Pasdaran, the elite unit of Iran's Revolutionary Guard, has no interest in defusing the tensions between Iran and the West, the daily Die Presse writes: "The leadership wants to get rid of the opposition once and for all instead of seeking dialogue. It's no surprise that these are the tones to be heard from the apparatus of the Revolutionary Guard: this elite unit has been able to massively expand its power base under the presidency of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and now controls important sectors of the economy. The elite military unit has no interest in improving Iran's relations with the West. Confrontation better serves its interests. And Pasdaran also has a major interest in the nuclear programme. The opposition has provoked the wrath of the Revolutionary Guard by openly talking about a military putsch led by this unit." (10/08/2009)

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Afshin Ellian, an Iranian columnist and professor at the University of Leiden, warns in the left-liberal daily De Volkskrant that the arrest of Iranian opposition leader Mir-Hossein Mousavi will meet with fierce opposition and cause bloodshed: "This is why it is crucial that the European Union should warn Iran of the consequences of arresting Mousavi. The European Union does not speak with one voice. Germany, France and the Netherlands, three countries with a clear stance on the regime in Tehran, must jointly declare that the arrest of Mousavi is unacceptable. … Iran's future is of global importance. Therefore it is important that the secretary general of the United Nations send a special representative to Iran to investigate serious human rights violations. The message must be clear: Mousavi must not be arrested. If this is not done the situation in Iran will degenerate into the kind of situation you have in Zimbabwe - with the difference that Iran is significantly more important from a geopolitical perspective." (10/08/2009)

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All available articles from » Afshin Ellian

The left-liberal daily La Repubblica describes the closure of the Kahrizak prison in Iran and the calls for the arrest of opposition leader Mir-Hossein Mousavi as a dangerous combination: "It is no mere coincidence that on the very same day that the use of torture in Kahrizak … was admitted publicly even by chief of police Esmail Ahmadi-Moqaddam, the [elite unit] Pasadaran threatened to arrest the opposition leaders [Mohammad] Khatami, Mousavi and [Mehdi] Karroubi, put them on trial and punish them because they tried to carry out a 'velvet coup'. … The mutual attacks of the warring factions are also a sign of the precarious balance between the [political] forces. And it is not yet clear who has won and who has lost. In other words, [President Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad no longer has the situation under control and has failed to restrain his opponents." (10/08/2009)

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All available articles from » Bijan Zarmandili

The Basque terrorist organisation Eta on Sunday carried out its second attack on Majorca in less than ten days. This is proof of its continuing destructive power, the left-liberal daily Süddeutsche Zeitung writes: "An Eta commando on Majorca: that means that the enemy is strong enough to organise itself where it hurts most. … It is part of Eta's perfidious strategy that this time, unlike with the attack ten days ago, it gave warning beforehand. It wants to make it clear to foreign tourists that they are not the targets but are still in Eta's line of fire. … The objective remains the same: to force the Spanish state to negotiate on the independence of the Basque Country. Yet the violence is provoking as much rejection there as everywhere else in Spain. … The conflict can hardly be resolved without talks on the subject. But each new attack by Eta pushes such dialogue even further into the distance." (10/08/2009)

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All available articles from » Sebastian Schoepp

After the congress of the Palestinian Fatah in Bethlehem, the daily Kristeligt Dagblad looks in vain for conciliatory tendencies in the party's new manifesto: "Anyone who believes Fatah has grown more flexible and ready for compromise over the years is in for a bad surprise. Regarding the peace process and Israel Fatah - in particular its younger generation - uses a very hard rhetoric, and this shines through the revised version of the manifesto. Even if Fatah is taking a hard-line approach to the future, it is vital that Israel should not simply dismiss the Palestinian leadership. Israel should do all it can to further the peace process, without putting too much stock in the coarse rhetoric of the Fatah congress. The expansion of the Jewish settlements must be stopped. If things get serious, it is also in Israel's interest to reach a two-state solution before the next generation of Fatah tosses the idea into the dustbin of history. ... If that happens there will never be peace." (10/08/2009)

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All available articles from » Allan Sørensen

Around one hundred men and women must appear before the revolutionary court in Tehran, accused of criticising the re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and inciting unrest. The daily L'Est Republicain regrets the lack of interest being shown in France for the case of 24-year-old French student Clotilde Reiss: "Apart from the prisoner's close family, public opinion has taken its time taking up this cause and exerting pressure to put an end to this absurd imprisonment. Can this silence be explained by the holiday period? Or is there no advocate prepared to defend Clotilde Reiss? For the mullah regime, she has all it takes to be used as a pawn: she's a woman, she's French, she's an academic, speaks Farsi and knows how to use a mobile phone and the Internet. A ready-made spy, a godsend for the paranoid regime which would have its population believe that the youth protests are being steered from abroad." (10/08/2009)

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All available articles from » Michel Vagner

The Russian state atomic energy company Energoatom has proposed that Russia, Poland, Lithuania and Germany build a joint nuclear power plant in the northwestern Russian city of Kaliningrad. Rafał Zasuń favours the idea in the left-liberal daily Gazeta Wyborcza: "This is a chance to gain valuable experience in building nuclear power plants. That would be a real boon if we - as I hope - start building our own in a few years. This is an opportunity to sign an agreement on scientific cooperation. By doing so we will have more and more energy specialists familiar with the ins and outs of reactors. Of course that doesn't mean a Polish nuclear power plant should be built using Russian technology, even if the newest generation of Russian power plants function just like French or Japanese ones." (10/08/2009)

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Kostas Vergopoulos criticises in the Sunday issue of the daily Eleftherotypia the attitude of Germany in the global economic crisis: "Just a little while ago the [German] Chancellor [Angela Merkel] said she views Europe as 'one element of Germany's state interests'. The country is unwilling to sacrifice a small part of its state interests to help the other EU countries which are in great need or to facilitate European unity. ... As the French [daily] Le Monde wrote, Germany's historic delusion [since the 19th century] seeing itself as the king of Europe has been replaced today by a diametrically opposed delusion: the systematic mistrust of any and every European role for Germany. The fate of today's Europe is that it is and remains ... the victim of Germany's extreme positions: either that of [the first Chancellor of the North German Confederation Otto von] Bismarck, who demanded Germany's hegemony over Europe in the 19th century, or that of Merkel, when she ... decides to withdraw from any international role whatsoever and forces the other EU members to bear the consequences of her withdrawal. The other countries of the EU ... simply want to deal effectively with the economic crisis. They want to survive, and not to perish while bearing the brunt of Germany's historical complexes of the last two centuries." (09/08/2009)

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An International Monetary Fund (IMF) delegation has spent the past few days in Bucharest examining whether the credit terms for Romania can be eased. The IMF and the EU Commission had promised the country a loan package of 20 billion euros in June. The daily Adevărul comments on the delegation's visit: "With their approval both the IMF and the EU Commission want to prevent a large state like Romania from going bankrupt. It would be difficult to prevent that situation from spreading to other countries in the region and to control the chaos on the eastern border of the EU and Nato - with new waves of immigrants moving westwards, including criminals and beggars. All this triggers genuine terror. … The bankruptcies of the Baltic states, where Moscow's cold threats are once again being felt, are enough. At least the largest state on the Balkans should be prevented from collapsing. Otherwise the European structure which is seen as an area of stability, solidarity and prosperity could receive a major blow." (10/08/2009)

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All available articles from » Ovidiu Nahoi

In its leading article the Catholic daily La Croix analyses the discrepancy between the recovery on the stock markets and the still floundering economy: "It is true that the financial sector which caused the global earthquake is picking up again. The banks are posting profits once more and the other indicators … are at least a little less negative, if not altogether positive. The banks are setting aside considerable reserves for the 'bonuses' of some of their employees. Even if the modest rules set up by the G20 in France are observed the easing of the situation on stock markets and at banks are meeting with incomprehension and even annoyance among the general public. The announced [profits] are reaching dizzying heights while the bad news on the employment situation just keeps coming." (10/08/2009)

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All available articles from » Dominique Quinio

The Spanish government has announced it will move to ban crucifixes and other Catholic symbols in the classrooms of state schools. Senseless provocation, writes the conservative daily ABC: "If the [governing socialist party] PSOE wants to maintain a reasonable relationship with Spanish Catholics, it would suffice to respect the constitution. Article 16 clearly indicates the need for a non-denominational state and positive cooperation with the various persuasions. At the same time it particularly mentions the Catholic Church for reasons of its historical, social and cultural roots. It is untrue that the constitution prescribes a secular policy, as [Justice Minister Francisco] Caamaño would like. Rather, it calls for a cooperation benefiting the persuasions that comprise a large majority of our society." (10/08/2009)

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"Bourgeois guilt" on the part of those who should impose appropriate standards is to blame for the embarrassing conduct of the British on holiday and at home, writes Janet Daley in the conservative newspaper The Daily Telegraph: "The socially privileged simply cower and refuse to intervene, for fear of appearing contemptuous of those less fortunate than themselves. Hence the perverse logic that condemns those who criticise or complain as 'snobs'. ... Everyone - hapless Greek taverna owners, proud Latvian patriots, and the quiet residents of English market towns who might wish to make use of their own public spaces on Saturday nights - is sacrificed to appease the establishment's social sensibilities. And the terrible irony of this is that the refusal to impose standards of behaviour on people is the greatest possible sign of contempt: it suggests that you expect nothing of them, that you believe them incapable of even the most basic self-respect and that the degrading display which they are making to the world is all that they are fit for." (10/08/2009)

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The number of surveillance cameras authorised for use in the Czech Republic grows with each passing year, causing an increasing number of data protectionists to take action. The conservative daily Lidové Noviny also expresses concern: "Whenever the cameras are mentioned people always talk about the successful aspects of their use. … Thanks to the cameras we could indeed be left with the impression that it is now easier to catch criminals. But has it also become easier to convict them? That's a bit more difficult. For the camera footage to be admitted as evidence in court you must be able to see the perpetrator and his face in detail. … Humans are irreplaceable. What gives people a better sense of security: a perfect camera system on the streets or regular police patrols in places that we have learned from experience are dangerous." (10/08/2009)

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All available articles from » Zbyněk Petráček

The daily Sydsvenska Dagbladet sees the growing number of young Swedes wanting to go to university and the growing competition for college places as a good thing: "A rush of applicants shortly before the deadline has raised entry requirements for many university programmes. It is increasingly difficult to get accepted. That is not a bad thing. ... Education is an investment - for individuals and for society. The thing is to invest wisely. In tough economic times universities should not become snug refuges, or an instrument of the government to make the unemployment statistics look better. Higher education is far too important for that." (10/08/2009)

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The daily Diena criticises the attack of Russian hackers on the micro-blog service Twitter which blocked the system for over an hour last week: "This not only drew attention to the vulnerability of virtual communication but also to the fact that the battle against the free word and 'false' views has become a global threat to people's right to free exchange of information. … Russian hackers have impressive resources at their disposition that can be used against millions of people all over the world. The mullahs in Iran would no doubt like to get their hands on such knowledge because Twitter is one of the protest movement's main means of communication. The free word is of inestimable importance for democracy, and its opponents fight it accordingly. But such actions are by no means simply an 'internal affair' for authoritarian states." (10/08/2009)

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All available articles from » Aivars Ozolins