As the search begins for the motives of the man who has confessed to the Oslo and Utøya attacks, the proximity of his ideas to those of right-wing populist parties is repeatedly being cited. That is a fallacy, however, the liberal-conservative daily Neue Zürcher Zeitung believes: "Because our reason looks for patterns in an effort to understand, some people are connecting the mass murders in Norway with the rise of right-wing populism in the Nordic countries and its anti-Islamic watchwords. Yet isn't the attempt to explain things in this way almost akin to modern superstition. ... There is a gulf separating populism and extremism. It is therefore not surprising that Anders Behring Breivik turned away from the Norwegian Progress Party disappointed. Populist politics directed at the middle of society are always regarded by extremists as too tame and too willing to compromise. Ultimately what fanatics are interested in isn't politics - that serves simply as a cover - but the experience of violence. Perpetrating violent acts confers power and legitimises being a social misfit. Violent extremists see themselves as the chosen avantgarde who have the right to decide what is right for the masses even if this means death for the victims." (26/07/2011)

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More from the press review on the subject » Integration, » Weltanschauung, » Norway
All available articles from » Eric Gujer

The Norwegian authorities have classed the suspected attacker Anders Breivik as a Christian fundamentalist (this classification was not maintained by the Norwegian police later), editor's note, August 10, 2011), but the conservative daily Rzeczpospolita sees no similarities with Islamic terrorism: "Those who compare 'Christian fundamentalism' to 'Islamic fundamentalism' are committing a semantic abuse when they assert that both pose a fatal danger for Europe. Christianity does not tell its followers to kill and commit acts of terrorism against infidels - not even in its fundamental version. (Or is it fundamentalism to oppose same-sex marriage?) And neither Catholics nor Protestants preach hatred against Islam. There are, of course, exceptions - like the US Pastor Terry Jones, who has professed that the best method of defending the Christian faith is to burn the Koran. But people like Jones are ostracised and isolated by Christian politicians and journalists." (26/07/2011)

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More from the press review on the subject » Crises / War, » Crime, » Justice, » Norway
All available articles from » Marek Magierowski

It is dangerous for the conservatives to show any understanding for the attacker Anders Breivik, the Flemish daily De Standaard warns: "Voices are emerging from the right-wing conservative corner that, while harshly condemning the violence, at the same time say it is impossible to hold an open debate about immigration and the Islamisation of Europe. They say nobody should be surprised if an individual draws extreme if reprehensible conclusions from this. This argumentation is both hypocritical and dangerous. Hypocritical, because it is only used with respect to a perpetrator who espouses a related ideology, while it is rejected if the perpetrator holds different views. And dangerous, because the assumption that violence, even if it is not tolerated, may be understood as the last resort for the repressed, undermines democratic society. Violence must always be condemned, by everyone in all circumstances without any qualification." (26/07/2011)

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More from the press review on the subject » Weltanschauung, » Norway
All available articles from » Bart Sturtewagen

The suspected Norwegian attacker Anders Breivik is not a madman but a 20th century philosophical warrior who has arrived late, concludes historian Götz Aly in the left-liberal daily Frankfurter Rundschau: "In totalitarian, one-dimensional philosophies, political utopias and pseudo-religions, the members of a particular group (a race, religion, class or people) are raised to the top of the human pyramid. The propagandists of such doctrines claimed that the group of supposedly superior people they wooed were homogeneous and therefore functioned harmoniously and were better than everyone else. The seductive rallying cry is: a high degree of internal homogeneity and complete isolation from the outside world. These 'superior' groups saw themselves as under threat from culturally 'inferior' enemies. ... A situation that justifies the use of all means. ... On Friday Breivik launched this - first - phase of what he sees as a battle to save a Christian, Islam-free and Marxism-free Europe." (26/07/2011)

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More from the press review on the subject » Crises / War, » Migration, » History, » Norway, » Europe
All available articles from » Götz Aly

Following the attacks in Oslo and on Utøya island the Norwegian government has announced its intention to promote more openness and democracy and is thus protecting its democratic values, the left-liberal daily Le Monde writes approvingly, and contrasts the Norwegian attitude with that of the United States, France and other European states: "There will be no special laws. [The Norwegians] are not trying to alleviate the country's pain by limiting democracy using the pretext of security. Criminal law is not being tightened up for short-term political purposes. Norway will remain a country of public freedom. The political elite in Oslo agrees that this is the attitude to adopt. It is the opposite of the way the United States behaved following 11 September 2001, the opposite of the view all too often espoused here that uses every bloody crime as a pretext for clamping down at the expense of freedom. In its tragedy Norway has remained true to itself. The country is reflecting, but it is not lying to itself, and is hence a model for our democracies." (25/07/2011)

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More from the press review on the subject » Crises / War, » Domestic Policy, » Norway

In the US, President Barack Obama is locked in a struggle with the House of Representatives, dominated by the Republicans, to find a way out of the country's debt crisis. Owing to the presidential elections next year neither of the two sides are willing to back down and lose face, the conservative daily Magyar Nemzet opines: "In a week's time the US will be insolvent unless an austerity package and the raising of the debt ceiling are decided by tomorrow. ... The mere fact that presidential elections are on the agenda next year means no one wants to bear the political consequences of cutting spending by four billion dollars alone. So the bitter budget dispute is likely to go on until the last minute. ... We are witnessing an unprecedented tragicomedy in Washington right now. A huge amount is at stake in this tug-of-war. For this reason each side is resorting to practically any means to blackmail and discredit the other side. At the same time the decision-makers are all too aware that an agreement must be reached to ward off the threat of insolvency. So the outcome of this game has basically been clear from the outset." (26/07/2011)

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More from the press review on the subject » Economic Policy, » U.S.
All available articles from » Anna Szabó

More than 30 people died when two high-speed trains crashed into each other on Saturday. The accident highlights the weaknesses of authoritarian capitalism, writes the liberal-conservative daily The Times: "This was not only a tragedy but a scandal. The disaster was preventable; the response of the government authorities and state-run media is impeachably insouciant. China has emerged as a 21st-century financial giant, yet in this last year of Hu Jintao's presidency the country is still far from possessing even the rudiments of economic openness and transparency, let alone political democracy. Authoritarian capitalism has lifted scores of millions out of poverty. But if state spending becomes an end in itself, incompetence and corruption are overlooked and the State treats its own increasingly empowered metropolitan masses with such disregard, then China risks the wrath of its new middle class." (26/07/2011)

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More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » China

The Latvians voted on Sunday for the dissolution of their parliament and hence for new elections in a referendum initiated by ex-president Valdis Zatler. The daily Neatkarīgā Rīta Avīze sees a general mood of anger as the reason for the clear result: "The 94 percent of votes in favour of dissolving the Saeima are not proof of either a unified society or of strong political awareness. But it is also clear that the people didn't simply dance to Zatler's tune in the vote. The result is rather testimony to a relatively unanimous anger with those who are in power. And this anger can be either very salutary or entirely fruitless for the state. The way things turn out depends on the extent to which the parties are willing to change and also on how society reacts to those parties that are not willing to make changes."    (26/07/2011)

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More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » Elections, » Latvia
All available articles from » Viktors Avotiņš

In the wake of the debt crisis the rating agencies have become the target of criticism. Political scientist Elmar Altvater explains in the left-wing weekly WOZ why the agencies should be abolished: "Rating agencies are in cahoots with the international banking system - and help the banks to achieve additional profits: The worse the rating, the greater the risk of default. The extra risk can then be translated into a higher interest rate and hence into a bigger profit for the creditor. Greece is currently having to pay double-digit interest. ... That is a guarantee that a highly indebted country will never pay off its debts. State bankruptcy becomes the only way out. [In addition] the rating agencies also engage in geopolitics. With their country ratings they not only influence the value of government bonds, but also indirectly currency exchange rates. When the euro is weak, the US dollar recovers. And thus the dollar can continue to be the currency in which oil bills are paid. For the United States paying in their currency is central. The rating agencies assume the function of a sovereign entity without being sovereign. They are part of the guild of neoliberal charlatans. Their licenses should be withdrawn." (14/07/2011)

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More from the press review on the subject » Fiscal Policy, » Financial Markets, » Greece, » Europe, » U.S.
All available articles from » Elmar Altvater

The Eurozone urgently needs a stronger will for political cooperation, writes US investor George Soros in a guest commentary in the liberal business paper Finance: "That means strengthening the eurozone, which would probably require wider use of Eurobonds and a eurozone-wide deposit-insurance scheme of some kind. ... An open society does not treat prevailing arrangements as sacrosanct; it allows for alternatives when those arrangements fail. It should be possible to mobilise a pro-European silent majority behind the idea that when the status quo becomes untenable, we should look for a European solution rather than national ones. 'True Europeans' ought to outnumber [the right-wing populist] True Finns and other anti-Europeans in Germany and elsewhere." (26/07/2011)

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More from the press review on the subject » EU Policy, » Fiscal Policy, » Financial Markets, » Europe
All available articles from » George Soros

Following the euro states' decision to make private creditors contribute to rescuing Greece, the US rating agency Moody's downgraded the country's creditworthiness by three notches on Monday. That was to be expected, the business newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore believes and calls for the introduction of eurobonds to overcome the crisis: "In order not to incur the risk of once again having to stop the leak at the last moment and at an ever higher price, there is only one solution: the introduction of euro bonds. European government bonds could in future be used to fight the fires in the forests of state debt and to crank up the economies again. ... They would guarantee the financing of large trans-European projects and infrastructures necessary to optimise the internal European market and the single currency. How long will it take before Germany and the rich and virtuous countries of the north see sense and bow to the inevitable?" (26/07/2011)

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More from the press review on the subject » EU Policy, » Fiscal Policy, » Economic Policy, » Greece
All available articles from » Adriana Cerretelli

Against the backdrop of the debt crisis in the Eurozone the Czechs' objections to the introduction of the euro are growing. According to the most recent surveys more than two-thirds of the population want to keep the Czech koruna. The business paper Hospodářské noviny, however, sees no alternative to the euro: "In Greece, which is feeling the consequences of the euro first-hand and has not had good experiences with it economically, two-thirds of the population is still against reverting to the drachma, and support for the euro is at around 58 percent. ... The end of the euro and the ensuing chaos would not be good either for Greece or the Czechs, whose economy depends on the Eurozone. Certainly the euro should not be hastily introduced in the Czech Republic. But there is no better alternative. The notion that the koruna could save us is even more naïve than to believe that Greece can pay its debts." (26/07/2011)

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More from the press review on the subject » EU Policy, » Domestic Policy, » Fiscal Policy, » Czech Republic, » Europe
All available articles from » Julie Hrstková

The rating agency Moody's has upgraded Bulgaria's credit rating by one notch for the first time in five years, raising it from Baa3 to Baa2. This means Bulgaria assumes a leading position among the Balkan countries after Slovenia. But the daily Sega is still not satisfied: "It is no longer enough to compare ourselves only with the Balkan states. Our country must catch up with the leading new EU members and even try to attain the status of the big European states. At present Bulgaria's rating is four notches below that of Estonia, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. ... Germany's credit rating is no less than eight notches higher. Moreover, Moody's has warned that it will lower the rating if Bulgaria increases its budget deficit and foreign debt. This means there's still plenty to do. The current improvement in our rating should not be seen as the final destination but the beginning of an effort to restore investors' confidence in Bulgaria."   (25/07/2011)

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More from the press review on the subject » Fiscal Policy, » Economy, » Bulgaria
All available articles from » Georgi Angelov

New York became the sixth US state last weekend to introduce same-sex marriage. In France homosexual couples are only allowed to conclude a solidarity pact (PACS), which however stigmatises them, the left-liberal weekly magazine Le Nouvel Observateur criticises: "What distinguishes a homosexual from a heterosexual? Their rights. The former can conclude a solidarity pact, the latter can either marry or likewise conclude a solidarity pact. But homosexuals want to be recognised for what they are and enjoy the same rights as everyone else. They want to have what one calls equality before the law. The solidarity pact, however, is a right introduced especially for homosexuals. It is therefore a right that stigmatises them for being different and that forgets that all citizens are equal before the law, including the law on marriage." (25/07/2011)

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More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » Minorities, » Gender equality, » France, » U.S.
All available articles from » Elidie Duranton

Grandparents often look after their grandchildren during the school holidays because the parents are working. But taking care of children can also be a heavy strain for them, author Pilar Rahola points out in the liberal daily La Vanguardia: "Very often the burden of looking after the children of parents who work impossible hours falls on the older generation. It goes without saying that some grandparents are delighted to take on this responsibility, and would consider this article an unnecessary complaint. But it's also true that there is a difference between enjoying the grandchildren and having to be parents a second time round. In such cases we are talking about a very heavy physical and mental burden that is not always easy to take on after a certain age, but is nonetheless unavoidable. ... Not always do we thank our parents for their dedication, perhaps because we sometimes forget that they do this without being obliged to. They do it simply because they love us." (26/07/2011)

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More from the press review on the subject » Upbringing / Education, » Society, » Spain
All available articles from » Pilar Rahola