Philippe Paquet wonders in his editorial "What were we able to observe on Sunday, [March 2nd] in Moscow? Nothing, apart from the sad spectacle of a large (theoretically) European country indulging in a parody of democracy. Among the achievements Putin's eight years in power are credited with, one of the most important is to have restored to a certain degree the honour of a nation that had been pretty much humiliated by the collapse of the USSR and the trials and tribulations of the Yeltsin era, during which social poverty and a mafia stronghold went hand in hand. Today Russia has regained its power and lustre. But if it is once again inspring fear, it has yet to inspire admiration." (03/03/2008)

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The editorialist Sandro Viola ponders Medvedev's victory in the elections. "For the first time since the Bolshevik Revolution, Russia is going to have a very different president. Medvedev is not a revolutionary by profession, nor a party member, or a product of bureaucracy. He isn't a former KGB or Army official either. With his training and knowledge of the economical world, he might be taken for a western politician. But he owes his entire career to Putin. Will he be able to act independently ? ... It is too early to say. Let us already note that his manner differs from Putin's, that he hasn't the smugness of Putin. Of course we cannot base hypotheses on somebody's appearance. But an appeasement of relations with the west is conceivable". (03/03/2008)

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Endre Aczél predicts that the government will now take on a more influential role in Russia. "Since the break-up of the Soviet Union, the government has been merely a bureaucratic entity. Money and influence could not be acquired through the government, but only from outside it. ... But now, with Vladimir Putin, you have a man at the head of the government who is not a bureaucrat but embodies power. Therefore it will be interesting to observe how Medvedev's attempts at independence come up against an obstacle that did not exist previously: the government." (03/03/2008)

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Nicolai N. Petro teaches international politics at the University of Rhode Island. He writes that Putin's politics in the 1990s involved "re-establishing central authority, forging a 'unified legal space,' shoring up the domestic economy, ... laying the foundations for an independent foreign policy. In all these areas, Medvedev not only agreed with Putin's policies - he played a key role in formulating them. Now that the situation in the country has stabilised, however, he feels that it is time to shift the focus from consolidation to liberalisation. ... The watchwords of Medvedev's approach to politics, both then and now, are 'flexibility' and 'pragmatism.' This perspective casts severe doubt on the conventional view of Medvedev as a lackey blindly carrying out Putin's bidding - but also on the notion that he will develop policies at odds with those that he has been carrying out over the past seven years." (28/02/2008)

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It's not yet clear what direction Russia's foreign policy will take under the new president, the newspaper writes: "For the West and for Estonia it's important to know how power will be distributed between Putin and Medvedev, and consequently how relations with Russia will develop. When Yeltsin succeeded Gorbachev there weren't many changes because relations were more or less stable. But since Putin took power in 2000, relations have cooled considerably. That Medvedev is seen as more liberal that Putin doesn't mean much. It's far too early to talk of a breakthrough in our relations with Russia." (03/03/2008)

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Writer Irina Brezna witnessed the Prague Spring as an eighteen-year-old school girl in Bratislava. She recalls how President Antonín Novotný's rigid regime lost its influence: "Novotny's criminal conservativeness, which was a trade mark feature of KP central committee functionaries, stood for the repressive lies and deadly monotony which were forced onto my generation for as long as we can remember. ... If the president, whose picture hung in every office and classroom, had been young and attractive like Che Guevara on the famous posters I later saw hanging on the walls of western leftists, the history of the Czech Republic would have been different. However the beauty of the bearded revolutionary wearing a smart beret fit in with the West's romantic illusions about socialism - not with our ugly reality. ... Spring 1968 was a shining moment not because it created a shining future but because it showed the darkness for what it was." (29/02/2008)

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The American documentary film maker Ken Burns has made a 14 hour-long film on the Second World War called The War. Interviewed by Olivier Pascal-Mousselard, he analyses how Americans relate to war. "In the Untied States, the Second World War is referred to as the 'Good' war; nobody doubts that they fought for the right cause. But by using that word, battle is draped in mythology and the blood is forgotten, along with suffering and the arithmetic of death. ... [Today] to see a coffin come back from Iraq, you have to slip like a pornographer onto the Websites of those being fought by the United States! And no matter how much Americans hear about bombs and are told about their victims, they still don't see them. They therefore do not understand what is at stake. This is exactly what the government wants: to stop us from grasping the reality of war so that we make under-informed choices." (27/02/2008)

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Catalin Predoiu, a 40-year-old lawyer, has been appointed Romania's new justice minister. His appointment ends a lengthy struggle between Romanian head of government Calin Popescu-Tariceanu and President Traian Basescu. The EU is closely following the development of Romania's judicial system, and therefore also the filling of this post. Dan Cristian Turturica comments: "We don't know much about Catalin Predoiu, but on the basis of his biography he seems a better choice than any of the other candidates put up by the Liberal Party so far. ... The important difference between him and his predecessor Tudor Chiuariu is that the latter was a party activist whereas Predoiu has legal experience. In theory this means he won't have to do everything the party demands of him. ... On the other hand, ministerial posts are political jobs, and for Romania it has become crucial that they are occupied by experts - even if they are technocrats - because nowadays there are hardly any political dignitaries left who have both work experience and morals." (03/03/2008)

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Geert Wilders, head of the Liberty Party (PVV, far-right), recently announced that his anti-Muslim film is finished and that he wants to broadcast it on television. The Dutch daily wonders which attitude the government should adopt towards this film. "The government should avoid giving the impression that it is violating freedom of expression. It should however insist on Wilders' responsibility concerning the consequences the broadcasting of his film is likely to have on citizens' safety, on Dutch soldiers abroad and on the Dutch economy. With the case of the Danish caricatures still fresh in our memories, it is not too difficult to imagine reactions. The government is right to show to the outside world that it does not share Wilders' views. It can do nothing more than call upon Wilders' sense of responsibility." (03/03/2008)

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Since the presidential election on February 19 there have been demonstrations and riots on a daily basis in Armenia. The outgoing Armenian president, Robert Kotcharian, has now declared a state of emergency. The opposition claims the election won by Prime minister Serge Sarkissian was rigged. Egidijus Vareikis is also sceptical about the results: "There can be no doubt that there's something wrong with democracy in Armenia. Why is a people with such a rich culture and past living in such poverty and surrounded by so much corruption? The years of independence have been marked by wars, economic blockades and a division of society. Today, most Armenians live outside the country, and almost all the country's neighbours are on more or less bad terms with it. It's at war with Azerbaijan, there has been no reconciliation with Turkey because of the genocide, Georgia is more focused on the West and although the Iranians aren't enemies, as Muslims they belong to a different faith." (03/03/2008)

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The US Defense Department on Friday, February 29th, announced a Northrop Grumman/EADS team won a 35-billion-dollar air force tanker contract, dealing a surprise blow to US rival Boeing. "The coup announced by EADS last weekend must be particularly humiliating for Boeing," Tarik Ahmia writes. "Up to now, the Europeans' military transactions with the US have hovered at around one billion euros in annual turnover. That EADS is now aiming to dramatically boost its military transactions is primarily for commercial reasons, namely the promise of sure profits in the long term. Civil aircraft construction, on the other hand, is dependent on economic trends and therefore entails a lot more risk. ... EADS is still regarded as a European company even though the shareholder structure has become much more mixed and now includes investors from countries like Russia and Dubai. This process of internationalisation is now spreading to construction: the final assembly of the military aircraft will move to the US. ... For this reason the company is sticking to its cost-cutting plans in Europe regarding the Airbus project." (03/03/2008)

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The Swiss Minister of Finance "Hanz-Rudolf Merz is supposed to convince his European counterparts, at the beginning of April, that Switzerland is prepared to find a solution, autonomously and reasonably fast, that will resolve its tax dispute with the European Union (EU)", writes Daniél Miéville. "We know that Switzerland refuses to negotiate with Brussels on anything to do with its sovereign state status as a non EU member, but that it is prepared to do what it takes for the next company tax reform to be satisfactory for both the domestic economy and European partners. The problem for the finance Minster is that the said reform is politically impossible following February 24th [A referendum on the reform has no conclusive results] ... The unfortunate Hans-Rudolf Merz with therefore not have much to offer his European counterparts." (03/03/2008)

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On February 26th and 27th, demonstrations were held in Paris to denounce the overall reduction of cultural budgets. "Some people consider that demonstrations can smack of corporatism. But they come from somewhere else. The 'disengagement of the state' from cultural matters is not just a slogan. For the first time under the 5th Republic, a president is attacking this sector, multiplying instructions to 'trivialise' it", writes the daily in its editorial. And yet, "Culture has become a remarkable part of the economy. It helps to revitalize towns and regions which often use it as an electoral argument. Messages sent out by Nicolas Sarkozy and his circle go in quite the opposite direction. More than a corporatist demand, the recent demonstrations reflect a real concern and profound unease, which it would be unwise to overlook.” (03/03/2008)

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John Lichfield is delighted by a new film recently released in France, Bienvenue Chez les Ch'tis: "To the English, the Nord-Pas de Calais is a garden of tropical delights. It is the gateway to the Continent, supermarkets full of cheap booze, and the destination for exotic weekends in Lille or Boulogne. To the French, who seldom go there, the most northerly region of France is a frozen, post-industrial wasteland. It is a part of Belgium which is, unaccountably, part of France. ... France has been chortling recently over its regional prejudices. The most successful French movie of the moment is a knockabout farce which mocks the national stereotypes about the Nord-Pas de Calais. The movie ... has caught the imagination of film-goers the length and breadth of France, but especially in the north. For the first time, here was a film, made in the local language by a local comic hero, which presents the area as the joyous and beautiful place that it is (or can be)." (03/03/2008)

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