The court was convinced that Taylor as state leader of Liberia had instigated a war in neighbouring Sierra Leone in order to gain access to that's country's diamond reserves. The crimes of warlord Charles Taylor are finally being punished, the conservative daily Die Welt writes approvingly, even if this doesn't mean that war crimes are likely to decrease much in the future: "The verdict is hardly likely to restrain dictators and war criminals from committing atrocities in the future. Courts like the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague are still too weak for that - not least because countries like the United States refuse to submit to the tribunal. Sudanese President Omar al-Baschir, for whom the ICC has issued a warrant for arrest, is currently busy provoking a war with South Sudan, which gained independence only a year ago and yet has been honourably received in many countries. Nevertheless, the judgement sends a clear signal: war criminals cannot count on escaping punishment." (27/04/2012)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Crisis / Guerras, » África, » Global
Todos los textos disponible de » Philipp Hedemann

The verdict against the former Liberian president is a success, says the liberal daily Mladá fronta Dnes: "Nothing pleasant awaits Taylor probably for the rest of his life. But in comparison with what he has inflicted on others under his rule in Sierra Leone, his fate is like a fairytale. No one will chop off his hands, tear out his liver, no one will rape him or pull out his fingernails. ... Africa is considered a continent where such criminals can still do just fine. Often enough African governments are at best compulsive thieves and at worst - as in Taylor's case - violent oppressors. And this probably won't change any time soon. But a guilty verdict against one of these rulers - who acted in the tradition of [former Ugandan dictator] Idi Amin - is a success." (27/04/2012)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Relaciones internacionales, » Derechos humanos, » Justicia, » África
Todos los textos disponible de » Teodor Marjanovič

In view of the judgement against the former Liberian president Charles Taylor for war crimes, the left-liberal daily Le Temps praises the oft-disparaged Special Court for Sierra Leone: "The case of Charles Taylor is starting to occupy a special place in international law, which is currently experiencing an upswing even if things are by no means perfect and the crimes of the greedy and bloodthirsty Liberian statesman remain unpunished. This trend-setting trial has drawn attention to the work of the Special Court for Sierra Leone. ... The media are wrong to ignore the court, because it has done pioneering work with its decisions in the past. For example it addressed the recruitment of child soldiers and attacks on the UN peacekeeping mission. ... With this judgement a decision was reached on the delicate question of the extent to which a president can be responsible for crimes in a neighbouring country. The answer is differentiated, but the message has been heard." (27/04/2012)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Justicia, » África
Todos los textos disponible de » Fati Mansour

German President Joachim Gauck has cancelled his planned May visit to Ukraine in protest against the imprisonment of Yulia Tymoshenko. Gauck's gesture is a good moment to consider a boycott of the coming European Football Championship in Ukraine, opines the left-liberal daily Der Standard: "As always in such cases, we are warned not to instrumentalise sport for political purposes. Since the Ukrainian leadership is itself using the EURO games for propaganda, this argument makes little sense. … Yanukovych's electoral victory of early 2010 (this time on the up-and-up) had a lot to do with the failure of the Orange revolutionaries and their internal rivalry. But that is no excuse for what has happened since then in Ukraine, which can be compared with the Putinisation of Russia: politicized justice, even more rampant corruption and the obscure sleazy connections between politics and business with oligarchs as the grey eminences. Against this background, to act as if one could separate sport from politics is either naive or downright hypocritical." (27/04/2012)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Deportes, » Alemania, » Ucrania
Todos los textos disponible de » Josef Kirchengast

Many French people have let themselves be seduced by escapist positions that have little to do with reality, writes the liberal weekly Le Point with an eye to the Presidential elections in France in which extreme right and far left parties received one third of the vote: "Together they dream of a France far removed from reality that knows nothing of the crisis or public debt and derides the world of finance from whom it borrows billions each day just to make ends meet. The French voters did not abstain from casting their ballots, and that's all for the better. But many of them preferred to use their vote to distance themselves from the realities of the world. ... The crisis in France is progressively becoming that of a country locked within its borders, its certitudes and the contemplation of its failures. France is shutting itself away in a dilapidated ivory tower, away from Europe, the world of finance, the markets, globalisation and other phantoms. It's time the country overcame its fears and confronted reality." (26/04/2012)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Ideología, » Elecciones, » Francia, » Europa, » Global
Todos los textos disponible de » Imbert Claude Imbert Claude
Cobertura de debates » Salidas a la crisis de endeudamiento

Economic relations were the main focus of Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao's visit to Sweden this week. The liberal daily Dagens Nyheter calls on Europe not to ignore the issue of human rights: "Countries on the hunt for export markets - or investments in China - are easily tempted to bow to Chinese demands or at least to tone down their criticism. A common European front could lend weight to [demands to respect human rights] and force those tempted to engage in dirty deals to think better of it. A good example is the European weapons embargo against China, which France regrettably is trying to loosen. The relationship with China will remain an important one; but the challenge here will be to combine openness in the economic sphere, which benefits both sides - not least the Chinese who want more liberalisation - with tough criticism of a rotten regime." (27/04/2012)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Economía política, » Derechos humanos, » Suecia, » Europa, » China

Poland is considering closing down several hundred police stations in small towns to stay below the country's legally fixed debt ceiling of 55 percent of GDP. The conservative daily Rzeczpospolita complains that cuts always hit rural Poland: "Yet another institution [after many post offices] is making the move from the boondocks to the big city. ... Poland is becoming a country comprised of no more than Warsaw, which is artificially bloated with loans, as well well as the larger cities of Wrocław and Krakau, which somehow manage to make ends meet. The provinces, meanwhile, are dying out. ... When someone from the government comes along and says that this is a development plan, it's just hot air. It's an exercise in liquidating rural offices. And the best offices to close are those of people whose protests aren't heard. Because those who protest are weak. Who cares in Warsaw about protests in some far-off district or some other place in the sticks? Because these people are doomed any way you look at it." (27/04/2012)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Política interior, » Polonia
Todos los textos disponible de » Piotr Gursztyn

According to recent polls, the right-wing extremist party Jobbik is now the third-strongest in Hungary. US political scientist Cas Mudde explains in the left-liberal weekly Heti Világgazdaság that Jobbik is even more radical than its counterparts in Eastern and Western Europe: "To a certain extent Hungary has now become a 'normal' European country with the rise of Jobbik. In around half of the EU member states far right parties have seats in parliament, and without doubt Jobbik is one of the parties that is most popular with voters. ... However the situation in Hungary is somewhat different to that in other countries. ... Jobbik is more radical than its sister parties in Eastern Europe, which in turn are generally more extreme than the far right parties in Western Europe. ... Jobbik is not just more anti-Semitic than other right-wing extremist parties, but it is also revanchist. The party is pushing for Hungary to win back the lost 'Hungarian territories'. ... However the biggest difference is the fact that Jobbik is the only right-wing extremist party to maintain a paramilitary organisation (the Hungarian Guard). And the latter openly attacks the state." (26/04/2012)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Ideología, » Hungría

Share prices fell sharply on Monday mainly in response to the political and democratically legitimate decisions in France and The Netherlands as well as the recession in Spain. The volatile financial markets obviously have a hard time with democratic decisions, the liberal weekly Sol writes: "The fall of the Dutch government and the victory of the Socialist candidate Hollande in the first round of the French presidential elections were the decisive political factors in this new round of market jitters. ... The crisis was diagnosed and treatment prescribed by the German-French mandate and meekly accepted by other countries. ... Now it is affecting not just the economically fragile countries with high levels of state debt like Portugal or Greece but the heart of the eurozone: mighty France and the inconsiderate Netherlands. Chickens ultimately always come home to roost." (27/04/2012)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Política financiera, » Mercado de finanzas, » Economía, » Portugal
Todos los textos disponible de » Vicente Jorge Pinto
Cobertura de debates » Salidas a la crisis de endeudamiento

After the British government officially slipped back into a recession on Wednesday the conservative Daily Telegraph calls for a more aggressive growth strategy: "The austerity programme does command the confidence of the markets, and that remains crucial. It is this that allows the Government to borrow at attractive rates, which in turn gives the Bank of England the freedom to keep the cost of borrowing low. It would be madness to jeopardise that during such a hesitant recovery. That does not mean the Chancellor should simply be sitting tight and waiting for lift-off. We have argued consistently for a more aggressive growth strategy involving targeted tax breaks and a serious assault on red tape to help instil business confidence. If companies - especially large corporations - started investing the cash they are hoarding, and banks began to lend again, it would do much to stimulate recovery. Mr Osborne must continue to focus all his energies on creating an economic climate in which they feel able to do so." (27/04/2012)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Mercado de finanzas, » Gran Bretaña
Cobertura de debates » Salidas a la crisis de endeudamiento

ECB President Mario Draghi called for a "growth pact" for the Eurozone on Wednesday. In the French election campaign this call has been hailed as a turning point, which according to the business paper Cinco Días is an overstatement: "The presidential candidate François Hollande sees this as a sign that his ideas are gaining ground. But Draghi's statement does not hail a radical change in direction. What he means when he talks of a growth pact has nothing to do with Hollande's plans. ... The term 'growth pact' may sound new, but in fact it's nothing that the central banks haven't already repeatedly called for: the governments must introduce reform, and the longer they wait, the greater the damage will be. Euro bonds, major investment programmes and incentives from Germany can help, but they won't change the fact that France needs reforms. If Hollande the candidate ignores this fact, Hollande the president will be the first to get a nasty surprise." (27/04/2012)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Política financiera, » Economía política, » Elecciones, » Francia, » Europa
Todos los textos disponible de » Pierre Briançon
Cobertura de debates » Salidas a la crisis de endeudamiento

Many prominent individuals in the Republic of Cyprus have evaded paying taxes for years, according to Tuesday's report from the parliamentarian supervisory committee. The left liberal daily Phileleftheros proposes publishing their names, as was done in Greece: "It's not enough that the government, parliament or parties criticize the situation after the report comes out every year. … Clearly, naming and shaming is the only way to punish those who break the law. ... The fact that prominent individuals who have been on the list of tax evaders for years are not asked to pay up is a joke and can't go on forever. … Laws and obligations to the state don't apply only to workers and the masses of anonymous citizens. So it would be good to publish the list of tax evaders." (26/04/2012)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Política interior, » Impuestos, » Chipre

The Romanian government has exceptionally declared 30 April a public holiday this year. The Ministry of Tourism hopes to use the four-day weekend to encourage tourism. Rupert Wolfe Murray of the Contributors blog portal is sceptical: "The ministry wants to push Romania as a tourist destination. It has spent a good deal of money trying to do this in recent years without achieving results. ... The ministry is employing an army of inspectors in 42 Romanian regions who are supposed to do something about the quality of hotels and bed and breakfasts. But all they are doing in reality is arbitrarily imposing fines. ...The British owner of a bed and breakfast had to pay because a bedcover was touching the floor. Another hotel owner had to pay 2,000 euros because he was using an ecological sewage system - something the officials had never heard of. ... They still have the communist mentality that [tourism] businesses are all speculators, thieves and slave drivers. The idea of encouraging tourism - instead of putting a brake on it - is alien to them." (27/04/2012)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Turismo, » Rumania
Todos los textos disponible de » Rupert Wolfe Murray

The Riga city authorities plan to ban the gay parade held every year since 2005 owing to strong public rejection of the event. The journalist Kārlis Streips, himself a homosexual, reminds readers in his blog of what happened in previous years: "One has to ask oneself whether these children of God have ever heard the word 'precedent'. Don't they remember the last time they tried to impose a ban that was overturned by the courts because the judges, unlike the Riga city councillors, understood the constitution and the right of assembly that it guarantees? That is exactly what happened last time and the time before last. The city councillors decide their own agenda, and if they want to spend their time doing nonsensical things, then let them. But why are they asking the administrative court, which has plenty of other business to attend to, to rule on this issue yet again when the outcome is likely to be the same? It was Einstein who said only two things were infinite : the universe and human stupidity. Only he wasn't sure about the universe." (26/04/2012)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Igualdad de derechos, » Sociedad, » Letonia
Todos los textos disponible de » Kārlis Streips

Gintaras Steponavicius, Lithuania's minister of education has been in the headlines for days. ... Half a year ago the young father is said to have sent a suggestive text message to a controversial young fellow party member, a woman who regularly appears on TV programmes as a sex expert. But these kinds of scandals have no influence on political careers in Lithuania as European Union member, suggests the online portal of the weekly paper, Veidas: "Lithuanian politicians have been through numerous love affairs over the past two decades, marrying and divorcing, changing partners, taking semi-official and official lovers. But in fact their political success or failure was never impacted by these so-called sex scandals. … Look, we're living in Europe and we judge the extramarital sex lives of our elected leaders in a European manner - that is, with a rather indulgent and lightly mocking undertone." (26/04/2012)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Sociedad, » Lituania, » Europa
Todos los textos disponible de » Audrius Bačiulis