According to the Estonian newspaper Georgia's problems are far from being solved, even though the party led by Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili has apparently managed to win a clear parliamentary majority: "The country's citizens are primarily concerned about unemployment, and Georgia's big neighbour Russia is threatening the country because Moscow opposes its bid to join NATO. Georgia wants to join the Western alliance to have a counterweight against Russia, which supports the secessionist regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. But now Georgia is standing at a crossroads, and it is the Western allies who will determine which path it takes. The last NATO summit failed to produce a concrete timetable for membership and Georgia wants clear commitment. But if the country wants the backing of the West for a solution to the Abkhazia conflict, Tbilisi must not stray from its path towards democracy." (22/05/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » Domestic Policy, » Russia, » Europe, » Georgian Republic

Ceslovas Iskauskas reflects on the role the West could play in Georgia: "Every initiative taken in the Caucasus needs Russia's approval. This may anger Tiblisi, but it is the reality in the region. Moscow wants to bind the secessionist regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia closer to it, and for that reason rejected last Friday's UN resolution aimed at easing the refugees' return to Abkhazia. ... Most observers do not believe there is a threat of a new civil war, because the Georgians, the Abkhazians and the Russians all want to avoid that outcome. But both sides are trying to implicate other countries in the conflict. Tiblisi is calling on Washington and Brussels, and Sukhumi wants more help from Moscow. It is difficult to say whether the local population will get the peace they have been longing for if their conflict once again lands on the international agenda." (22/05/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » Domestic Policy, » Russia, » Europe, » Georgian Republic
All available articles from » Ceslovas Iskauskas

Although Saakashvili's pro-Western United National Movement has won the parliamentary elections, the president remains controversial, the paper writes: "The opposition is speaking of electoral fraud and has announced it will stage protests in Tiblisi. ... Saakashvili has been touted as the country's hope for democracy ... but his image has been tarnished in recent months. In November he imposed a nine-day state of emergency after tens of thousands of people demonstrated against him for several days." (21/05/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » Domestic Policy, » Russia, » Europe, » Georgian Republic

Nikos Konstantaras comments on the start of peace talks between Israel and Syria under Turkish mediation. "The positive thing is that today both protagonists need peace like never before. Israel has concluded agreements with Egypt and Jordan, but these are not enough. The Palestinian resistance cannot be broken. ... Hezbollah and Hamas are supported by Syria and Iran. ... Israel is caught in a jam. ... At the same time Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is confronted with serious corruption charges and in bad need of a success. ... After Bashar Assad was elected president in 2000, Syria has shown it seeks closer relations with the West. But the secular government has allied itself with Iran and its extremist Shiite government, and at the same time with the Sunni resistance fighters in Iraq. This political opposition has led to an identity crisis and isolation from the West. A respectable accord with Israel could help Damascus out of this impasse." (22/05/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » Security Policy / Crises / War, » Middle East, » Israel
All available articles from » Nikos Konstandaras

Following the arrest of the leader of the Basque underground organisation ETA, the Diário de Notícias writes: "The arrest could be an important step towards ending the terrorism with which the group is trying to achieve independence for the Basque Country. ... Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodrígues Zapatero described the arrest of the ETA leader as an important step towards a triumph for democracy over terrorism. Zapatero - quite rightly - chose his words carefully. ... The group has been decapitated several times in the past, but it has always managed to regroup. ... ETA will only be defeated when Spain as a whole - including its Basque minority - unites against terrorism. ... Time and again, ETA has been able to recruit new members among this minority that continues to ignore the fact that Spain has left behind the times of Franco's dictatorship and become a democratic country in which the Basque country enjoys considerable autonomy." (22/05/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » Minorities, » Spain

After a long period of hesitation the Czech Republic has recognised Kosovo. Jiří Hanák says the situation reminds him of the Munich Agreement of 1938, under which the Western Powers ceded the Sudetenland to Nazi Germany. This move was perceived as an act of betrayal by Czechoslovakia at the time. "Great Britain and France faced the choice between shame and war in 1938. They chose shame, and on top of it got war. In the Kosovo problem, the West faced the choice between shame and peace in the Balkans. It chose shame, but there is unlikely to be peace in the region. ... When the Western powers amputated a piece of Czechoslovakia in 1938, thousands of Serbs volunteered to serve in the Czechoslovakian army. Prague could have remembered this, but in politics there is no gratitude." (22/05/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » History, » Czech Republic, » Serbia, » Kosovo
All available articles from » Jiří Hanák

The newspaper comments on the latest blockades of fishing harbours and refineries in France, by means of which French fishermen hope to force the state to give them subsidies. "Once more the fishermen are turning to the state, and demanding that the taxpayer support them in one way or another. Is this the proper solution? There are good reasons to doubt it. First of all, it is very probable that the European Union will refuse direct public aid. In addition, subsidies would only cover up the real problem. The fishermen will face three growing challenges in coming years: scarce resources, increased competition and a rise in the price of raw materials. In such a situation, subsidies are not an appropriate solution." (21/05/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » EU Policy, » Agriculture, » Economic Policy, » France, » Europe

After its first year of EU membership Bulgaria and the EU are facing a major crisis. Bulgaria was unprepared for its membership, the Bulgarian daily Dnevnik writes, but adds that this was also true of the EU: "Why did Europe assume that a formal multi-party system and apparently free elections represented "true political democracy"? Why did it equate the thousands of non-governmental organisations that serve specific economic and lobby interests with a civil society? Why did it believe that communists, agents and spies could be reborn as modern politicians, diplomats, businessmen and intellectuals?... Bulgaria's political class is also not free of blame. The elite, who pretend to be European or European-Atlantic, have given up only the superficial traces of their Kremlin identity and introduced their lobbies into NATO and the EU." (22/05/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » EU Enlargement / Neighbourhood Policy, » Europe, » Bulgaria

Edvin Hladnik Milharcic reviews the past and present of the modern Turkish state: "The Kemalists, who ruled Turkey ... since the 1920s, are now a thing of the past. After decades of more or less absolute rule they were driven out of power by Tayyip Erdogan's Islamicists. These people have no difficulties with the democratic or social nature of the state, but its secularism is a thorn in their side. After years of heated polemics, religious women are now allowed to wear headscarves at the universities. In similar cases, Atatürk's followers have traditionally carried out a military putsch and ... reintroduced the absolute secularism of the state. However this is no longer a viable option, because it would put an end to the political programme that unites Kemalists and Islamists in close democratic combat. Both sides want to integrate Turkey into the EU, and adapt the state to the norms established by Europe as a suitability test." (22/05/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » Religion, » Turkey
All available articles from » Ervin Hladnik-Milharcic

Kishore Mahbubani, public policy professor at the National University of Singapore, writes that in world politics the EU "stands as a political dwarf in responding to the rapidly changing geopolitical environment. ... But the rising tide of insecurity in European hearts and minds also means that Europe cannot continue to be a giant Switzerland ... The Swiss can feel secure because they are surrounded by Europe. The Europeans can only feel insecure because they are surrounded by an arc of instability, from north Africa to the Middle East, from the Balkans to the Caucasus. ... The paucity of European strategic thinking is stunning. ... Whenever the EU gets a chance, it slaps Asia in the face. ... Europe should encourage Muslims to look at China, India and [southeast Asian states community] Asean as their new development models. ... When the Islamic world is finally modernised, Europe can go back to being a giant Switzerland again." (22/05/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » Asia, » Europe, » Global
All available articles from » Kishore Mahbubani

According to a leading article in Denmark's Politiken, the dispute between the EU and Russian gas supplier Gazprom could have its advantages. However "only if the Commission's proposal for the division of production and distribution is put into practice. Not only Gazprom, but also the energy monopolists in Germany, France and Italy who have signed long-term contracts with Gazprom in return for giving access to their distribution networks are all working against this proposal. Now Gazprom - which supplies a quarter of the gas consumed by the EU - is threatening to hit back if its room for manoeuvre in the EU is restricted." Such threats are no great cause of concern, the paper writes, because Europe is the biggest buyer of Russian gas and exporting to China is technically impractical. The important thing now, it adds, is for the EU to remain united - however this could prove difficult. "While the energy giants in the EU are fighting to defend their monopolies, Russia is worried about its investments. This is an 'unholy alliance' against the plans of the European Commission to combat its own and foreign monopolies." (22/05/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » Energy Policy, » Denmark, » Russia, » Europe

Endre Aczél reflects on our oil-dependent world and the continued rise in oil prices. "For some time now we have watched how supply cannot keep up with demand. The main reason for the rise in demand is also to be found in those countries that are poor in natural resources but are developing at a rapid pace - above all China and India. ... The supply shortages, on the other hand, are by no means the result of limited petrol reserves, but rather the fact that the giants on the energy market like Russia and Iran lack the capital to exploit new oilfields. In 2008 neither of these two countries have been able to pump more oil to the surface than they did last year. ... Why is it so important for Washington that Europe buy gas from Iran supplied through the Nabucco pipeline rather than Russian [gas] supplied by the South Stream pipeline? Could it be that from a strategic point of view Russia, not Iran, is the true 'threat'? Hmmph." (22/05/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » Energy Policy, » Trade, » Russia, » U.S., » Global, » Iran
All available articles from » Endre Aczél

A film documenting a lawsuit against the French satire magazine Charlie Hebdo is being screened at the Cannes Film Festival. The magazine printed the Muhammad cartoons originally published in the Danish daily Jyllands-Posten. The paper's leading article relates a meeting with American documentary film maker Michael Moore after the film. "Moore said that he was very moved by the film, that he supports absolute freedom of speech and that you should not shy away from a topic out of fear. He said clearly that the right to print the cartoons is more important than his aversion to them. This is an important distinction which many editors in the debate [in Denmark] do not make. More problematic is Moore's resistance to the cartoons on the grounds that Jyllands-Posten is a 'right-wing' newspaper. The key issue, in his view, is not what is said, but who is saying it. Such manoeuvres are silly and undermine open and public debate in which it is arguments that count, and not who makes them." (22/05/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » Film, » Audiovisual Media, » Print media, » Denmark

In future Slovaks will be permitted to drive after drinking a small glass of beer. The zero-alcohol-limit is nonsense because even non-alcoholic beer or liquor-filled chocolates contain a small amount of alcohol and people have been penalised for this, Márius Kopcsay writes. "Even a small glass of beer is not worth the risk of causing an accident. ... But the problem is not people who drink a small beer and then drive; it is those who drink ten glasses of cognac and then drive. We are talking about influential managers, celebrities and also MPs. This is why at the same time as introducing a tolerance limit, a policy of zero-tolerance towards dangerous drunken drivers should be adopted." (22/05/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » Public Culture, » Crime and Law, » Slovakia
All available articles from » Márius Kopcsay

The newspaper comments on new Swiss animal protection regulations and the difficulties of implementing them: "The new regulations stipulate the right of animals to social contact. That pertains not only to cows, but to solitary guinea pigs as well. But how can the law be implemented? ... The Federal Veterinary Office is not shirking any expense in creating guidelines concerning all animals living in or imported into Switzerland. These include directives on stalls and enclosures, cage heights, straw, perch lengths (for chickens), springy seating (for birds), light sources, shelters, food and drink and recreation ... Pet owners who own a cage with a single guinea pig should start thinking about getting another one, or letting their pet die with dignity." (21/05/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » Environmental Policy, » Switzerland