The daily explains that since "the International Olympic Committee (IOC) was not in doubt when it chose Beijing for the Olympic Games, avoiding to take certain things into account, it is unthinkable, five month away from the opening ceremony, for the slightest gesture to go against its decision. Thus we can observe a paradox: governments that jostle one another to receive the Dalai Lama seem paralysed when it comes to expressing their solidarity beyond mere declarations that are part of protocol. Worse still, they do not criticise national Olympic committees that dare demand of athletes that they refrain from expressing any criticism of the Chinese leadership. This is a scandalous form of censorship, unworthy of democracies, that neutralizes any demand of the respect of human rights and the rights of minorities that are actually systematically flouted by Beijing." (18/03/2008)

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"In 1936, Hitler abused the Olympics in Berlin. The world had neither the power nor the courage to resist, and to its shame participated in the games," Stefan Hríb writes. "Now China is acting as if there's no problem, like Hitler in 1936 and Brezhnev in 1980. Sport is a beautiful thing and should not be abused by politicians. But this is precisely why the free world shouldn't take part in the Olympics. Not to boycott the games and refuse to go along with China's alibi game would be the most dreadful politicising of sport since the torturous Moscow games in 1980. For the athletes, not participating in the games would be terrible, but sport is not more important than freedom." (18/03/2008)

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The boycott debate, Thomas Hahn writes, highlights "how sport sees itself in the conflicts of the present: namely as a world apart that wants to remain untouched by outside influences unless they bring money. ... It's less about messages and more about markets, and sport as a product that owes much of its appeal to a harmonious image - an ideal combination of values and mass entertainment. The freedom to develop this product profitably is a desirable commodity. Political freedom restricts this freedom in situations of doubt. Sport and China are quite similar to each other in their pragmatic attitudes. This explains why seven years ago the IOC awarded the games to a nation that represented a market with exploding growth, but not human rights and a clean environment. There's nothing we can do to change this decision now." (18/03/2008)

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The French philosopher André Glucksmann supported a 1980 boycott of the Olympic Games in Moscow. Today he explains why a boycott of the Beijing games would be pointless. "The Tibetan protest is a cry for help addressed to the world and the Olympic Games are an opportunity to stir consciences, alerting them to the tragedy of a population that risks being wiped out. But before promoting the boycott, a few questions need to be asked: what would its concrete effects be? How many governments are ready to risk their economic relations with China? Are there any more efficient initiatives? Might this boycott not have the reverse effect of reinforcing the Beijing regime?  ... Tibet is not seeking independence, but respect of its autonomy and culture. The intellectual has to be as realistic as the Tibetans." (18/03/2008)

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Mariusz Zawadzki warns against the pitfalls of opportunism: "Boycott the Olympic Games in Beijing? The heart cries out 'Yes!'. But before you take to the streets to shout out your boycott, before you condemn athletes who want to fight for medals despite the suffering of the Tibetans, you should at least have the decency to examine your own position. First, boycott your own computer, because chances are it was made in China. Then took a look in your wardrobe and remove all the T-shirts, trousers, costumes, etc. that were made in China. ... But if you're one of the hundreds of millions of opportunists living in this world that are not prepared to do this, then forget boycotting the Beijing Olympic Games. After all, why should we expect athletes who have been preparing for the games for years to bear the consequences on their own?" (17/03/2008)

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A few weeks ago, Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány announced the introduction of a "work test" for the unemployed aimed at establishing who is competent to work and who is not. In future only those who are willing to do community service are to receive government benefits. According to philosopher Miklós Tamás Gáspár, this will dismantle the last remnants of the welfare state: "This is a historical step - back into the 18th century when joblessness (or 'hanging about with criminal intent') was an offence for which people were punished, for example by being sentenced to doing community service. ... This is what the introduction of the work test aims to do. The welfare system used to play a protective role; now it's suddenly supposed to adopt a policing function and exclude as many people as possible from the impoverished welfare structures and block all remaining escape routes through controls and harassment." (18/03/2008)

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In an interview conducted by Sylvain Bourmeau, the French philosopher Jacques Bouveresse ponders the future of the independent press. "Can we dream of a press that is truly free and autonomous devoted to the cause of truth and justice, in a world where information has become a mere commercial product submitted like all the others pretty much exclusively to the law of supply and demand and where the reign of the market and the power of money have become so absolute and tyrannical ? How can what makes no economical sense in the eyes of the new realists who now lay down the law not increasingly appear to quite simply be nonsense itself ? To dream of the kind of press that most of us continue to dream of could well be about as unreasonable as dreaming of a capitalism that turns out morally sound ... ." (16/03/2008)

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In the ethnically divided city of Mitrovica in northern Kosovo, violent clashes broke out between Serbs and UN policemen and soldiers of the Kosovo Force (KFOR). Barbro Hedvall comments: "The nationalist forces have been bolstered by the developments in Kosovo. It looks very much like the government that will come to power in May [in Serbia] following the parliamentary elections will give the 'Serbian issue' high priority. ... One major problem is that both the UN and the EU are perceived as opponents of the Serbs and as an extension of Pristina's power. This was highlighted by the clashes. ... The Kosovo issue is turning into a battle with Europe on one side and Serbia and Russia on the other." (18/03/2008)

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A fortnight prior to the NATO summit in Bucharest, the columnist Bernard Guetta proposes a solution regarding Ukraine and Georgia's request for NATO accession, something opposed by Moscow. "Rather than contemplate the problem, we could bypass it by asking Russia for the neutrality of its former possessions, Georgian, Ukrainian and Moldavian too, in exchange for a continental stabilisation and cooperation agreement. ... The European Union, America and Russia now have convergent economical and political interests. If they knew how to build-up this complementarity on the trust represented by their common respect for the complete neutrality of Georgia, Ukraine and Moldavia, they would be far better off and the world at large too. It is this path towards the Finlandisation of these countries that needs to be pursued." (18/03/2008)

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Andreas Theophanous, professor of Political Economy at the University of Nicosia, sees themes directly related to several aspects of the Cyprus question in an article by Jerry Z.Muller in the American journal Foreign Affairs, entitled 'Us and Them, The Enduring Power of Ethnic Nationalism'. Theophanous notes that "federal models which are founded exclusively on the premise of ethnonationalism have a higher probability of failure than success. Indeed if we examine the recent experiences of the Balkans and of countries that are in fact in the heart of Europe (the former Czechoslovakia and Belgium) this hypothesis is confirmed. On the other hand, federal models that respect ethnic communities as well as individual rights, while revolving around the concept of civic nationalism and a common core value system, have greater chances of success. ... We need to be very critical of any plan for Cyprus formulated exclusively on the premises of ethnonationalism." (16/03/2008)

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Wolfgang Schieder explains why the legislative elections scheduled for April in Italy will also fail to produce a stable government: "Apart from the business association and a few intellectuals, no one wants a really stable political environment. More than in any other European nation, voting behaviour in Italy is governed by economic, social, regional and local special interests. The Lega Nord is the most ruthless party in protecting the interests of its north Italian clientele. The criminal secret societies of the Camorra in Campanile, the 'Ndrangheta in Calabria and the Mafia in Sicily are by no means secretive about protecting the special interests of their respective clientele. The personification of personal interest egoism is Silvio Berlusconi, whose politics are aimed solely at preserving his media empire." (18/03/2008)

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"There is a well-established pecking order of prejudice in western Europe. The British look down on the French, the French look down on the Italians, the Italians look down on the Spanish, the Spanish look down on the Portuguese - and everybody fears and ridicules the Germans", notes Gideon Rachman. "But the Spanish have upset this xenophobic hierarchy. Spain is now richer, more fashionable and more dynamic than Italy. It boasts Europe's most lauded chef (Ferran Adrià), its trendiest film director (Pedro Almodóvar) and its richest football club (Real Madrid). Barcelona has become Europe's most talked about city. ... These cultural changes reflect changes in the real world. In 2006 Spain's per-capita GDP overtook that of Italy. The average Spaniard is now richer than the average Italian – an unimaginable idea when the country was emerging from Francoist isolation in the early 1980s. Spanish governance also looks like a model of staid predictability compared with the frenetic instability of Italy." (18/03/2008)

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The stock exchanges were particularly shaken on March 17th, the day after the takeover of American merchant bank Bear Stearns. "From now on we are going to have to live with this fear and we are going to have to rationalise it. Global finance markets are panicked, anxious, and paranoid", considers Edouard Bolletier. "From now on, every day will have its share of bank rescues, of announcements of index, currency and share falls. Yesterday, an emblematic day, bad news from the United States shook-up the world stock exchange and the dollar in a few moments. This seems normal, when we learn a large bank has narrowly escaped bankruptcy. This seems wrong when a man distils lethal, gratuitous and vengeful statements. All on his own, Alan Greenspan, former president of the Federal Reserve got the  trauma of the 1929 crash to resurface [he predicted the worst financial crisis since World War Two]." (18/03/2008)

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Over the past week the Romanian media, which are partly owned by politicians, have attacked President Traian Basescu repeatedly. The latter countered by saying that the media resembled a jukebox in which you only had to insert a few coins for it to play the desired tune. Cristian Campeanu comments: "I have no doubt whatsoever that the Romanian press is open to bribery. They are financed by important interest groups which are intent on promoting their own political and economic agenda. We journalists all know who those voices belong to. The Romanian media pioneers honesty and morals just as little as the politicians do. Nonetheless, this doesn't justify the president's 'jukebox theory'. I don't believe Basescu is a dictator in disguise. I think he's driven by a demon." (18/03/2008)

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British playwright Simon Stephens talks in an interview with Margarete Affenzeller about the precarious position of today's youth, which more than any generation before it has fallen prey to capitalism: "People stop at nothing to get youngsters to buy things. Moreover, for the first time, at least in the UK, it's becoming apparent that older people are afraid of the young. There's a sense of nervousness about today's youth culture and juvenile delinquency, which naturally is exaggerated and mythologized. I continue to work a lot with young people, and they surprise me again and again with their compassion and intelligence. Unfortunately, theatre art doesn't really reach out to young audiences. The average theatre-goer in England is 55 years old. Imagine that!" (18/03/2008)

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The inhabitants of the Catalan village of Horta de Sant Joan were invited to vote on March 16th for or against a wind power plant in their commune. Almost 78 % of the voters rejected this project. For the daily, "what has happened in Horta de Sant Joan, beyond the democratic right of citizens to express their opinion, is a matter of concern because it represents a new stage in the 'no' culture developing in matters of energy infrastructure. 'No' to new nuclear power stations, 'no' to thermal power stations, 'no' to power lines and,  most recently, 'no' to wind power, despite its being one of the cleanest energies. This negative tendency adopted by Catalan society is very dangerous, for it blocks access to new energy sources. Catalonia does none the less need new energy sources to make up for its electricity deficits." (18/03/2008)

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