"The term 'Wahlentscheidung' (election decision) is gradually becoming obsolete in the vocabulary of political analysis," Thomas Kielinger writes. "Welcome on board, we can tell the Dutch. You're in good company. Poland, Austria, Germany, the Czech Republic, Italy – indecisive election results are becoming the rule rather than the exception in the EU. The stalemate is a sign of our times. Democracy doesn't know which way to go – and it's hardly surprising. Since the end of the Cold War era and the disappearance of the strong ideologies there has been a lack of polarising factors in political confrontation. The differences between the parties have become blurred and the popular centre provides no clear demarcation lines – they're all singing the same song. The extremist groups have gained fresh impetus and they're the ones who now have the power to tip the scales in favour of one party or another. In Holland, for the first time in the history of European parliaments, an animal-rights party has gained seats in the parliament. This is a good for maltreated animals, but not so good for producing a strong government capable of pushing through reforms." (24/11/2006)

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Friederike Leibl portrays the winner of the elections, Jan Peter Balkenende. "Balkenende has capitalised on the biggest bonus a politician can have: voters believed him. The country has gone through major crises over the past few years. Together with his right-wing liberal coalition party, the Christian Democrat pushed through tough reforms. The nation vented its fury with the government by voting against the EU constitution in 2005. After film director Theo van Gogh was murdered by a Moroccan, distrust of Muslim immigrants rose dramatically. Balkenende responded by introducing stricter immigration laws, but at the same time sought dialogue with Muslims. The economic revival came at just the right moment and gave him the necessary impetus to be the first over the finish line. Yet in the end it was his unassuming nature that won the day." (24/11/2006)

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"A centre-left coalition is what many observers on all sides of the political spectrum secretly hope for", comments the British weekly. "Mr Balkenende's government may have been good for the economy, but his four years have left a scar in the social tissue of a country that is still trying to come to terms with its multicultural, multi-ethnic nature... Many would like to see the abrasive Ms Verdonk [Immigration Minister] lose her job. Both Christian Democrats and Labour steered clear of the issues of immigration and Islam in the campaign, and also avoided discussing the European Union, though attempts are under way to revive all or part of the constitution that Dutch voters rejected in 2005. This wariness reflects continuing fears of anti-elite feeling... As Gerrit Zalm, the outgoing VVD finance minister, summed up the election: "It's anarchy. It is extremely difficult to distil a government out of these results.” (24/11/2006)

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Jürg Dedial gives his interpretation of the election results in the Netherlands. "Strangely enough, the issues of immigration and integration that were the main themes less than a year ago appear to have played only a minor role. Although the PVV led by right-wing extremist Geert Wilders did well in the elections, it exploited the scepticism of many Dutch voters regarding the EU rather than their xenophobia. And he's still far from achieving the popularity Pim Fortuyn enjoyed four years ago when his party triggered a storm by breaking the taboos preventing open discussion of the immigration problem. It's as if the Dutch had accepted this problem and the necessity for confronting it openly to such an extent that it no longer has the power to mobilise the masses. It's no coincidence that Fortuyn's party barely featured in these last elections." (24/11/2006)

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The editorialist Yves Desmet considers that political communication has clearly taken over ideas. "Wouter Bos [Labour leader] has not communicated enough. Strategic analysis and political marketing have however gained the upper hand over political content. ... The campaign was orchestrated by communication strategists who have avoided all controversy and have thus killed all authenticity in the debates. And it is in this field that Jan Marijnissen [Leader of the far-left party SP] has managed to win. You can hate him or love him, but he is what he is, unshakably sure of himself, easy to understand, unequivocal and radical. ... The Netherlands already had a traditionally multicoloured political landscape, but the political map is now pretty kaleidoscopic." (24/11/2006)

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In an interview with Sebastian Fischer the American political scientist Daniel Goldhagen urges the West to discontinue its policy of "appeasement" regarding political Islam. He explains why: "Although they're not identical, the key arguments of political Islam have more in common with Nazism than any other political movement of our times. Both advocate genocide. Both threaten to slaughter entire groups of people. Political Islamists issue fatwas for the murder of millions of Americans and use the Koran to justify such acts. With the exception of the Nazis and perhaps Japan during its period of imperial rule, they nurture an unparalleled culture of death. Nazis and Islamists glorify death – just think of the suicide bombings in political Islam. And they are also similar regarding their anti-Semitism. The things political Islamists say about Jews can be found in Nazi textbooks." (24/11/2006)

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The Czech writer and translator Monika Zgustova writes on the dangerous risks being taken by thinkers and intellectuals in Russia and in many other countries. "Thinking has always led to a questioning of the world's order. The world, however, is directed by those in power and whoever thinks puts this power into question. Thinking is thus a dangerous activity. ... What is happening in Russia is not an isolated situation, limited to that country. Russia is foreshadowing a growing tendency among those in power to decide upon the world's order. The tendency is to stifle by different means those who query the given order. ... Octavio Paz had predicted that in a few decades writers and thinkers would have to take refuge in secluded monasteries in order to conserve the tradition of knowledge far away from the eyes of the hostile world, just as the monks did in Ireland during the 7th century." (23/11/2006)

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In his work 'Essay on Lucidity', the Portuguese writer José Saramago ponders how the democratic system works. He responds in an interview with Christine Rousseau, to those who accuse him of wanting to destroy the system by pointing out its weaknesses or incoherencies. "We are living at a time where we can discuss everything, but where there is one subject that cannot be discussed, which is democracy itself. It really is extraordinary that we do not stop to question what democracy is, what it is for, and who it is for. It is like the holy virgin, no one dares touch it. We get the feeling that it is a given. A thorough, international debate should however be launched on the subject. Then, surely, we will reach the conclusion that we are not living in a democracy, that democracy is only a facade." (24/11/2006)

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Poland's veto has prevented the start of negotiations between Russia and the EU for a new Partnership and Cooperation Agreement, due to commence today. In protest against Russia's ban on the import of meat products from Poland, the government in Warsaw has rejected the EU's mandate. Krzysztof Grzegrzolka criticises the announcement from Polish Foreign Minister Anna Fotyga of the conservative PiS ruling party that her government is willing to sacrifice its reputation on the international stage in this issue. Grzegrzolka writes: "The language employed by the head of Polish diplomacy would be appropriate for one of the party's election campaign rallies, but unfortunately this is the statement of a diplomat representing the Republic of Poland. It's embarrassing, both regarding Russian diplomacy and EU diplomacy.... The Polish government has rejected diplomatic tactics and compromises and opted to exercise its right of veto. It's trying to force the European Union to show its solidarity and raising its fist to Russia." (24/11/2006)

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Fernando Câncio fears a slackening of preventative behaviour facing the AIDS epidemic in developed countries. "The consequences of this attitude can be seen in the most recent UNAIDS report. Whereas in Sub-Saharan Africa there is an emergent stability noticeable in countries that invested in the promotion of the use of condoms and sexual education (following the example of Brazil in South America), there is in Western Europe and in the United States, an explosive cocktail of pseudo-sophistication, fool-hardiness, ill-founded ideas - with a notion that AIDS is a chronic illness that you do not die from - is posing the threat of the Pandemic's return. The exponential increase of HIV cases diagnosed in all Europe (over 68% in our country between 2001 and 2006) among men who sleep with men is an illustration of this 'relaxed' attitude to HIV ...". (24/11/2006)

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Luc Caregari regrets that the last report of the European Observatory of Drugs and Drug Addictions only high-lights repression, which seems pointless. "The record police seizures across Europe these past few years that are constantly increasing have no impact on statistics of consummation ... . What remains absent in this report, is concrete figures on programmes that offer alternatives to State repression of drugs. Not a word on the impact of legalising cannabis resin in the Netherlands, for example. And zero presentation of a credible alternative to the current regime. The only idea to be found is in the conclusion of the report: 'To improve the surveillance of problematic drug use and the poly-consummation of drugs'. One can now only hope that this increased surveillance will not only be used for increased repression, but also for a more honest, realistic and efficient taking into account of drug problems." (24/11/2006)

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The former Russian secret service officer Alexander Litvinenko has died as the result of a poisoning in London. Erkki Bahovsk reports that Russia has denied accusations that it is responsible for the poisoning, saying its secret service hasn't murdered anyone since 1959. "I doubt very much 1959 was the last time. In 2004 the Chechen military commander Selimhan Yandarbiyev was killed by a bomb in Qatar and following a long dispute two suspected agents were extradited to Russia. How would Moscow react if the British arrested a Russian spy now? Would it stop the BBC broadcasting in Russia? Would British citizens living in Moscow be deported – as was the case with Georgian citizens? Great Britain has long been a thorn in Moscow's side because it harbours many Russian refugees. It's easy to imagine what would happen if people like Ahmed Sakajev [the Chechen rebel who lives in London] or Boris Beresovski [the former Russian oligarch who fled to London] lived in Georgia or Estonia." (24/11/2006)

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"It comes a little too late," Samo Trtnik comments on the new law for protection of Roma as an ethnic minority proposed by the Slovenian government on Thursday. The law foresees special rights for Roma regarding protection of their language and culture, and would guarantee them a seat in the Slovenian parliament. Up to now only the Hungarian and Italian minorities had been granted this special status in Slovenia. "The law will make its way through parliament and, according to the government, will be passed by the end of this year... However, it's more likely to take until the end of next year." Trtnik speculates on whether the law would have helped a Roma family that was forced out of a town in eastern Slovakia last October. "Perhaps it would have, perhaps not. But it certainly would have been a lot easier to find a solution to the problem." (24/11/2006)

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Anthony Giddens deplores a remarkable absence of political reading materials among British best-sellers. "What is missing is a sphere where intellectual issues and problems become fed into public debate. There are so few bestsellers concerned with social and political questions because the public appetite for them is not there - and the public appetite is not there because the links that connect universities with British political life are less robust than in other countries. Does this absence reflect adversely upon political life in the UK, or is it irrelevant? ... My answer would be that it does matter - indeed, it might be very consequential for British politics. Our political system seems to be marked by a greater level of cynicism and disenchantment than those of most other industrial countries. In Italy, the turnout in the recent elections was 80% of voters; in the last national election here, it was only 59%." (23/11/2006)

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Budapest is the city of superlatives, writes Gábor Schmidt in a sarcastic commentary. A hundred years ago the world's first underground train line was built here within just two years. The construction of a fourth underground train line was supposed to begin in 1976 – but nothing has happened up to now. "Budapest has the most slowly constructed underground train line in Europe... Citizen initiatives don't want much money to be spent on a line connecting the outskirts with the inner city. The government no longer wants to contribute to financing the project and has pointed to the possibility of EU funding instead... For years now, travel guide books have indicated the presence of this 'line under construction' with a dotted line. However, we'll have plenty of time to research old city plans before the work on the line actually begins. A city map drawn up in 1912 features several stations on the planned line." (24/11/2006)

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