"Unfortunately, we're seldom allowed to choose our revolutionaries," comments Markus Bernath on the Georgian president's conduct. "With his virtually indefensible declaration of a state of emergency, Saakashvili has put an end to the 'Rose Revolution' of November 2003. And what's more, 'Misha', as the Georgians have ironically nicknamed their young president, has proved to be a total loss when it comes to democracy. ... By calling early presidential elections in two months' time, Saakashvili is trying to re-affirm his power. The opposition had other ideas: early parliamentary elections in April to bolster the legislature. Saakashvili is now trying to turn the tables on the opposition. This is how autocrats force their way to power." (09/11/2007)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Ampliación de la UE, » Política de seguridad / Crisis / Guerras, » Europa del Este
Todos los textos disponible de » Markus Bernath

Estonia, which since the Rose Revolution in 1993 has demonstrated great commitment in the West to the cause of Georgia, is disappointed that President Michail Saakashvili has declared a state of emergency. But according to the newspaper, the announcement of new elections is also a sign that Georgia could be on the right path. "Unarmed demonstrations should never be used as an excuse for restrictions on freedom of opinion or for calling a state of emergency. Even if Russia is behind the unrest, as the Georgian government claims, Georgia should not let itself be so easily provoked. The Kremlin is the only place where the clashes of November 7 will have been greeted with delight, because now Georgia has lost much of its credibility in its bid for NATO membership." (09/11/2007)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Relaciones internacionales, » Política de seguridad / Crisis / Guerras, » Política interior, » Europa, » Europa del Este

"Mr Saakashvili's decision to call early presidential elections in January is a move to call the bluff of the opposition, which is disorganised and divided, and boasts no comparable figure to challenge him. But he has nonetheless seen his personal popularity slump from more than 90 % to below 40 % since the Rose Revolution", notes Quentin Peel. "On the one hand, he is accused by opposition leaders of autocratic behaviour and a failure to heed criticism. On the other, he has ridden roughshod over the sensitivities of the older Soviet-educated generation, creating a generational gulf between his own team of young technocrats and those in their middle age.The other cause of increasing restiveness in the population has been the failure of rapid economic growth to be translated into jobs and better wages for most people. Moreover, those who survived for decades by cheating the Soviet system have seen their means of existence, in effect, wiped out." (08/11/2007)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Política interior, » Europa
Todos los textos disponible de » Quentin Peel

Klaus-Helge Donath examines the position of the opposition in Georgia: "The tragedy of the situation is that although the opposition has temporarily taken control of the streets, it lacks charismatic leaders to take the helm. If Saakashvili falls, the opposition will end up totally divided. The ex-Defence Minister Irakli Okrashvili, who got the protest going and sees himself as the successor, would be an even greater disaster for Georgia. Not only is he a hothead, he's also someone who lashes out." (09/11/2007)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Relaciones internacionales, » Ampliación de la UE, » Política interior, » Europa, » Europa del Este
Todos los textos disponible de » Klaus-Helge Donath

November 9th is the 18th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall. Timothy Garton Ash invites us to consider the event as a model of non-violent resistance."The East German 'revolution of the candles', as some dubbed it at the time, had predecessors, from the non-violent campaigns of Gandhi and Martin Luther King to Poland's Solidarity. It has also had many successors ... Courage, imagination and skilled organisation of peaceful protest is not enough, if other factors of power - the army and police, a colonial power, neighbouring states, international media, economic forces - are not sufficiently present, benign or amenable. You need your Gorbachev, your Helmut Köhl, your western TV cameras ... . But you also need the citizens on the streets, with their candles, banners, chants and the sheer peaceful force of numbers. Without them, there is no revolution. With them, you can change the course of world history, even in the face of a nuclear-armed superpower." (08/11/2007)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Política interior, » Historia, » Alemania
Todos los textos disponible de » Timothy Garton Ash

As long as there is no guarantee of palliative medicine and psychosocial therapy for all the dying, there should be no discussion about euthanasia and assisted suicide," writes Nina von Hardenberg criticising the practice in the Netherlands and Switzerland. "Society must find a response to the suffering of the terminally ill. But euthanasia and assisted suicide are the wrong answer because they lead to a dead end at the time of greatest desperation. A state that really wants to help the ill must start to do so at an earlier point in time. For example, it should improve conditions in nursing homes, where people vegetate in social isolation, simply waiting to die. It must fund more hospices. Experiences in the area of palliative medicine show that the death wish diminishes when the patient receives good pain therapy and is put under the care of a psychologist. This kind of therapy is complex and expensive, but it's the price of a humane society." (09/11/2007)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Salud / Medicina, » Ideología, » Alemania, » Suiza
Todos los textos disponible de » Nina von Hardenberg

The French historian and philosopher Marcel Gauchet, interviewed by Elisabeth Lévy, explains why the Nation State is decried. "As soon as politics is only an infrastructure, it is overlooked and not respected. The State is no longer a venerable collective superego, but rather a provider of services considered too expensive. More than ever, people are shut up in their national identities, but not on an aggressive mode, on a mode of tranquil obviousness. As if their national identity went without saying, they are no longer aware of it. Our supposedly cosmopolitan world is populated by provincials shut up in their local identities who consider themselves citizens of the world because they can press a button on a powerful machine, never aware of just how much it brings them. The unreal climate in Europe comes from the fact that our societies do not realise what they depend on and what allows them to function." (08/11/2007)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Historia, » Francia
Todos los textos disponible de » Marcel Gauchet, » Elisabeth Lévy

The 'Belgian political pact' between the Walloon and Flemish communities, was blown to pieces this week, exacerbating the political crisis of this country that has been deprived of a government for five months. Pierre Rousselin analyses Flemish independentist whims and evokes a 'separatist one-upmanship' in Europe. ... "Europe does indeed encourage decentralisation and regionalism. ... But separatists cannot all be given the impression they are acting in perfect impunity and will be able to benefit, not matter what, from EU advantages. At a time when Kosovo's independence is coming into view, Europe should address the question of interior borders. To allow the implosion of Belgium, the founding country of the EU and seat of institutions, would be to open the door to the balkanisation of Europe." (09/11/2007)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Política de la UE, » Política interior, » Bélgica, » Europa
Todos los textos disponible de » Pierre Rousselin

Sándor Laborc, who studied national security at the police academy in Moscow, is to become the new boss of the Hungarian secret service. Experts see this as a risky appointment because most of his fellow students are now high-ranking KGB officers. The daily accuses Laborc of having a KGB past and voices the suspicion that the KGB had a hand in the appointment. "This story is proof that we really do live in a post-communist system, with the emphasis on 'post'. As long as secret service members trained by the KGB are able to obtain top posts in Hungary, communism, which is supposed to have been relegated to the past, will live on. Haven't the 17 years that have passed since the fall of communism been long enough for leaders to be trained who are free of the Soviet legacy and compatible with NATO and the EU?" (08/11/2007)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Política interior, » Historia, » Hungría

An 18-year-old killed nine people and injured 12 in a massacre at the Jokela secondary school in Tuusula, Finland. The Swedish newspaper criticises Finland's gun laws, which allow 15-year-olds to obtain a gun license. It points out that 38,000 teenagers can therefore purchase a firearm at their local arms dealer. "It's an oversimplification to lay the blame on the internet and violent films. Sickness, a lack of empathy and the collapse of internal inhibitions are to blame, but also the general attitude toward weapons and the possibility of purchasing them. Restrictive gun-control laws must be introduced. Finland, where 56 out of 100 persons own a firearm, lacks such laws. Finland was exempted from the EU law under which you have to be 18 years of age before you can obtain a license. Now it has reason to regret this." (09/11/2007)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Cultura cotidiana, » Finlandia
Todos los textos disponible de » Abraham Staifo

The daily takes a positive view of the French president Nicolas Sarkozy's trip to Washington this week. "He managed to use his snake-charming talents to get the American congress and Bush administration to eat out of his hand. ... And yet the solemn speech delivered by the French president, in French, was not one of an old friend seeking reconciliation. It was also the speech of a Frenchman who wishes to maintain sufficient distance to manoeuvre. ... This is confirmed by what he criticises. He is against the weak dollar policy which carries a 'risk of economic war', and against the 'excesses and abuse' of financial capitalism which, according to him, should be matched with 'rules and safeguards'. He has also pleaded for a reform of the UN and asked the United States to lead the battle against climate change. Thus he has not simply sought to improve his relationship with Bush, he has also prepared the political agenda of the next American government." (09/11/2007)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Relaciones internacionales, » Francia, » EE.UU.

Commenting on Nicolas Sarkozy's visit to Washington and the upcoming EU-Africa summit, Peter Morvay writes that a common European foreign policy is still nothing more than "science fiction" at present. This, he says, is because foreign policy is the consequence of a state's domestic policy: "Germany has warmed up its relations with Washington and cooled down relations with Moscow since Merkel took over from Schröder as chancellor. France was traditionally America's rival and thus formed the focal point for anti-America forces in Europe. The new President Nicolas Sarkozy has now suddenly become America's best ally in Europe, and all because America's former ally Great Britain has adopted a cooler stance towards Washington. ... It remains unclear whether one of the worst dictators of our times, Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, will be invited to attend the EU-Africa summit in Lisbon. ... The Union itself claims it is united by common values. This doesn't apply to foreign policy." (09/11/2007)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Relaciones internacionales, » Política de la UE, » África, » Europa, » EE.UU.
Todos los textos disponible de » Peter Morvay

The academic Philippe Wanner studies the consequences of the demographical decline in Eastern Europe. "A significant drop in the population (an annual decrease between 0.5 and 1%) characterises Ukraine, Georgia, Russia and Romania. ... This new demographic conjuncture opens a whole new range of questions, seeing as it will lead to a short or medium term shortage of available work force, an increase in the weight of pensions and health care spending, and numerous obstacles slowing down economic growth. Even if economic, political and societal adjustments can attenuate some consequences of this decline, there are not many means to avoid it, and even those are not very efficient. For Eastern European countries, which do not benefit from an incoming flow of immigration to expand their populations and renew active generations, only family planning policies can maintain fertility and avoid the acceleration of a demographic depression." (09/11/2007)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Desarrollo demográfico, » Europa del Este
Todos los textos disponible de » Philippe Wanner

Polish historian Paweł Machcewicz proposes the founding of a "Second World War Museum" in Warsaw as a counterpart to the planned permanent exhibition in Berlin on the expulsion of Germans from Poland and other countries after the war. Poland, he says, should give up its blockade against the German initiative and initiate its own European project which would include the governments and historians of other European countries. "A museum of this kind, the likes of which exists nowhere in Europe, would provide the space to offer a comprehensive overview of the experiences of the war from the perspective of people who suffered under totalitarianism - not only that of the Nazis but also that of the Soviet regime. ... This museum would be based in Warsaw, but with its European or international character it could revive the memory of certain events that have fallen into oblivion, such as the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact, Katyn, the Soviet occupation of eastern Poland and the Baltic states or the conduct of the Red Army and the NKWD in 1944 and 1945." (08/11/2007)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Exposiciones / Museos, » Historia, » Alemania, » Polonia
Todos los textos disponible de » Pawel Machcewicz

"Do the Germans over-do atonement? Since the fall of the wall on November 9th, 1989 (exactly 18 years ago) Berlin has been multiplying memorials", notes the daily. "In the middle of town, there are no less than 20 memorials dedicated to the victims of the Nazis (whether existent, or under construction) to which you can add all the memorials honouring the martyrs of the East German dictatorship. … Today, the Bundestag is going to announce a much more 'positive' project: the memorial of Germany's new-found reunification, which is due to be inaugurated in two years' time, that is for the 20th anniversary of the fall of the wall. November 9th is indeed the most symbolic date in Germany's tumultuous 20th century history. It marks not only the fall of the wall, but also the declaration of the Weimar Republic (1919) and 'Crystal Night' (1938). Though the 'turning point' was in Leipzig, Berlin should thus welcome a new memorial." (09/11/2007)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Historia, » Alemania
Todos los textos disponible de » Christophe Bourdoiseau

"The magic of Prague, a city that survived communism, risks disappearing today, after too much contact with the West", notes the Italian writer Claudio Magris, upon his return from the Czech capital. "It was the symbolic capital of Mitteleuropa, suspended between classicism and the concerns of modernity. Between the end of the 19th century and the end of the First World War, even up to the Nazi invasion, Prague had been both on the periphery and at the centre of the world. It was a capital of minds, living in the shadows, and in a vital, explosive insecurity ... . The great Prague tradition resisted right up to the broken Prague spring of 1968 and up to its liberation in 1989. Today adjustment by forced march to the western model is threatening to cause the disappearance of Mitteleuropa, of which Prague was one of the vital organs, the heart even." (08/11/2007)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Arquitectura / Ciudades, » La República Checa
Todos los textos disponible de » Claudio Magris