According to a study published by the British Medical Journal, Santa Claus is far too fat and serves as a poor role model as far as eating habits go. Màrius Carol fears in the daily La Vanguardia that Santa Claus et al are in for rough times in a politically correct world: "Today's world is so politically correct that the problem isn't global warming but the freezing of reason. ... As a figure Santa Claus has not yet been the focus of such attacks, but his days are numbered. Any time now he'll be put on a diet and banned to an exercise machine (just like the way Bibendum, the Michelin tire symbol, was slimmed down). But he'll be in for even worse times when people see fit to arraign him for cruelty to reindeer." (23/12/2009)

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How old do you have to be to stop believing in Father Christmas? In an interview in the news portal Rue89 the youth psychiatrist Yves Boudart says whatever the age, children will be ready for the truth when the time comes: "This doubt generally arises between kindergarten and elementary school. It happens progressively, when the little ones discover presents that have been carelessly stashed in a cupboard, or by talking with other kids who stopped believing long ago. But often they refuse to admit these doubts. At 5 or 6 children have little trouble believing several truths. It's like with the famous question: 'Where do babies come from?' Children can have two theories, their own and their parents', and so believe in Santa Claus and don't believe at the same time. ... Parents will sense whether they want to believe while at the same time voicing doubts. But when they really have doubts it's important not to lie and treat them like dummies." (22/12/2009)

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All available articles from » Lucie Blanchard

Chirstmas is also a very beautiful festivity, writes the deputy editor in chief of the left-liberal weekly 168 óra, András Jolsvai: "The birth of the infant Jesus is in my eyes one of the most beautiful myths of mankind. He symbolises the hope that life can be beautiful after all and that people are good and charitable. … But Christmas is also a festivity for children. Under the Christmas tree we all go back to being children for a while. We recall all those Christmases when we still believed that Santa Claus would bring us a little bike, … when we trembled with joy when we found a book about Indians under all the wrapping or when we would have given an arm for one of the chocolate decorations hanging on the Christmas tree. The memories of our childhood belong to this festivity, no matter where the whizzing conveyor belt of life has landed us." (23/12/2009)

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The financial crisis is preventing hundreds of thousands of Bulgarian emigrants from coming home for Christmas, writes the daily Sega: "Some haven't earned enough money to travel during the holidays. Others are unemployed and can't come home either because they can't afford to buy the tickets or because they racked up too many debts at home before going abroad to make money. Now they're waiting for the holidays, huddled up in sombre flats. ... Thousands of Bulgarian families will be separated on Christmas Eve, and the only sound on this silent, holy night will be the sobbing of those far from their loved ones." (23/12/2009)

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All available articles from » Dian Morkin

The trial against prominent human rights activist Liu Xiaobo in Beijing has begun amid unusually tight security. The dissident and honorary president of the Independent Chinese P.E.N. Center, an organisation of independent writers, has been charged with "inciting subversion of state power". The conservative daily Lidové Noviny writes: "Liu Xiaobo is facing 15 years in prison for authorising the Charter 08. Why have the authorities come down so hard on him? The great majority of people are content with the regime, many things have improved in the past 25 years, they can found companies, travel, use the Internet. China is reacting so harshly because it wants to show the world that it sets the rules. … Admittedly we can't do anything about this. But let's not claim that China is becoming more cultivated." (23/12/2009)

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All available articles from » Zbyněk Petráček

Pope Benedict XVI has proclaimed Pope Pius XII eligible for beatification, an important step on the way to sainthood. Manuel António Pina points in the daily Jornal de Notícias to Pius's controversial silence during the Second World War: "Silence can have contradictory meanings. It can mean approval or rejection. It can mean astuteness or ignorance. … It can be discreet or deafening. The silence of Pope Pius XII on the Holocaust was deafening. As long as the Catholic Church continues to refuse access to the Vatican's archives from the Second World War period we won't know to what extent this silence was approval. But that someone who was seen by so many as a moral reference signed the Reich Concordat with Nazi Germany and remained silent while millions of people - many of them Catholic - were sent to the gas chambers is disquieting. And it's also disquieting that a German pope with a controversial past has now decided to declare him 'venerable', which is half way to canonisation. Unfortunately the history of the Church is full of such worrying acts." (22/12/2009)

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The new pipeline recently opened between Turkmenistan and China could transform the way gas is supplied to Central Asia, writes the left-liberal daily To Ethnos: "The Kremlin has no doubt suffered a political shock: … This was the launching of a pipeline that distributes gas from Samand-Depe in Turkmenistan via Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan to Xinjiang in western China. A pipeline which is 1,833 kilometres long and can transport 40 billion cubic metres each year - half of the amount of gas China consumed last year. The important thing about the opening of this pipeline is that for the first time Central Asian countries have the possibility of distributing their gas on the international market without touching Russian soil…. The opening of the gas pipeline means that Beijing wants to bring its gradual release from the West and Russia in the energy sector to a new level." (22/12/2009)

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All available articles from » Giorgos Delastik

The global economic crisis is facilitating the acquisition of Polish companies, writes the conservative daily Rzeczpospolita: "According to prevailing opinion a crisis is the best time for mergers and takeovers. The prices for companies have fallen considerably and the bosses and owners of struggling companies are more inclined to talk to potential investors. At the same time each company thinks five times about making a binding offers and the possibilities for financing huge transactions are heavily restricted by the banks. Nonetheless, more and more companies reach the conclusion that cooperation with international companies can be useful to them." (23/12/2009)

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All available articles from » Andrzej Krakowiak

A group of exiled Cuban journalists recently visited Bucharest to see how Romanian society is coping 20 years after the fall of communism. Christian Ghinea from the weekly paper Dilema Veche explained to them the transient nature of happiness: "I told them that they will also acquire freedom, and that it is only a question of time before the crackbrained Castro regime falls. When that happens, they will enjoy freedom for a few short days. That's all - no more. ... The thing is that free people no longer cherish the freedom they have. It's like air, you only feel the lack of it when you're suffocating. And it's the same with freedom. It takes more than that to make you happy, but when it's missing you're automatically unhappy. Only rogues and scoundrels are the exception here because they're always happy regardless of how much freedom there is. The Cubans will have the same experience as the Romanians. They will obtain their freedom and then forget it again in a jiffy. ... Then freedom will be just like the air: something that's taken for granted, and no special cause for jubilation." (23/12/2009)

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With increasing frequency the US and China are being referred to as the G2, the two superpowers of the 21st century. Writing in the daily Latvijas Avīze Uldis Šmits examines Europe's role in this constellation: "Again and again the question arises of to what extent the US and the EU are at all capable of acting in tandem either politically or above all economically. A European Parliament declaration on the development of transatlantic relations stresses the partnership between the US and the EU as the 'most important'. But such terms are losing their meaning: almost every partnership of the EU today is considered 'strategic' or 'privileged', not to mention all the bilateral partnerships between certain major EU states. It's difficult to devise a common strategy with a political content behind all this. Obama on the other hand is relying on a 'strategic dialogue' with China, and despite the difficult conditions this cooperation could lead to a new economic boom - or to a new and even more serious crisis." (23/12/2009)

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The daily Delo looks back on events in the world of theatre in 2009, praising the profound significance of German director Peter Zadek, who passed away in July: "Zadek's conception of theatre put high culture and mass culture on a par. Zadek never stopped playing the role of the eternally critical 'agent provocateur', not in today's tawdry political sense, but socially and morally. His wildest phase came with his stagings of Shakespeare in the 1970s. Practically each and every one of these was a scandal. Zadek's uncompromising, individualist vision manifested itself in - if you believe his critics - outright vulgarity, obscenity even. ... For him theatre was social art, engendered through the interplay of dramatic figure and actor. ... Zadek's theatre was rebellious, unexpected and astonishing. ... With him a sort of Peer Gynt of European theatre also perished." (23/12/2009)

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All available articles from » Blaz Lukan

While the Western world prepares for the Christmas celebrations of peace and charity, Auschwitz, the epitome of the cruelty of the Nazi regime, is once again dominating the headlines after the theft of a sign at the site reading "Work will set you free". Kari Kontkanen recalls in the daily Karjalainen his visit to the former concentration camp: "A visit to Auschwitz leaves a mark that lasts a lifetime on a person. Once you pass under that sign that reads 'Work will set you free' you will never be the same again, even if you claim the contrary. … When our family, which had just seen the horrors of the concentration camp, had to make way for a loud group of visitors defiantly waving the Israeli flag as if they were going to a football match, we were put to a hard test. Is this what respect for the Holocaust looks like? … In our complex world it's difficult to distinguish between cause and effect. It's also not easy to understand why at Christmas time there is no peace in the place where Jesus' cradle once stood." (23/12/2009)

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The city council of Mexico City has passed a law allowing same-sex marriages. Until now they were forbidden throughout Latin America. The daily The Independent is delighted: "This is the first time that such a law has been introduced. Until yesterday Mexico City's standout international contribution to 2010 seemed destined to be the swine flu virus. But now the Latin American city has an altogether more welcome claim to global fame. Mexico City's legislature has passed a law approving gay marriage, the first such piece of legislation anywhere in South America. Mexico City now stands alongside liberal bastions such as Canada, the Netherlands and South Africa in respect to gay rights. This is all the more impressive since the law was opposed by Mexico's ruling National Action Party and the Catholic Church. What Cardinal Barragan [who had said that gays never go to heaven] will soon be unable to deny is that gays have the legal right to get married in Mexico City; to which the only appropriate response is a hearty 'Olé'." (23/12/2009)

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Climate change is the invention of environmentalists and the pharmaceutical industry is behind the swine flu: conspiracy theories are all the rage in the 21st century. No wonder, writes philosopher Rob Wijnberg in the daily nrc.next: "The rift between the people and politics plays a key role. Many people nowadays feel a deep mistrust in the government and the powers that be. As a result, theories purporting to explain how the world is controlled by an all-powerful elite sound all the more plausible. Conspiracies thrive in times of mistrust. But it must also be said that the 21st century has offered no shortage of cause for speculation. Lies about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq were used to justify the war there. A small group of bankers caused a global economic crisis, while the authorities continue to amass vast amounts of sensitive information about private individuals. With a track record like this the state can't exactly expect people's undying trust." (23/12/2009)

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All available articles from » Rob Wijnberg