The daily Die Presse writes that Barack Obama would have done better to refuse the Nobel Peace Prize, and calls the awards ceremony a farce: "Obama would not have been the first to refuse a Nobel Prize. Two people have already declined to accept it before him. French writer and philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre in 1964, and Le Duc Tho in 1973, who had negotiated a peace agreement with US secretary of state Henry Kissinger. ... Kissinger accepted the prize alone, and to this day he has to justify the fact that he, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, agreed to the expansion of the Vietnam War to Cambodia and Laos, and at least tolerated Pinochet's military coup in Chile. Kissinger is a good example of how a Nobel Peace Prize can be a curse. For Obama too, it will do more harm than good." (11/12/2009)

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More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » Norway, » U.S.
All available articles from » Christian Ultsch

US President Barack Obama clearly deserves the Nobel Peace Prize, writes the daily Savon Sanomat, and rejects criticism over the war in Afghanistan: "The future will show whether Obama's concept for Afghanistan is correct and peace can gain the upper hand. Obama is under the pressure from the belligerent policy of his predecessor George W. Bush. He must now clean up the mess the Bush era left behind. One thing is sure, however: Obama has created a new climate in international politics and truly merits the Nobel Peace Prize. When the Nobel committee announced its decision some time ago, the news was received positively the world over. It remains to be hoped that the prize will be a decisive incentive ... for the leader of the world's only superpower to strive actively for peace." (11/12/2009)

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More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » Security Policy / Crises / War, » U.S., » Global

Those who criticise the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to US President Barack Obama fail to appreciate the subtle distinction between peaceful and pacifist, the left-liberal daily La Repubblica writes: "If the US president has apparently disappointed the hopes he inspired and accepted a prize that is difficult to reconcile with the escalation of the war in Afghanistan, the reason for this misunderstanding is that people have overlooked the important difference between those who lead a war of their own 'free will' and those who do it out of 'necessity'. ... Another key word for the acceptance of the Nobel Prize is the word 'just'. To the delicate sensitivities of the pacifist the distinction between 'just' and 'unjust' is invalid because every war is by definition an absolute evil that must be rejected. But for the sense of responsibility of an essentially peaceful person and reluctant warrior weapons are the last resort when all other serious attempts … have failed." (11/12/2009)

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More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » Security Policy / Crises / War, » U.S., » Global
All available articles from » Vittorio Zucconi

The Nobel Peace Prize is a political prize, the daily Delo writes, explaining the sometimes unusual decisions of the Nobel committee: "Numerous commentators are asking how Obama, who so far has delivered nothing but flowery words, could be put on a par with people like Nelson Mandela, Mother Teresa or Martin Luther King. Obama himself has often stressed that he doesn't deserve the award for what he has actually achieved so far. But the argument that this year's decision detracts from the prestige of the prize is shaky. For the Nobel Peace Prize has always been a political prize, too. Otherwise it would have gone to Mahatma Gandhi, who was nominated five times, rather than someone like Henry Kissinger, who deserved more to be tried for war crimes than to receive the prize endowed by the inventor of dynamite. This year too, the prize was politically motivated in that it reflected the hope that all Obama's talk of peace and pious hopes for a nuclear-free world will produce something of substance. But in view of Obama's escalation of the pointless war of retribution this hope seems to have been premature." (11/12/2009)

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More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » Security Policy / Crises / War, » U.S., » Global
All available articles from » Boris Cibej

The Republic of Cyprus has renounced its demands for the EU to impose sanctions against Turkey. One of the reasons it had called for sanctions was Turkey's continued refusal to open its seaports and airports to Greek Cyprus. The daily Simerini criticises the Cypriot government for backing down: "Turkey emerged strengthened and the Republic of Cyprus weakened from the frequently touted milestone meeting [Cyprus demanded EU sanctions at the EU foreign ministers' council] in December. Cyprus made do with a couple of platonic desires expressed by the Europeans and announced that it reserves the right to postpone six chapters [of the EU accession negotiations with Turkey], whereby four of them are already blocked anyway. ... It's obvious that the effect of the policies of Cypriot President Dimitris Christofias is to make Turkey's EU accession process a means for putting the Republic of Cyprus under pressure, rather than Turkey." (10/12/2009)

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More from the press review on the subject » EU enlargement, » Security Policy / Crises / War, » EU Policy, » Trade, » EU neighbourhood policy, » Cyprus, » Turkey
All available articles from » Kostakis Antoniou

If Europe doesn't take action its pension system will collapse in 20 years' time, according to a World Bank report. Poland must therefore abolish the pension privileges of certain professional groups, the liberal daily Gazeta Wyborcza demands: "The Sejm [the lower house of the Polish parliament] should next year rule that miners and soldiers have to work much longer in future, and be integrated into the general pension system. The same goes for public prosecutors. Each year up to now huge costs have arisen which we - and in particular our children - cannot afford to pay. The debate this newspaper has initiated will perhaps serve to mobilise those whose interests no one represents: the employees who have no pension privileges." (11/12/2009)

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More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » Fiscal Policy, » Economic Policy, » Social affairs, » Poland, » Europe
All available articles from » Dominika Wielowieyska

The left-liberal weekly 168 Óra analyses the background to the narrowly won re-election of Traian Băsescu as Romanian president. "Owing to the political deadlock the fate of the country has been in the hands of a caretaker government for months. The government has no power to make decisions, which is why the Romanian economy has in effect been immobilised. In this context … the election victory of the oppositional Social Democrat Mircea Geoană was regarded as a certainty. But things turned out differently. … In the last few days of the election campaign the alliance between Social Democrats and Liberals lost one election campaign battle after another. The conservative Democratic Liberal Party wooed voters with unprecedented intensity: they were in every Romanian city beating the drum for Băsescu. Băsescu, who is notorious for his aggressive style and his radical rhetoric, simply steamrollered his opponent, the career diplomat Geoană, in the runoff vote."  (10/12/2009)

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More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » Elections, » Romania
All available articles from » Boróka Parászka

Ian Buruma, author and professor at Bard College in New York, writes that fewer referendums would be a boon for Europe: "Switzerland has four mosques with minarets and a population of 350,000 nominal Muslims, mostly Europeans from Bosnia and Kosovo, of which about 13 percent regularly go to prayer. Not a huge problem, one might have thought. ...  Are the Swiss more bigoted than other Europeans? Probably not. ... But if the Swiss and other Europeans were self-assured about their own identities, their Muslim fellow-citizens probably would not strike such fear in their hearts. And that might be the problem. ... It would surely help if we had fewer referendums. For, contrary to what some believe, they do not strengthen democracy. They weaken it by undermining our elected representatives, whose job is to exercise their good judgment rather than voice the gut feelings of an anxious, angry people." (11/12/2009)

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More from the press review on the subject » Religion, » Integration, » Minorities, » Switzerland
All available articles from » Ian Buruma

France wants to follow the UK's example and introduce a special tax on bonus payments. The business paper Les Echos praises the plan and calls for additional protection mechanisms for the financial sector: "Of course this measure makes sense from a moral and political standpoint. But the tax on bonuses is also an admission of failure. Safeguards have still not been put into place to protect against further catastrophes. Neither the strengthening of regulations nor the tightening of personal equity standards decided at the G20 summits in London and Pittsburgh have been introduced. Yet these steps are a matter of utmost urgency, because one thing is certain: if the banks get into trouble once again the taxpayers are not going to bail them out a second time." (11/12/2009)

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More from the press review on the subject » Corporations, » Financial Markets, » France
All available articles from » François Vidal

Estonia is doing everything it can to meet the Maastricht criteria in a bid to introduce the euro by 2011. The tabloid Õhtuleht critices the overdependence of Estonian politicians on the EU: "The European Central Bank has never stopped dictating its terms and conditions for accession to the Eurozone. Clearly Europe doesn't believe that we are capable of consistent, independent action, or that we have the intellectual wherewithal to act on our own. Our only choice is to say yes and Amen to everything or to forget about the euro altogether. For the time being it's primarily the politicians and the economic elite who are interested in introducing the common currency, while people on the street are afraid prices will go up with the euro. And no one is doing anything to allay these fears. ... Should the euro in the end be introduced the way the kroon was in 1992, with everyone starting more or less from scratch, but equipped with a 150-euro starter package?" (11/12/2009)

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More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » Fiscal Policy, » Economic Policy, » Estonia, » Europe

A native of the Democratic Republic of Congo has filed a court case in Belgium to have the Tintin book Tintin in the Congo banned on the grounds that it is racist. The Belgian daily Le Soir argues that the comic must be changed: "Tintin in the Congo is the victim of its own popularity, and has become the favourite target of everyone who wants to attack the intolerable image of white supremacists and the disdain of white civilisation for African culture. Nevertheless, drawing a racist or xenophobic book was the furthest thing from [the book's author] Hergé's mind. With this in mind the Hergé drawing studios should now take action without waiting for the decision of the court. ... It's high time the new editions of Tintin in the Congo were embellished with the call for more vigilance regarding the racist prejudice prevalent at the time the book was first written. In the absence of such a dignified gesture Tintin may one day be banned from bookshops altogether." (10/12/2009)

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More from the press review on the subject » Literature, » Remembrance culture, » Belgium, » Africa
All available articles from » Daniel Couvreur

The bachelor's degree courses at German universities are to be subject to reform in reaction to weeks of student protests. The left-liberal Frankfurter Rundschau praises the German Minister for Culture for finally listening to the students but at the same time warns: "The bigwigs still aren't tackling the really tricky issues like free access to the master's degree courses. What's more, in the eyes of the culture ministers [of the different German Länder - German states] the universities are to blame for the bachelor degrees' lack of success so far. The latter never tire of pointing out that a good reform costs money. But the ministers are reluctant to make any promises and prefer to point their fingers at the federal government; after all the government is trying to wangle all kinds of tax money out of them at the moment. But the German Länder can no longer hide behind their explanation that they want to make the students' life easier. They have promised to ensure long-term quality and see to it that the degree courses are manageable for students. They would be well advised to stay in dialogue with the students so the protest comes to an end sometime soon." (11/12/2009)

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More from the press review on the subject » Germany
All available articles from » Yvonne Globert

The 60-year-old Dutch pop singer Patricia Paay posed nude for Playboy, making her the world's oldest playmate and drawing harsh criticism. Francisco van Jole counters the criticism on opinion forum Joop.nl: "Following its successful battle for women's liberation, with which it changed the world, the post-war baby-boomer generation is now turning its attention to the fight against age discrimination. And with great impetus. They won't let people write them off and they won't be told what to do and what not to do. They dare to live. The special thing about this is that Playboy is an icon of unconventionality. In the liberal Netherlands we don't see it as such, but in the United States Playboy is a symbol of progressive thinking. Naturally you have to set limits, but now that the readership is getting older the magazine is joining the fight against age. Reborn to be wild, as it were." (11/12/2009)

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More from the press review on the subject » Public Culture, » Social movements, » Netherlands, » U.S.
All available articles from » Francisco van Jole

Media mogul Rupert Murdoch wants to charge for access to all the online versions of his newspapers. The business paper Hospodářské Noviny doubts his initiative will be successful: "The current state of affairs is advantageous for the traditional media. It's an illusion that the Internet is becoming an alternative source of information. ... Because of its exclusive content Murdoch's Wall Street Journal could be successful on the net even if people had to pay for access. But this doesn't apply to web services with general news content. Why should CNN.com start to sell services you can get for free on the BBC server. It's naïve to believe that publishers could reach an agreement to provide no gratis alternatives whatsoever." (11/12/2009)

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More from the press review on the subject » Online media, » Media policy, » Global
All available articles from » Josef Bouška