The daily Eesti Päevaleht writes that World War II lasted varying lengths of time in different parts of the world, and that its repercussions are still being felt today: "It was only with the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the political changes it brought about that the war ceased to have repercussions in Eastern Europe. The Cold War only came to a definitive end in 1991 with the collapse of the Soviet Union, while for Estonia and Latvia World War II dragged on until August 1994, when the last Russian soldiers were withdrawn. ... And even today we feel the repercussions. Think of the unrest over the Soviet war memorial in Tallinn. And bombs and mines from the Second World War are still being uncovered. But there are also problems elsewhere. For example Warsaw accuses Moscow of still not having published all of the documents concerning the Katyn Massacre [when Soviet troops murdered thousands of Poles]." (01/09/2009)

» full article (external link, Estonian)
More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » Security Policy / Crises / War, » History, » Remembrance culture, » Poland, » Latvia, » Estonia, » Russia, » Global
All available articles from » Küllo Arjakas

Austrian historians and intellectuals bemoan the silence about the 70th anniversary of the outbreak of war they say reigns in many places. The Austrian daily Die Presse claims there are many reasons for this silence: "In the case of Austria and the Second World War another motive for discreet repression comes into play: we as the first political victim - hardly anyone today believes we were a military victim - have nothing to do with the Second World War. At least that's the line of argument that has been maintained for years. But that countless Austrians were forced to take part in the war of aggression, some enthusiastically, some involuntarily, has been forgotten. In Germany there are naturally military institutions that bear the names of Hitler's would-be assassin [Count Claus Schenk] von Stauffenberg and his helpers. However as a result of this non-recognition in Austria there is not a single barracks dedicated to the Austrian heroes [who participated in the plot] of 20 July 1944." (01/09/2009)

» full article (external link, German)
More from the press review on the subject » History, » Austria
All available articles from » Rainer Nowak

On the 70th anniversary of the outbreak of World War II the conservative daily The Times comments on the British-Polish friendship: "Britain ... provided a home for a burgeoning exile community of 70,000 Poles who had remained after the Second World War. It gave support too to the emerging Solidarity movement. When Margaret Thatcher visited Warsaw in 1988, she and [Solidarność leader] Lech Walesa were decorously mobbed by the congregation of the Church of St Brygida. In its journey from communism, Poland has taken a circuitous ideological journey, encompassing the right-wing populism of the twins Lech and Jaroslaw Kaczynski. But its status as an integral part of a tolerant, liberal continent is unquestionable. As Tony Blair said on its accession to the EU in 2003, Poland is, for Britain, an old friend in a new Europe." (01/09/2009)

» full article (external link, English)
More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » History, » United Kingdom, » Poland

The whole world won a victory with the end of the Second World War, writes the daily Diário de Notícias on the 70th anniversary of the outbreak of the war: "When it ended in 1945 this war had proven to be the most lethal to date. 70 million dead - 50 million more than in the First World War. And worse still: 60 percent of them were civilians. … That the Second World War was ended with a nuclear bomb, a new weapon which proved so terrible it was never used again, lifts this war to a level of the absurd all of its own. … Today a ceremony will take place in Gdansk at which Polish President Lech Kaczynski, [German Chancellor] Angela Merkel, [Italy's head of government Silvio] Berlusconi and [Russian Prime Minister Vladimir] Putin will be present. To all appearances they represent the victim, the attacker, the allies and the accomplices, respectively. But in reality they all represent the victors, because considering the way the Second World War ended we all won." (01/09/2009)

» full article (external link, Portuguese)
More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » Security Policy / Crises / War, » Germany, » Italy, » Poland, » Russia

As of today, September 1, no more 100-watt incandescent light bulbs will be produced. The conservative daily Lidové Noviny sees this as a "restriction of the freedom of the consumer" and calls for at least lower wattage incandescent light bulbs to be allowed to live on alongside low-energy bulbs: "Why can't they be tolerated? It's like banning records and gramophones once CDs were introduced, or the production of ice once refrigerators were developed or getting rid of the radio after televisions came along or newspapers and magazines now we have the Internet. … The energy-saving light bulbs have many drawbacks. For example they're no good in rooms where the light is switched on and off frequently, like the bathroom, because it shortens their lifespan. And that cancels out the argument that they save energy." (01/09/2009)

» more information (external link, Czech)
More from the press review on the subject » EU Policy, » Public Culture, » Europe
All available articles from » Petr Zavadil

Macedonia is introducing a lustration law under which civil servants can be investigated to determine whether they worked with the secret service of the former Yugoslavia, and if necessary removed from office. The Bulgarian daily Dnevnik writes that the law could also have repercussions for Bulgaria: "The interesting thing is that apart from the question of whether people were active as agents, the law also prescribes determining whether they used their information to further their careers. This law puts Macedonia in the group of those countries in Eastern Europe that have done the most to confront their past. If Macedonia now manages to free itself from the spectre of repression of the former Yugoslavia, it will not only worry its own 'patriots' but also many here [in Bulgaria] who are proud to have worked for the secret service. Because not few of them owe their career success above all to their work with the former Yugoslavia." (01/09/2009)

» full article (external link, Bulgarian)
More from the press review on the subject » EU neighbourhood policy, » Mazedonien

Germany's conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) suffered in part heavy losses on Sunday in the parliamentary elections in the German states of Thuringia, Saxony and Saarland. The daily Delo analyses the impact this will have on the federal elections slated for September: "Sunday has shown that the elections to the Bundestag, or federal parliament, have not been won yet, and that Angela Merkel is more vulnerable than many had assumed. Nevertheless she is clearly convinced that the weak Social Democrats [SPD], whose internal conflicts are causing them to lose votes to The Left party, will not be able to reverse the tide. In addition, like any power-hungry politician she still has more scenarios at her disposal than the SPD. Should she be unable to form a coalition with the [business-oriented] FDP, she also has the option of forming another grand coalition under her leadership. Such a CDU-SPD government, which it seems everyone is now at pains to avoid, proved successful in Germany's fight against the economic crisis. For that reason this solution seems all the more likely." (01/09/2009)

» more information (external link, Slovenian)
More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » Elections, » Germany
All available articles from » Peter Žerjavič

The daily Helsingin Sanomat doubts whether Japan's Democratic Party will be able to keep its promises to restructure the society and the environment after its historical election victory: "Party leader Yukio Hatoyama, who will probably be the country's next prime minister, doesn't exactly come across as the helmsman of a new era when he talks about the power of globalisation, municipal governments and the traditional industrial sectors. Considering its historical background the contradictions in the Democratic Party's programme are not surprising. For dozens of years the party has been a storage bin for politicians who have left the conservative LDP or the Left. Hatoyama, who began his career as a liberal democrat, must compete with other strong figures for the leadership, and his standing is not undisputed. The overthrow of the old government is only the first step in changing the power structures in Japan." (01/09/2009)

» full article (external link, Finnish)
More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » Elections, » Japan

Stefano Rodotà warns in the left-liberal daily La Repubblica that press freedom should not be curbed by political power: "The war which totalitarian countries have begun against freedom of information on the Internet is simply the final and most spectacular stage of a conflict that has gone on for centuries. … It is a long story that began with the birth of public opinion. … This is the root of a process that gives democracy its purpose and also progressively elevates the press itself to the status of a fourth power. … The press and the entire system of communication presented themselves as a place of freedom and a new form of representing society. But this change brought with it an extension of the conflict zone. … We are talking about familiar techniques that range from censorship to economic conditioning … to the careful selection of compliant journalists and the threat of physical elimination. But it's not just totalitarian and authoritarian regimes that should be a source of concern. In democratic countries the all-pervasiveness of different communication forms that shape public opinion is allowing the demands of a political power that sees precisely this communication system as an important tool for preserving its own power to grow." (01/09/2009)

» more information (external link, Italian)
More from the press review on the subject » Press freedom, » Global
All available articles from » Stefano Rodotà

Munich-based economics professor Hans-Werner Sinn reflects in the daily Világgazdaság on the economic and political changes shaking the world: "Panta Rei. Everything flows. This Greek aphorism often comes to mind when I think of the economic and political changes I have witnessed in my lifetime. Before they occurred they were just as unthinkable as they seemed natural after the fact. Communism collapsed. Germany was reunited. The United States elected a black president. And now Asia is overtaking the West and challenging America's hegemony. ... The powers of globalisation set free by the fall of communism have created a better world in which countries are moving closer together and inequalities are being ironed out. ... Nevertheless the development of the world is not to be had without problems. Carbon dioxide emissions are rising quickly, fossil fuels are becoming rapidly depleted and global warming is accelerating. ... [Consequently] the world's biggest challenge in the decades to come will be to maintain peace." (01/09/2009)

» full article (external link, Hungarian)
More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » Global
All available articles from » Hans-Werner Sinn

The Swedish dairy company Milko has announced a ten-percent increase in the price of its milk. With this step it wants to help Sweden's dairy farmers cope with the sinking price of milk worldwide. The daily Dagens Nyheter writes: "The level of milk production is partly maintained through taxes and partly by raising the price for consumers - despite the drop in prices at a global level. Instead of this double taxation the dairy industry should distance itself from the detrimental EU agricultural policy and try to rationalise production. With a dairy industry that is more adjusted to the market consumers could decide for themselves whether they want to buy expensive products that are produced locally or cheap products produced further away from their kitchen tables." (01/09/2009)

» full article (external link, Swedish)
More from the press review on the subject » Trade, » Consumers, » Agriculture, » Sweden
All available articles from » Rikard Westerberg

An investor from Qatar has failed to buy the Polish shipyards in Szczecin and Gdynia by the end of August as expected. The liberal daily Gazeta Wyborcza criticises the treasury minister responsible for the deal: "Aleksander Grad said on Monday at the press conference that he has a clean conscience in the shipyard affair because he did everything in his power to save them. According to the minister's statements the serious investor has pulled out of the transaction because of the dramatic situation in the shipbuilding industry worldwide, which has rendered the investment project unprofitable. The minister probably wasn't telling the truth again here. The shipbuilding industry has at least not got any worse in the past couple of months. Is the investor supposed to have decided to buy the shipyards in June only to pull out of the deal in August? That doesn't sound logical." (01/09/2009)

» full article (external link, Polish)
More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » Economic Policy, » Poland
All available articles from » Witold Gadomski

Pupils in Flanders go back to school today, Tuesday. According to a study at least 20 percent of the 3-year-old children attending nursery schools there don't speak adequate Flemish. The daily De Morgen sees this as a problem: "For almost all the studies conclude that language deficits can lead to a learning deficit and that those who begin their school careers with one … will feel the consequences later on. In concrete terms that means … that many pupils end up in pre-vocational training courses or technical training courses or even fail to finish school, and that many can't fulfil their potential. … This also means that Flanders will become a society in which the traditional pure Flemish background diminishes. … If we want all the little ones to shape society in the next generation we will have to invest in them permanently." (01/09/2009)

» full article (external link, Dutch)
More from the press review on the subject » Education, » Integration, » Social affairs, » Languages, » Belgium
All available articles from » Yves Desmet

The new French Education Minister Luc Chatel has been charged with reforming the country's education system. The daily Ouest France describes the daunting nature of the task: "Chatel takes over in a climate of doubt as far as the sense of the reforms is concerned. Nevertheless there is no lack of diagnoses pointing to the shortfalls of the education system, the difficulties encountered by teachers, the students' boredom and the parents' worries. Who doesn't dream of a republican school, one that is just, equitable and efficient? Unfortunately our system produces too many highschool dropouts and university failures. A waste. France will lack scientists, engineers and leaders. ... Not only is the school selection process cruel, its strict elitism also plays against the interests of the country. The new minister will have to solve a very tricky political equation. ... He must preserve peace in the schools, while introducing the new senior secondary school system as early as the fall of 2010. ... Best of luck, Monsieur Chatel." (01/09/2009)

» full article (external link, French)
More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » Education, » France

Were the state parliamentary elections in Germany improperly influenced? A good 90 minutes before polling stations closed the first prognoses on the parliamentary elections were on the Net in the microblog Twitter. For the left-liberal daily Frankfurter Rundschau there is no way of keeping exit poll data under lock and key: "All it takes is a single busybody and the news is all over the world. Speed and networking, the major strengths of a service like Twitter, here torpedo traditional journalistic values. Not even a possible fine of up to 50,000 euros for deliberately violating election secrecy acts as a deterrent. That's why any attempt to enforce stricter controls on the use of exit polls by legal means will no doubt also prove ineffective. 'Information wants to be free' said the author Stewart Brand at a hacker conference in 1984. That is true enough. But it doesn't stop us from making responsible use of the information at our disposal. In all freedom, of course." (01/09/2009)

» full article (external link, German)
More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » Online media, » Media policy, » Elections, » Germany
All available articles from » Patrick Beuth

Crown Prince Willem-Alexander, heir to the Dutch throne, last week won a lawsuit against the US news agency AP (Associated Press). In future AP is to refrain from disseminating photos of his family on holiday. For historian Daniela Hooghiemstra writing in the daily NRC Handelsblad this is a Pyrrhic victory: "Naturally the Crown Prince has the right to a private life like anyone else. … But to demand that the right to freely acquire information be revoked in those places he visits with his family is testimony to a worrying lack of understanding of the binding and serving role he will soon assume as king in a modern democratic society. … The Crown Prince has a constitutional function which is subject to control. What's more, he is dependent on (photo) journalists. Even an heir to a throne must convince his people, and the Oranges [the royal dynasty] have been doing this for time immemorial with the aid of pictures." (01/09/2009)

» full article (external link, Dutch)
More from the press review on the subject » Audiovisual Media, » Press freedom, » Netherlands
All available articles from » Daniela Hooghiemstra