US President Barack Obama has missed the target of his China visit, writes the left-liberal daily La Repubblica. He had aimed to find a way out of the economic crisis with President Hu Jintao but the two powers are clinging to their national interests, the paper notes: "Between the two superpowers of the global economy there is no consensus on a recipe for overcoming the crisis. Barack Obama and Hu Jintao can't find a balance between their respective interests. The US won't agree to lift customs duties … and China won't bow to pressure to upvalue its currency, the yuan. The success of the entire agenda depended on resolving this stalemate. Consequently the US president has failed to achieve the main goal of his trip to Asia and China. Beijing and Washington are deviating from economic issues and focusing on political ones instead. … And so the painstaking construction of the G2 continues. But China has sent an unmistakable signal: the new leaders are united out of necessity, but they are not partners." (18/11/2009)

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All available articles from » Giampaolo Visetti

US President Barack Obama has had to exercise caution with his hosts on his visit to China, the daily De Volkskrant comments: "The Chinese authorities' somewhat cramped treatment of their American guest shows yet again how much value those in Beijing place in their authoritarian system. That made Obama's visit a difficult balancing act. The US must take into consideration the changed balance of power in the world and accept that good relations with China are crucial. ... You can't ask Obama to raise all issues at once - human rights, political freedoms, Tibet, the Uyghurs and Taiwan. We must show understanding for the careful approach he has chosen. But if this strategy fails to pay off, on the long term Obama will have no option but to demand more clearly the rights and freedoms that he rightly considers universal." (18/11/2009)

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More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » U.S., » China

Even if the US and China failed to reach an agreement on climate protection it's important that the two countries at least talk about it, the Financial Times Deutschland writes, because the question "of whether global warming can be restricted to an acceptable level won't be decided in Copenhagen but in negotiations between China and the US. This is why it is a step forward that the heads of government Hu Jintao and Barack Obama at least spoke out in favour of a basis for a binding agreement at their tête-à-tête summit. … Although the US has generated the largest amounts of greenhouse gases so far, making the world's impatience for it to reach internal agreement about climate legislation understandable, in the future it will be the emerging nations who produce the bulk of emissions, and in particular China."  (18/11/2009)

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More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » Environmental Policy, » U.S., » China

The US head of state Barack Obama may not have signed a deal but at least he sought dialogue with China, writes Andrej Mrevlje in praise of Obama's efforts in the daily Dnevnik: "I am prepared to believe that Obama used his best arguments in his tête-à-tête [with China's president]. In Shanghai Obama said he was interested in China's vision of a global world. If there is such a vision, it is steeped in nationalism and strong military discipline. Obama could not have overlooked these facts. But unlike the majority of power-hungry politicians Obama is not used to delivering fatal blows. He prefers talks in which he can explain his visions. Is that too little? Perhaps. But right in the middle of Beijing Obama suddenly started talking about human rights, mentioned the Dalai Lama and got the whole climate change issue moving again." (18/11/2009)

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All available articles from » Andrej Mrevlje

On the occasion of US President Barack Obama's trip to China, The Daily Telegraph writes that the two countries can only agree on business issues: "In truth, the relationship between these two giants is destined to remain uneasy. There will never be a meeting of minds between a rebarbative Communist dictatorship that routinely offers succour to the world's least savoury regimes, and a country that has long been a beacon for political freedom. That does not mean they cannot do business successfully - which, in turn, is why China's intransigence over its undervalued currency has far greater ramifications for the West than its approach to human rights." (18/11/2009)

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Muslim officials, soldiers and politicians in the Netherlands will no longer be allowed to say the words "so help me Allah" when being sworn into office, because the Dutch parliament plans to make "so help me God" the sole possible addition to the oath. That infringes on the freedom of religion, writes the Protestant leaning daily Trouw. "The initiators of the plan say they want to stop the number of formulas from growing out of proportion. That's a huge exaggeration. And in view of the public significance of the oath it shouldn't make any difference whether someone evokes God, Allah or Brahma [Hindu god]. The important thing is that a holder of public office ... affirms loyalty to the constitution. So the obvious thing is to leave people free to choose. ... The government would do well simply to ignore this ruling. Putting it into practice would violate the constitution, and would go against the religious pluralism of Dutch society." (18/11/2009)

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More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » Religion, » Netherlands

Two leaders of the FDLR (Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda) militia were arrested on Tuesday on suspicion of war crimes and crimes against humanity. The left-leaning daily Die Tageszeitung praises the arrest as an overdue German contribution to the global fight against criminal impunity: "These arrests break new ground for Germany. There is much proof for the involvement of the FDLR's exiled leadership in criminal activity and promoting genocide in Africa, but it's not easy for German courts to gain access to it. ... FDLR president Ignace Murwanashyaka has escaped prosecution in Germany several times already because German courts were not up to handling such cases. ... It is time Germany strengthened its cooperation with the judiciary in Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, as well as on a European level and with the International Criminal Court. ... Only then can this test-case for the International Criminal Court be brought to a successful conclusion and consequently help to bring peace to Africa." (18/11/2009)

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More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » Africa
All available articles from » Dominic Johnson

Commenting on the ongoing German-Polish dispute over the president of the Federation of Expellees, Erika Steinbach, the liberal daily Gazeta Wyborcza praises the stance of German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle: "Steinbach will … not sit on the board [of the planned German Centre Against Expulsions] because Guido Westerwelle, the foreign minister and leader of German Chancellor Angela Merkel's coalition partner, the Free Democratic Party (FDP), won't consent to it. Thanks to him the 'Steinbach affair' has ceased to be a German-Polish issue and is now a purely German problem. Westerwelle recently repeated on several occasions that the head of the Expellees [Federation] was damaging German-Polish relations. Although he has come under fire in Germany the FDP leader won't budge. Only yesterday the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung wrote that Westerwelle had gone mad and forgotten in which country he is minister." (18/11/2009)

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All available articles from » Bartosz Wieliński

For weeks a tug-of-war has been raging over the posts of EU president and foreign affairs minister. The daily Postimees takes issue with this spectacle: "The show we are seeing now is another example of the famous exception proving the rule according to which any publicity is supposed to be good publicity. The longer this nonsense goes on, the more the EU's reputation suffers both in the eyes of its citizens as well as abroad. … It's like a farce, but most commentators see only a lack of democracy as the reason for this. That's the wrong idea. To talk of democracy in a context like the EU where it's simply about executing the decisions of the governments of the different member states would be like talking about democracy in the Soviet Union: Both are the wrong place to look for it. To understand what goes on in Brussels tomorrow one has to be aware that the vote is not an exercise in democracy but an exercise in intergovernmental negotiations." (18/11/2009)

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All available articles from » Ahto Lobjakas

On Tuesday Czechs and Slovaks commemorated the 20th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution which in 1989 brought about the fall of the communist regime in Czechoslovakia. In the Czech Republic supporters of ex President Václav Havel and incumbent President Václav Klaus bickered over who deserved most credit for the Revolution. Klaus backed down in the end, thus earning praise from conservative daily Lidové Noviny: "It's true that the communist doctrine was dead long before November 17 and that the communist power was weak and people had ceased to fear it. But it is not true that the dissidents didn't play a major part in its removal. In a welcome move Klaus has now recognised the individual role Havel played. … But the reality is much more nuanced: the Czechoslovakian dissidents didn't defeat the regime, but they gave the victory and the 20 years that followed it a face … . They failed in the exercise of power, … but it would be too convenient simply to forget the ethos they injected into society." (18/11/2009)

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More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » History, » Remembrance culture, » Czech Republic
All available articles from » Zbyněk Petráček

The Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia in 1989 may have done away with the ideology of dialectical materialism, but the time has now come to fight capitalist materialism, writes Dag Daniš in the left-leaning daily Pravda: "What we experienced in those November days was fantastic, and of enormous importance. It brought out the very best in people: courage, idealism, strength ... and a longing for justice, decency and freedom. ... Twenty years later we know that November was a success. Its immediate goals were achieved astonishingly fast. The monopoly of the Communist Party was destroyed and physical, political and spiritual borders were opened. ... If November failed anywhere it was concerning romantic expectations, but that can be accepted. The Revolution changed much, but not people's behaviour. One old enemy remained: materialism. No longer dialectical, but capitalist. Nevertheless we've got plenty of time to fight against that. History didn't end in 1989, but since then we've once more regained control over it." (18/11/2009)

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All available articles from » Dag Daniš

The daily Helsingin Sanomat welcomes the surprisingly quick end to the pilots' strike at Finnish airline Finnair after employers and the strikers came to an agreement, hailing it as a success for all sides. "Now the damage for air passengers will hopefully be kept to a minimum, even if the brief strike naturally created huge inconveniences. According to Finnair one day of strike costs over three million euros. The already struggling company wouldn't have been able to hold out for long. Moreover, the airline has achieved greater flexibility now that it has the option of outsourcing flights, although this requires further negotiation with the pilots … . What did the pilots gain? Their jobs. They secured job protection until the end of next year. The pilots hope air traffic will increase and recover as the recession gradually recedes." (18/11/2009)

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More from the press review on the subject » Infrastructure / Travel and Transport, » Economic Policy, » Trade unions, » Finland

The global economic and financial crisis has not hit all countries to the same extent. The French daily Le Monde writes that the states of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet republics have been hit the worst by the crisis: "Africa, the most underprivileged continent of all, has not suffered the most from this formidable recession. No, the worst hit were Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia. According to prognoses for 2009 released in October by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), South Africa's economy will only shrink by 2.2 percent. ... In comparison, the countries of Central Europe and Central Asia ... are experiencing a major catastrophe. The drop in GDP there has been enormous. ... A financial storm is brewing that is bringing German, Austrian, Swedish and French banks to lower their credit limits." (17/11/2009)

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More from the press review on the subject » Fiscal Policy, » Economic Policy, » Asia, » Eastern Europe
All available articles from » Alain Faujas

The Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (BAN) is under fire for not producing sufficiently tangible results. The daily Sega finds the Academy inefficent and calls for more competitiveness in research: "In Bulgaria the idea still holds sway that universities are primarily educational facilities, and serve more for relaying knowledge than for creating it. For that reason the BAN enjoys a special status. The Academy receives money ... regardless of what goals it has or what results it achieves. Research activity could be more effectively - and more efficiently - managed by the universities, NGOs and the private sector. All the more so because that would foster a sense of competitiion: those who want to receive concrete funding will have to present concrete, measurable results from their projects." (18/11/2009)

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More from the press review on the subject » Science / Research, » Economic Policy, » Bulgaria
All available articles from » Jordan Dyambazov

Hungary is divided. While half of its population wants to be vaccinated against swine flu the other half rejects the vaccination. Zoltán Kovács comments in the liberal weekly Élet és Irodalom: "Not so long ago a politician belonging to the right-wing conservative opposition remarked on radio that he wasn't going to be vaccinated because the government had dealt incompetently with the swine flu threat, making the population uneasy. Another right-wing politician also spoke out vehemently in public against the vaccination. Right-wing MPs aren't being vaccinated. On the other hand left-wing politicians - and this won't come as a surprise - are being vaccinated. According to the data the population is likewise divided on this issue according to political preference. … The country has reached an intellectual nadir. … The people are confused." (13/11/2009)

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More from the press review on the subject » Health and Medicine, » Hungary, » Global
All available articles from » Zoltán Kovács

The New Oxford American Dictionary has chosen "to unfriend" as word of the year for 2009. It describes the activity of striking someone from one's list of friends on social networks like Facebook or MySpace. Pierre Haski, chief editor of the news blog Rue98, comments: "'Unfriending' is an important function of the social network Facebook, allowing people to remove friends who are now undesired. ... This topic could be debated no end, but it certainly illustrates the place taken by social networks, Facebook at the top of the list, in the lives of millions of people. Over 300 million use Facebook across the world, 13 million in France alone. One could also question the true nature of these virtual 'friends' who can be made - and unmade - with the click of a mouse." (17/11/2009)

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More from the press review on the subject » Online media, » France, » Global
All available articles from » Pierre Haski