With CERN's new particle accelerator, the European scientific community has demonstrated it is at the pinnacle of international research, writes Le Monde, commenting that the project will benefit more than science: "When Europeans work together they can become the leaders of key scientific areas and give a lesson to their competitors. The huge particle accelerator at the European Organization for Nuclear Research is proof of this. ... Some almost see a poetic gesture in this mammoth project which will employ tens of thousands of scientists from hundreds of countries for years at a time. Apart from a few Nobel Prizes ... no concrete results are expected. Does that mean physicists are dreamers, conquistadors on a fool's errand? On the contrary. By landing international subsidies they are paving the way for a globalisation of knowledge. Other sectors – whether in science or elsewhere – can profit by this." (10/09/2008)

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The scientific and economic advantages to be gained through the LHC project, which is costing billions, remain uncertain. The German daily Frankfurter Rundschau nonetheless praises CERN as a model European institution. "Over half a century ago European politicians had the courage ... to invest a lot of money in scientific experiments and found the European laboratory for particle physics CERN. ... This faith in the future displayed by the politicians of the day has unquestionably been richly rewarded. It was one of the first projects for European cooperation - transcending all linguistic and national barriers. ... CERN is one of the early crystallisation points in the success story of Europe's unification - and beyond that. ... It may not be easy to explain of what practical use the new CERN facility could be. ... Yet the past has demonstrated that the money has for the large part been well invested. How many people are aware nowadays that it was at CERN, of all places, that the World Wide Web was programmed - or in other words, the Internet as we now know it?" (10/09/2008)

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All available articles from » Karl-Heinz Karisch

Some scientists have warned that the LHC experiments could inadvertently create a black hole that could swallow up the Earth. The daily La Repubblica warns about the dangers of intellectual curiosity at CERN. "This is not the first time the end of the world has been announced. On the contrary, world history is full of [warnings about] the end of the world. But this would no doubt be the first end of the world created by mankind, a secular ending without Holy Scriptures, without God, without belief and without religion, produced in a laboratory without a paradise, hell and purgatory, and without the Last Judgement. If our scientists in search of the God particle, as James Gillies of the nuclear research institute puts it, were not fanatics of the end of the world they would not have sought this appointment with the apocalypse. ... Today ... we have the final proof that science is the product of its opposite and that scientific progress consists of darkness rather than light." (10/09/2008)

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All available articles from » Francesco Merlo

TV comedian Ariane Sherine argues in The Guardian that it would not be such a bad thing if an LHC experiment brought about the end of the world: "A black hole's the last place you'd want to be left alive in anyway. We can't avoid dying, but if the Earth does get hoovered into oblivion today, we'll all bypass the fear and suffering that go along with the average death. Unless you're worrying about impending apocalyptic doom right now, that is. ... In case you're worried, we're all going to be fine. Even if we're not, we won't know it, so in a sense that's still fine. In the maxim commonly used when people are trying to be bleak and miserable, 'We all die alone.' Not this time. ... Above all, if we disappear together today, we'll be dying for a great reason: the noble cause of scientific advancement, on a mission to discover more about how the universe works. Seriously: will that really be the end of the world?" (10/09/2008)

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All available articles from » Ariane Sherine

The contract for the stationing of a radar base for the US missile defence shield in the Czech Republic was signed in July. Now the business newspaper Hospodářské noviny asks whether the Czech Republic was tough enough in the negotiations with the Americans on the conditions for stationing the radar base: "Czech diplomats prefer not to say it, but the package for the radar station in Bohemia should include among other things the American's wavering the visa requirement for trips to the US. But what is more important is that a flag on the map at the Pentagon now shows that it has an ultramodern radar in the Czech Republic. This entails an obligation of alliance that goes beyond what is stipulated in Article Five of the NATO treaty on reciprocal support. France would also have behaved differently in 1938 [when the Munich Dictate on the cession of the Sudetenland to Hitler was signed] if it had stationed a unit on Czechoslovakian territory." (10/09/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » Security Policy / Crises / War, » Czech Republic, » U.S.
All available articles from » Martin Ehl

Bulgaria's Agency for National Security (DANS) has blocked access to the online medium "Opasni novini" (dangerous news) for allegedly spreading confidential information. The daily Dnevnik warns: "It is extremely important that society does not allow state institutions to restrict media freedom, even if that institution happens to be the Bulgarian FBI. ... Is this not a sign that the state crisis is also taking hold of the fourth power? The website was successful because of people's refusal to accept the sticky imitation of the reality in which we live, for [this imitation] is intertwined with the busily flirting political elites, dubious businessmen and media makers. Honours are conferred and gifts are made of trips in the presidential aircraft for the sake of preserving this imitation. ... 'Opasni novini' was a rumour factory. Yet we should ask ourselves what kind of a society it is where rumours replace the public sphere. One where there is no real public sphere. This is why rumours, whether whispered or converted into bits and put on American servers, become dangerous. And measures are taken to prevent them in order to re-establish peace and order in the country." (10/09/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » Online media, » Bulgaria
All available articles from » Boiko Pentchev

Poland's judiciary has launched an inquiry into the death of General Władysław Sikorskis, the prime minister exiled during the Second World War who is said to have died in a plane crash off Gibraltar's coast in 1943. There are rumours in Poland that Sikorski's death was ordered by Moscow or London because he stood in the way of the Soviet Union and its Western allies at the time. The weekly Tygodnik Powszechny defends the inquiry initiated by Poland's Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) against criticism. "All those who criticise the IPN's decision [to investigate the circumstances of the death] of Sikorski ..., should bear in mind that the IPN is acting because it has the task of clearing up difficult or controversial historical issues that need to be clarified. The results, although they are not of a penal character, are of great importance for our knowledge of the past. ... By launching this inquiry the IPN can demand official access not only to British ..., but also to American, French, Spanish and Russian archives. ... If, as a consequence of the IPN inquiry, documentation similar to that on the Jedwabne pogrom [against the Jews] comes to light, this will be an important achievement." (10/09/2008)

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All available articles from » Wojciech Pieciak

The Flemish and Walloons want to resume negotiations to find a way out of the present state crisis. But newspaper De Standaard writes that finding a solution seems impossible: "There is no agenda and no deadline. Everyone has his own set of taboos and demands in tow. ... This game with no winners will go on for a while yet. Now it is no longer even a matter of ensuring that the others lose more. Basically, it is all about nothing because no one can see a solution anymore. ... But the price is high. Coexistence is fraught with bitterness in this country. Even the kind of agreement that seems impossible at this point; even an agreement that would soothe the institutional tensions, can no longer conceal the signs of decay. This war of attrition has damaged us all and reduced us to something we never wanted to be: a caricature of ourselves." (10/09/2008)

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All available articles from » Bart Sturtewagen

Hanif Kureishi, a British writer and author of "My Beautiful Laundrette", describes the topicality of Rainer Werner Fassbinder's film "Fear Eats the Soul" in relation to European immigration policy. "The concept of immigration is rehashed continuously in today's Europe. And the difficulty, as well as the schizophrenic double bond inherent in this concept is shown marvellously by the film's protagonist Alì. The immigrant must work, but he can develop no sense of belonging. He is never allowed to forget his role as an outsider. If he becomes too integrated he is accused of getting the upper hand or wanting to infiltrate the organic unity of society. If he keeps his distance he lives in a ghetto and disrupts society. Alì cannot be assimilated. ... As a foreigner he is a scapegoat or a monster. He lives in a void. ... But he also reminds those around him of something else. Although they do not want change, they may well need a catalyst. From this point of view Alì represents the future. There will be an increasing number of people like him, and the difficulties will only grow. What kind of society can emerge from elements such as these?" (10/09/2008)

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All available articles from » Hanif Kureishi

With an eye to the crisis in the Caucasus and "America's difficulty with its role as the sole global hegemonial power", Spain's foreign minister Miguel Ángel Moratinos reflects on relations between the EU and Russia: "The new international context requires ... that the EU define for itself a clearly demarcated global project, inspired by the values and principles that make it what it is. ... Our bilateral relations must combine both neighbourliness and strategic relations to foster cooperation and stability. The geostrategic reality is that the Russia of 2008 has nothing to do with the country that rose out of the Soviet rubble. Russian policy-makers of today are convinced that under the leadership of the US and with no opposition from within Europe, the West is renewing its policy of containment against Russia and seeking to fragment our continent. And they believe this could well pave the way for a new Cold War. They take the construction of a missile defence shield in Poland and the Czech Republic and the urgent attempts to bring Ukraine and Georgia into NATO as clear signs for this development." (10/09/2008)

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All available articles from » Miguel Ángel Moratinos

Only recently, Finnish mobile phone giant Nokia moved production from a plant in the German city of Bochum to Jucu in Romania. Now Romania is facing a similar plight: the Swedish furniture company Ikea has closed down a supplier in the Romanian city of Siret owing to high production costs. 500 people will lose their jobs as a result. The daily Evenimentul Zilei calls for a step-up in regional development measures: "We cannot even claim that this is punishment from the Gods for what we did to the Germans in Bochum when we convinced Nokia to come to Jucu. ... Ikea's leaving Siret is a blow for a region that seldom generates good news. The region of Bukovina is blessed with a unique landscape and other treasures but it has no trumps to attract investors. ... What happened in Siret could happen anywhere. Jucu could one day become another Bochum. Ikea's decision underscores how important the efforts towards regional development are. ... Whether we like it or not, we are competing with far more countries and regions than we think. ... So we cannot afford to sit back and relax." (10/09/2008)

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All available articles from » Andrei Postelnicu

In the dispute over a law giving the German state of Lower Saxony a controlling majority in the general assembly of German carmaker Volkswagen, thus protecting it from hostile takeovers, the European Commission is once more taking action against Germany and contesting Lower Saxony's veto right. The daily Süddeutsche Zeitung approves: "With this move, the conflict over Volkswagen's privileged status enters the next and probably final round. Because the number of those pushing for the protective law to be overturned is growing unabated. ... The company's development suggests that state influence has done more harm than good to both the business and its employees. VW has twice been subject to restructuring since the beginning of the 1990s, as a result of spiralling production costs and high-handed managers who remained at the helm for far too long. At best the VW system can give employees short-term protection from global markets. ... Volkswagen should be thankful to the Europeans that these delusive privileges may soon be a thing of the past." (10/09/2008)

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According to the business newspaper Világgazdaság, following the example of its Slovenian counterpart the Czech stock exchange is now seeking a majority shareholder. Major international stock exchange operators have expressed great interest. "There are two reasons for this lively interest. Firstly, the confidence of Western investors in Eastern Europe's economic environment has grown in the past years. ... Secondly, strategic calculations appear to be a major factor behind the takeover of the Czech stock exchange. Almost every country in the Eastern European region has its own stock exchange. Taken individually, the transactions they make are insignificant by Western standards, and they make only small profits. But the market as a whole - including the stock exchanges in Croatia, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania, Bulgaria and Slovenia - appears to be increasingly attracting the interest of international stock exchange players. None of the leading global stock exchange operators has so far set a foot in the region. This could now change." (10/09/2008)

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All available articles from » András Metzing

The government of the Republic of Cyprus wants to "foster a culture of peaceful cohabitation and mutual respect in schools, and to facilitate cooperation between Greek and Turkish Cypriots in a bid to end the occupation and reunite the island." Philelefteros newspaper questions this perception: "Since when is peaceful cohabitation the way to end the occupation? ... The formulation ... should be reversed: ... National dignity should lead the way to the restoration of human rights and the reunification of the island, so that the climate of peaceful cohabitation will be felt by all Cypriots. The government's formulation of the goal betrays its real purpose: getting Cyprus' youth - and its population at large - ready to accept an unacceptable solution which is now being prepared." (09/09/2008)

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All available articles from » Petros Pantelidis

The Internet company Google has begun work on creating a huge virtual newspaper archive. The company is scanning all the pages of all the newspapers published worldwide for its Google News Archive and providing access to them through online search engines. The daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung harshly criticises the project. "It was just a matter of time and it is just the next step - the next step with which search engine company Google establishes its monopoly over the world's knowledge and the consciousness industry. Google is making history – and availing itself once more of the knowledge of others and capitalising on that knowledge. ... Anyone who wants to read what a given newspaper has written will be able to find out whenever he wants to with Google. ... For all those who want to preserve or pass on their own accumulated knowledge – be it in their heads, in an archive, on paper or online – and establish their livelihood on the basis of that knowledge this is the next raid by the copyright pirates who thanks to the digitalisation of all the libraries of this world are making rapid progress." (10/09/2008)

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All available articles from » Michael Hanfeld