Obama faces a series of formidable challenges, writes Jyllands-Posten newspaper: "The president-elect has not yet officially taken office, and already he must get a grip on the economy. He must initiate a responsible withdrawal from Iraq and respect civil rights. At the same time the US should reaffirm its leadership role and make good on its claim to superpower status. The world is waiting for a new energy policy and responsible action on global warming. The Americans are expecting that everyone will be included in the health insurance system and that the gaps in social welfare will be filled. The list of problems goes on and on, and no one can solve them alone. For that reason it is heartening that after his defeat John McCain has offered his cooperation." (06/11/2008)

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The daily newspaper Postimees asks what turn US foreign policy will take: "For us Estonians and all Europeans the direction the US takes in this area is particularly important. The miscalculations of George W. Bush in the Middle East have gobbled up hundreds of billions in taxpayers' money, and the only result has been a dangerous amount of damage to the US's credibility. Therefore restoring confidence will be one of the first tasks facing the new captain. Since the end of the Cold War the world has become increasingly multi-polar, even if this loss of their former hegemony is painful for many Americans." (06/11/2008)

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All available articles from » Enn Soosaar

According to the Greek daily Kathimerini, Obama must first tackle the economy: "After all, we have seen that in practice it was the economy that gave Obama his victory. ... In 1992 Bill Clinton was elected under the slogan 'It's the economy stupid'. For the second time in 16 years a democratic candidate has won because his economic message gained acceptance. ... Obama must now make good on his promises to implement a progressive economic policy that helps both the working class and the middle class and at the same time preserves the trust of the markets. ... 62 percent of the voters in a survey said that the economic situation was the most important factor behind their decision. Only 10 percent mentioned terrorism or other issues." (06/11/2008)

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All available articles from » Athanasios Ellis

Zsold Németh, chairman of the Hungarian parliament's foreign affairs committee, writes in the left-liberal newspaper Népszabadság: "We need the US, especially now that Russia's foreign policy is focussing on a new division of spheres of interest. The true security risk for Central Eastern Europe today is the fragility of the trans-Atlantic alliance. ... Barack Obama's election victory encourages us in believing that this fragility in European-American relations can be overcome. ... The Czech-Polish-American missile defence system, for example, ... sends the political message that the US will remain in the region. ... Let us hope that in Democratic circles those that advocate a phased withdrawal of the US from our region will not gain the upper hand, but that the foreign policy experts from the Clinton era who made possible our Nato accession ... will prevail." (06/11/2008)

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All available articles from » Zsolt Nemeth

"Obama brings change. The Czechs, too, realised this at least a year ago," the conservative daily Lidové noviny writes. "But what impact will this change have on Czech participation in the US's missile defence shield project? Will it affect the Czech EU presidency? Will Obama treat Europe as a united whole or distinguish between old and new Europe? We will have the answers to these questions in January, when as holder of the EU presidency Prague becomes Obama's partner representing Europe as a whole. ... Right now everyone is projecting all their hopes and expectations on Obama. Obama is their Winnetou while they have stepped into the role of Old Shatterhand. We can do business with a 'red gentleman' like this one; we can focus our hopes on him. Welcome, blood brother Obama!" (06/11/2008)

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All available articles from » Zbyněk Petráček

The business newspaper NRC Handelsblad warns against false hopes: "Expectations are ... high. In Europe as well. Here the election result has been greeted with overt exclamations of relief, even though Obama's programme will claim its share of victims, for example in Afghanistan. But we need realism as well as optimism, because with Obama's presidency new alliances must be forged across the board." (06/11/2008)

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In his first state-of-the-nation address Russian President Dmitry Medvedev announced that Russia would set up surface-to-surface missiles as a reaction to the planned US missile defence shield. The Italian daily La Stampa sees this as a further move towards Russia's isolation. "Even the enemies in Venezuela and Iran had hoped for a turning point. Only Dmitry Medvedev, who because he belongs to the same generation could be a good partner for Barack Obama, did not. For the young head of the Kremlin nothing seems to have changed. On the very day of Obama's election victory he has made renewed military threats in parliament. ... The Russians see the missile defence shield in Poland as a threat and Medvedev has promised to respond with an arsenal [of weapons]. ... As far as Medvedev is concerned America is also to blame for the financial crisis and the war in Georgia. Medvedev's message is unambiguous. It is the threat of a leader whose intentions are as yet unclear." (06/11/2008)

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All available articles from » Anna Zafesova

European Commissioner for Enlargement Olli Rehn released yesterday his annual progress report on EU enlargement. The Berliner Zeitung writes that the accession of new member states into the EU must not be made dependent on the ratification of the Treaty of Lisbon: "Olli Rehn ... has reminded Europeans in no uncertain terms that Turkey's significance for the Union is growing rapidly. And he left no doubt that he would like to see Croatia in the EU as soon as possible." The newspaper argues that "the unresolved issue of the Treaty of Lisbon ... must not be used as a pretext for putting EU enlargement on ice. What is at stake is the trustworthiness of the EU. The mere prospect of membership has a stabilising effect on many countries. And in others it makes reforms possible that would otherwise be unthinkable." (06/11/2008)

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Following the meeting of foreign ministers' of the countries of the Union for the Mediterranean in Marseille Le Monde describes the difficult birth of the institution: "The conception of the MedUnion was a difficult process, but thanks to the summit meeting of 44 heads of state and government in Paris one day before [the French national holiday] July 14th, 2008, its birth was a wonderful event. Its first steps were shaky, but the foreign ministers of the participating countries have managed ... to overcome the obstacles ... above all the question of where the secretary-general's headquarters should be: Brussels, Valetta, Tunis or Barcelona? The French wanted to make their friend, Tunisian President Ben Ali, happy. The Spanish wanted Barcelona because in 1995 the Barcelona Process [the forerunner of the MedUnion] was initiated there ... The other serious obstacle pertained to relations between the Israelis and the Arab countries. The former did not want the Arab League to be allowed to participate as a full member. But in the end they accepted this in return for the post of deputy secretary-general." (05/11/2008)

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The daily Dnevnik responds ironically to a comment by Prime Minister Sergey Stanishev of the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) on Barack Obama's election victory, in which he compared his policies with those of the future American president: "So it turns out that Barack Obama, the winning candidate of the Democrats, is Stanishev's new political pal. Together they should give 'the left, the socialists and the progressives a chance'. This would imply that Obama too will be expected - like the socialists ahead of their party conference - to focus on 'the historical battle against capitalism'. And the BSP will insist that not the market but 'we' - whatever that may refer to - should determine Europe's future, and Obama should be dedicating himself to the same cause. ... There's no doubt about it, next year's elections will generate a lot more such nonsense." (06/11/2008)

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Writing in the weekly newspaper Dilema Adrian Cioroianu points to the many differences between Russia and the West that could herald a new Cold War: "Russia is not building up independent national capitalism; it is building an empire (see energy giant Gazprom) in which natural resources will remain under state control. This goes against the traditional capitalist principles (of the West) that uphold a free market and decentralisation. ... Moreover, there are many who look back nostalgically to the times of the Soviet empire. This nostalgia is not exclusive to a particular generation (the older generation, as one would expect) but is part of the school curriculum and is being engrained in the minds of the younger generation through textbooks prescribed by the state. Compounding this phenomenon is a psychological block as regards Ukraine and Georgia: the average Russian has difficulties accepting the fact that these are no longer Russian provinces. ... I believe there is a deep ideological rift between Russia and the West and this rift may only become deeper in the next few years - for the simple reason that they interpret reality differently. As a consequence of the 1990s Russia is breeding an ideology of revenge and gathering together all those things that make it different from the West, so that the West is once again perceived as an opponent. It may be that the West does not perceive itself as embroiled in a Cold War with Russia, but Russia is acting as if it was." (06/11/2008)

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All available articles from » Adrian Cioroianu

Jean Rhein in the Luxembourg daily Le Quotidien analyses alternative economic theories that could lead to a solution of the economic and financial crisis: "Let us try out something else! For example applying different economic and social theories that do not lead directly to unbridled liberalism. ... There are alternatives to the dominant economic models - and not only those of the globalisation critics. There are foreign economic theories which, while propagating casino capitalism, also adopt a sustainable attitude to material and human resources. ... There is Keynesianism, which unfortunately remains unknown to most key economic players. ... The time has come to say the truth: economic crises are part and parcel of the system of the global financial economy, and that industrial production necessarily goes through economic and structural cycles. ... The financial crisis teaches us that we must avoid reverting to a system that seeks profit regardless of economic reality. ... We have finally been forced to realise that there is a real economy." (05/11/2008)

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In view of the current crisis in the aviation industry, the Financial Times calls for the regulations governing the ownership of airlines to be relaxed: "At the moment, EU airlines cease to be considered 'European' if non-EU investors hold more than 49 per cent of the votes. And non-Americans can own no more than 25 per cent of the voting rights in US airlines. ... The EU has, rightly, been calling for these absurd ownership restrictions to be removed as part of the second round of the EU-US 'open skies' negotiations due to end in 2010, but the US is unwilling to concede on this issue. It is wrong to do so. There should be no tolerance for protectionism, whether it comes from state aid or regulation." (06/11/2008)

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Dan O'Brien of the Economic Intelligence Unit writes in The Irish Times that the Irish government has disregarded the EU regulations on budgetary discipline: "The commission's assessment of the Government's handling of its finances, contained in its 2007 report The Public Finances in EMU, placed Ireland last among the 18 countries it examined. ... Worse still, it found not a single measure in place to protect the public finances in the event of an economic shock (and this despite the warning lights that had been flashing about the property market since at least 2005). The other euro member states will not take this well. All governments have endured political pain in their efforts to respect the rules. Even now, under extraordinary circumstances, that is still the case. ... The expectation should be that they will demand that the Government make real efforts to restore order to the public finances. This should be welcomed." (06/11/2008)

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All available articles from » Dan O'Brien

The Süddeutsche Zeitung cites a comment by architect David Chipperfield that the Wow Factor, or the iconic buildings of star architects, will become collateral damage of the financial crisis. German car maker BMW, for example, will no longer be able to finance buildings such as its "BMW World" designed by the Austrian design firm Coop Himmelb(l)au: "The decline in profits, fears about the future, the mood of crisis and the crisis of identity among the large-scale buildings which are in fact meant to establish identity is not only affecting BMW. ... Of course it applies also to all other sectors - precisely in the order in which the economic crisis, as a systemic crisis, is spreading. ... Architecture, as a natural producer of spatially operative images and at the same time as a natural - that is non fictional - ally of the real economy, is taking on a symbolic role. Brandname architecture operates with systems of signs and the means of rhetoric. For that reason it will suffer in the crisis not only because it will lack financial resources in the future, but also as a supplier of symbolism itself." (06/11/2008)

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All available articles from » Gerhard Matzig

The massive deployment of police against ultra-right fans who travelled from Hungary to attend a first division football match in Slovakia has escalated the tensions between the two neighbouring countries. The Slovak flag was burned at the Slovak embassy in Budapest. The liberal left-wing daily Pravda comments: "The worst thing that could happen has happened: the sparks [of tension] have passed from the politicians to society. [Hungarian] extremists are calling for an uprising in the Internet and gaining sympathy and support for their crazy battle. These are the very same radicals who provoked unrest at the football game in Slovakia. Among their ranks are those who want the resurrection of Greater Hungary ... and are trying to expand into the area of southern Slovakia [inhabited by the Hungarian minority]. The police action only served to encourage them. And the same goes for the harsh words of Slovak politicians. They have failed to understand that their muscle-flexing games in front of running cameras come at an inopportune moment." (06/11/2008)

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All available articles from » Dag Daniš