheads carried aboard our submarines or bomber planes have become a lot more precise. They are no longer asked to serve as a deterrent threat against populations, but to be capable of targeting the power-centres of a head of state or terrorist group. (...) With the perception of the threat having evolved, so too has the way in which we apply the deterrent, with a reaffirmed readiness to serve the interests of European defence." (20/01/2006)

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Pavel Masa is appalled at French President Jacques Chirac's announcement that he is prepared to use nuclear weapons should the need arise. "This is a short-sighted and foolish policy. Until now, there was a chance that the principle of finding collective solutions to security problems would take precedence over unilateral power politics. Since yesterday, this is no longer possible. If Chirac is perhaps not the ultimate assassin of this hope, then it is Brutus, who dealt it a decisive blow." (20/01/2006)

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Burkhard Bishof, on the other hand, fully approves of Chirac's threat: "Fortunately, Europe has not yet reached the point where it stands naked and exposed to the threats of a crazed ex-revolutionary. Merci, Mr Chirac, for making a clear public statement that France still has up to 300 nuclear warheads at its disposal, along with state-of-the-art carriers enabling it to target any place in the world with these weapons. This great potential for destruction is not just for decoration, but is meant to deter potential aggressors. For now, Iran is only a verbal aggressor, but for how long? It's a good thing that Chirac has confronted the leadership in Tehran with the nuclear option." (20/01/2006)

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The financial daily says Chirac's nuclear speech fulfils a regular need by French leaders "to proclaim the 'force de frappe's' continued relevance to French security. Yet there is a definite downside to vaunting nuclear weapons' usefulness when France and other established nuclear powers should be playing down the value of atomic arsenals if they ever want to dissuade countries such as Iran and North korea from turning atoms into bombs. That said, Mr. Chirac did use his speech (...) to complete the sensible transformation in French nuclear doctrine that he started back in 2001, just before that year's terrorist attacks on the US. (...) He recognised that nuclear weapons would not deter 'fanatical terorrists' ready to die for their cause, but it might give any state or government second thoughts about backing them." (20/01/2006)

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"It is a hitherto unseen Jacques Chirac who yesterday issued a very harsh and unusual warning to terrorist states. An ambassador of pacifism, moderation and restraint in the run-up to the Iraq war, one who opposed the use of force against Saddam Hussein's regime, the French president has radically changed his stripes," the Spanish daily writes, surprised. "Chirac did not name any state in particular. He preferred to remain vague and based his speech on nuclear might of France, until now a symbol of the peaceful and pacifist resistance to the 'war against terror' led by the United States after September 11. The Gallic president has put his pacifist toolbox back in the closet and unfolded his international terrorism map, regarded as the roadmap to an unpredictable - and ever-changing - future." (20/01/2006)

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Columnist Ben Macintyre calls upon Austria to release the revisionist British historian David Irving from a jail where he has been held since his arrest in November on charges of denying the Holocaust. "The trial of Irving, due to start next month, risks saving him from the intellectual oblivion he and his views so richly deserve. Before the Austrian police arrested him, he was a fringe academic addressing a group of loopy far-right radicals wearing silly hats in a basement in Vienna. Now there is a real danger that he will become a martyr for the extreme Right. (...) Let Irving go. He is a blip, a tiny spot beyond the outer edges of rational debate that has attracted unwarranted attention. He has a right to be wrong ; and once he is at liberty, we can all exercise our own inalienable right to ignore him." (20/01/2006)

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Commentator Maciej Rybinski attempts to give Poland's current domestic crisis a historical context. "The main trend in our history is defeat. The nation's most outstanding feature is suffering. The great heroes of Polish history are those who lost, died, and suffered injustice and humiliation. The present remains true to this national trend of masochism. History has wrongly taught us that an honourable defeat reflects noble-mindedness... Perhaps it's selfish of me, but I would like to live in a successful country ruled by people who are satisfied with their achievements." (19/01/2006)

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Poland will perhaps become the first country in Eastern Europe in which the change in system is resolutely carried through to its final consequences," columnist Istvan Baba comments, after the new Polish government announced plans to reorganise the state security services. "In all the countries undergoing the process of transformation, Stasi bosses were given the task of integrating themselves into democracy under a new name. As a result, almost all the Stasi officers and officials have remained in positions in which they have performed impeccably over the past five decades. Even today, this force is still stretching its tentacles into all areas of social, economic and political life." (12/01/2006)

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Political expert Bohumil Dolezal, on the other hand, points out that Hungary is at a disadvantage compared to other East European nations when it comes to confronting its experiences under communist ditatorship. "Hungary has no lustration law. It doesn't even have a list of former secret agents." This leads to complications when even high-level politicians are accused of having collaborated with the old regime, Dolezal notes. "There has never been an intense confrontation with the past in Hungary. This is because the communist regime was already beginning to crumble in 1981, and the whole process of transition wasn't as painful as in places like the Czech Republic. Fidesz' political agenda confronts this problem. However the socialists are understandably reluctant to deal with the promlem because if they take the whole thing seriously they themselves could face considerable problems arising from their own past." (19/01/2006)

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"Spanish police have just broken up a network of people smugglers in Anadalusia," writes the journalist Jean-Noël Cuénod. "A return to the Middle Ages? Not at all. It would be futile to believe that this concerns only Spain. In the majority of industrialised countries, including Switzerland, illegal workers are part of the national economies. On the one hand, states that are the preferred choices are erecting ever higher bureaucratic barriers to prevent foreigners from entering the marlet for legal jobs. And if they are putting up these obstacles, it is in order to please their voters, the majority of whom are developing a sort of xenophobic itch. On the other hand, these same states - and these same voters - turn a blind eye when these illegal workers are hired for jobs in sectors forsaken by the national workforce." (20/01/2006)

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The editorial writer Jean-Claude Matgen writes about the "Outreau judicial disaster", a paedophile case during which 13 people were held in pre-trial detention in French prisons on the basis of phoney allegations. "Today, a parliamentary inquiry commission, whose mission in many ways is reminiscent of that of the Dutroux Commission, has been charged with drawing conclusions from this enormous fiasco. (...) The 13 acquitted individuals did not mince words in their criticism of the prosecuting magistrate, accused of committing one blunder after another. We should nevertheless be careful not to reduce the Outreau affair to the erring ways of a single magistrate. (...) The error was a collective one and it illustrates the fragility of man-made justice. But does this really mean we should trash the entire inquisition process and burn the examining magistrate at the stake?" (20/01/2006)

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A few years ago, Sweden tightened its prostitution laws. Finland recently followed its example. Now Estonia is contemplating criminalising the purchase of sexual services. Kärt Anvelt asks: "Does Estonia really have to pass such a law just because the Finnish and Swedish parliaments have done so? Prostitution has always existed and will continue to exist as long as there are prostitutes and clients for their services. The lawmakers' desire to criminalise the purchase of sex will no doubt make the business of prostitution harder, but it won't make it disappear. On the contrary, it will plunge it deeper into the depths of illegality. Sweden was able to allow itself the luxury of criminalising prostitution because it has enough money to rehabilitate prostitutes and offer them a new future. This doesn't apply in Estonia at present." (20/01/2006)

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Access to the German site of Wikipedia, the free internet encyclopaedia, is currently blocked due to an interim injunction obtained by the parents of dead hacker "Tron". They want to prevent the legal name of their son appearing on the site. Frank Patalong and Matthias Gebauer see this as "a test case for Wikipedia.de, one that could provide the opportunity to clear up an important issue, namely the question of Wikipedia's legal status. Up to now, the voluntary Wikipedia project has enjoyed a number of privileges. But the growing popularity of the site has also led to it being subjected to increasing scrutiny, as the discussions of the last few months prove. Only a few weeks ago Wikipedia was forced to tighten the regulations for adding new articles in the United States. Moreover, in future there is to be a point at which articles can no longer simply be changed. Wikipedia is being forced to face the issue of journalistic responsibility with increasing frequency." (20/01/2006)

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The photographer and documentary maker Raymond Depardon is currently publishing and exhibiting his images of key political figures. In an interview led by Antoine de Baecque and Renaud Dely, he explains his interest in this part of society. I wanted to rehabilitate politics. People exaggerate with politicians, it is unfair to blame them for all the evils of the planet. (...) Photographically speaking, there are three comparable areas: politics, sport and war. (...) Portraying a politician involves getting out, capturing the world of the countryside, the city, the suburbs. It reveals plenty of things. Even if television has crushed all visual expression, photography still has a place in these three areas, thanks to its power and fascination: it creates an instantaneous myth; it alone is able to freeze movement. Because a photo, like the opinion pages in the printed press, editorialises - it has a viewpoint." (20/01/2006)

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"Historical Catalonian documents that had been held in the national archives in Salamanca are returning today to their legitimate owner 67 years after being confiscated by the Francoists following the civil war," the Catalonian daily reports. The 500 boxes, which Catalonia has been trying to claim back for 25 years, contain documents pertaining to the civil war period and especially to the execution of Republicans in Catalonia. "[The struggle for] the return of these documents led to an absurd territorial and political clash between political parties. Even without these documents, the Salamanca archives will still be able to be transformed into a centre for preserving Spain's historical memory, and Catalonia has seen its rights recognised." (20/01/2006)

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The Gazeta Wyborcza is giving its readers the opportunity to write a book. The newspaper has called on them to write about the last time they met Pope John Paul II, who died last April. "What was it like with him back then? Where did we say our last goodbye to him? In a city or in the country? In Wadowice or at the 'Pope's window' at the Curia in Cracow? At Pilsudski Square or before St. Peter's Cathedral in Rome? Which parts of that experience remain with us today? Write about it, ladies and gentlemen, and send it to our editorial department. With the aid of your detailed reflections, memories and photos we'll create a book to be published on the first anniversary of the death of John Paul II." (20/01/2006)

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