The massacre of more than 100 people in the Syrian town of Houla has rendered UN Special Envoy Kofi Annan's peace plan meaningless, writes the left-liberal daily Süddeutsche Zeitung: "After a year of fruitless suffering the armed rebels are edging ever closer to the methods of the regime: executions of persons suspected of being loyal to the regime bode ill for the time after Assad. And the fact that the fighters in Houla apparently withdrew to army posts, leaving the town's inhabitants at the mercy of the regime's rage, seems like a calculated move. … Already the fighters are receiving money from America and Saudi Arabia with which they buy weapons, so how is Annan supposed to achieve a ceasefire in such circumstances? The fervent calls for Russia and China to relent on the UN Security Council have something false about them. In truth the veto powers are not just buying time for Damascus, but also for Washington and Brussels. Because if they did turn around and condemn Syria the question that followed would be the most difficult one: What's the next step?" (29/05/2012)

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Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Stosunki międzynarodowe, » Polityka bezpieczeństwa / Kryzys / Wojna, » Polityka wewnętrzna, » Cały świat, » Syria
Wszystkie dostępne teksty » Sonja Zekri

The UN failed to do its job during the massacre in Houla, the left-liberal daily Delo writes, and draws parallels with the (29/05/2012)

» Artykuł (Link zewnętrzny, słoweński)
Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Polityka bezpieczeństwa / Kryzys / Wojna, » Zamieszki / rozruchy, » Syria
Wszystkie dostępne teksty » Bostjan Videmsek
Aktualne debaty » Świat arabski walczy o wolność

The international community is simply unable to find a solution to the conflict in Syria, the liberal-conservative daily Neue Zürcher Zeitung writes with an eye to the massacre in Houla: "One option could be the establishment of so-called security zones for civil refugees. Such humanitarian corridors would mean controlling the airspace. ... However the tight intertwinement between supporters and opponents of the regime within the Syrian population makes such a plan seem unpracticable. Arming the opposition could very easily turn the conflict into an all-out civil war. ... Above all the religiously blinded suicide attackers with ties to al-Qaida would benefit from such an escalation. Ultimately much onus lies with Turkey, which could greatly improve its position in the region as a new order-imposing force. But that too appears unlikely, if only because Prime Minister Erdoğan does not want to give the army whose wings he has clipped any chance to improve its standing. ... So as it seems 'Houla' will not be a turning point, but merely a sad signpost in the tenacious battle for survival of a murderous regime whose time has definitely run out." (28/05/2012)

» Artykuł (Link zewnętrzny, niemiecki)
Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Stosunki międzynarodowe, » Polityka bezpieczeństwa / Kryzys / Wojna, » Prawa człowieka, » Syria
Wszystkie dostępne teksty » Martin Woker
Aktualne debaty » Świat arabski walczy o wolność

Following the massacre in Houla that was played out before the eyes of UN observers, the left-liberal daily Politiken calls above all on the EU and Russia to press ahead with a solution to the Syria conflict: "It looks like Russia is still refusing to accept the fact that Assad's departure is a precondition for solving the Syria conflict. … The EU must be aware that a solution can't be found together with the current Syrian regime, which is responsible for the massacre. However that shouldn't stop the EU from preventing the escalation of violence. … The conflict must be resolved in Syria, but Moscow plays a decisive role here. And Moscow, too, must be aware that the regime bears the responsibility for the massacre of Houla." (29/05/2012)

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Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Stosunki międzynarodowe, » Polityka bezpieczeństwa / Kryzys / Wojna, » Polityka UE, » Rosja, » Europa, » Syria

IMF boss Christine Lagarde has advised the Greeks to focus on helping themselves by paying their taxes. The conservative daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung can't understand why this has caused such outrage: "If the Greeks reacted as fiercely towards those responsible for the debt crisis as the political elite is reacting to the plain words of Christine Lagarde, they would put an end to the Greek elite's dastardly game of collective tax evasion. The boss of the International Monetary Fund has only dared to say out loud what everyone in Athens and every real estate agent in Zurich or London already knows: as if it was the most natural thing in the world, Greece's elite avoids paying any taxes and sends billions abroad - and every Greek government lets them get away with it. Naturally there is a lot of anger on the streets of Athens about the cutbacks for normal people. But the anger of taxpayers in the creditor countries is also growing when they see that the bailout money just passes through Greece and is ultimately used to save financial investments elsewhere or drive up house prices." (29/05/2012)

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Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Polityka UE, » Podatki, » Grecja, » Europa
Wszystkie dostępne teksty » Holger Steltzner
Aktualne debaty » Sposoby na wyjście z kryzysu zadłużenia

The representative of the Muslim Brotherhood, Mohammed Mursi, and the last prime minister to serve under Hosni Mubarak's rule, Ahmed Schafik, will face each other in the run-up vote for the Egyptian presidency on June 16 and 17. They each obtained roughly a quarter of the vote in the first round of the election, which had a turnout of just 46 percent. This highlights how little support they have among the people, writes the Christian-social daily Trouw: "Now the two extremes are pitted against each other: the Islamism of the Muslim Brotherhood and the secular autocracy of the old regime. But it would be wrong to reduce the political climate in Egypt to these two extremes. If you look at the results of the candidates who ranked first to fifth in the first round there are some surprising insights. More than 55 percent gave a secular candidate their vote. … So above all for the younger generation, the second round is simply a choice between a rock and a hard place. And it is to be feared that many will stay at home. This should be a warning to Mursi and Schafik. … The power base of the new head of state will certainly be a narrow one." (29/05/2012)

» Artykuł (Link zewnętrzny, niderlandzki)
Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Polityka wewnętrzna, » Wybory, » Egipt
Aktualne debaty » Świat arabski walczy o wolność

The new Serbian president Tomislav Nikolić is not just coarse and aggressive in his manner but is also under suspicion of having committed plagiarism, writes Attila Árpád Pásztor, an expert on Serbia, in the left-liberal weekly Élet és Irodalom: "Nikolić's popularity is by no means unvarying. Many millions of Serbs find the new president's brutish and aggressive style repellent. His coarse behaviour was above all apparent during his time as a parliamentarian. … Compared to psychologist and university lecturer Tadić, Nikolić is certainly uncultured. A president's suitability for office doesn't depend on his degrees or his English skills, but Nikolić lacks both. The latter can quickly be remedied with a good language course, but the allegations of plagiarism can't. … And there are reports that Nikolić's dirty record goes further than his diploma thesis … Only recently Nikolić sued the daily newspaper Blic for two million euros in damages for writing that his fellow students had no recollection of him studying with them." (25/05/2012)

» Artykuł (Link zewnętrzny, węgierski)
Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Polityka, » Serbia
Wszystkie dostępne teksty » Árpád Attila Pásztor

The government of the Republic of Cyprus is considering the option of seeking assistance from the EU bailout fund. So far the country has been able to keep its head above water only thanks to a loan from Russia. Cyprus has learned nothing from the crisis in Greece, the conservative daily Simerini complains: "It's a myth that an economy can solve its problems through arithmetic feats. … The bailout mechanism would neither solve our problems nor even be good for us unless a strict programme of fiscal discipline with less state intervention is implemented and economic growth boosted beforehand. The introduction of higher taxes is not the solution. They would kill the market and the economy! And they create the conditions for a troika [of creditors] that subjects us to the same harsh and degrading treatment as the citizens of Greece have received." (28/05/2012)

» Artykuł (Link zewnętrzny, grecki)
Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Polityka UE, » Polityka finansowa, » Cypr, » Europa
Wszystkie dostępne teksty » Giannos Charalampidis
Aktualne debaty » Sposoby na wyjście z kryzysu zadłużenia

The former Romanian agriculture minister Ioan Avram Mureşan will spend seven years behind bars for corruption after Romania's supreme court upheld a judgement without further appeal, thus ending legal proceedings that have gone on for eight years. Mureşan will be the first Romanian ex-minister to actually go to prison, the daily newspaper Gândul writes jubilantly: "The sentence sends a warning to other dignitaries who are either under investigation or already standing trial on charges of corruption. It is a signal to all those who still believe that with time they will be able to wriggle out of their responsibility and that the judiciary has forgotten them amongst the thousands of other pending cases. ... Clarifying the facts in major cases of corruption is difficult; the procedures are lengthy, and one of the parties in the dispute always has an interest in delaying judgement. ... But even the opponents of Daniel Morar [the boss of anti-corruption authority DNA] and [chief public prosecutor] Laura Codruţa Kövesi must see that the public prosecutors are industrious and are getting things moving in the complex legal system. Even if they work slowly - sometimes they deliver fitting judgements." (29/05/2012)

» Artykuł (Link zewnętrzny, rumuński)
Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Polityka wewnętrzna, » Przestępczość, » Sądownictwo, » Rumunia
Wszystkie dostępne teksty » Rodica Ciobanu

The Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy tried to dispel doubts about the stability of the Spanish banking sector in a speech on Monday. But there are growing indications that the beleaguered country will need the help of its European allies and the ECB, writes business paper Cinco Días: "In government circles concern is spreading that the government's own measures come too late. If these fears penetrate to companies and the citizens they will represent an enormous obstacle to the trust that Spain so urgently needs. To restore that trust Mariano Rajoy is right to demand clear support for the euro and the Spanish economy from Europe. And the European Union is obliged to send a clear message to this effect, to show that Spain can rely on the firm backing of its allies and the joint central bank, the ECB, to overcome the debt crisis and complete the restructuring of its financial sector." (29/05/2012)

» Artykuł (Link zewnętrzny, hiszpański)
Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Polityka finansowa, » Banki, » Hiszpania
Aktualne debaty » Sposoby na wyjście z kryzysu zadłużenia

In the run-up to the Irish referendum on the EU fiscal compact on Thursday, the liberal business paper Financial Times paints a dark picture of the future of a European fiscal union: "It is being marketed as a fiscal union, but it is a fiscal straitjacket. It punishes weak countries when they most need help. A real fiscal union should work as the US does. ... With this treaty, the EU envisages the opposite: cutting spending in the periphery when we most need help. In so doing, it creates lower growth, higher unemployment, more political instability and more capital flows from the periphery to the core. This is all aimed at making the Eurozone more credible. In practice it doesn't. When the risk is deflation, creating yet more deflation makes the euro look like it has a death wish." (29/05/2012)

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Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Rynki finansowe, » Irlandia
Wszystkie dostępne teksty » David McWilliams
Aktualne debaty » Sposoby na wyjście z kryzysu zadłużenia

Belgium was able to issue bonds on Monday at very low interest rates of under three percent. But that is not just due to the country's austerity policy, writes the daily Le Soir: "You remember: Belgium once had to pay interest rates of more than six percent on ten-year bonds. That was in November. But if the pressure has rapidly decreased, it's not just because we swore to high heaven that we would reduce our deficit. It was also because [ex prime minister] Yves Leterme launched his famous call to purchase government bonds. In just a matter of days the state gathered over 5 billion. The country then flexed its muscles and showed the markets that it would not let itself be intimidated. ... Yes, we have a public debt of almost 100 percent of the GDP, but with their 225 billion in savings the Belgian households will have no difficulty providing for the needs of the state. But virtue is not enough to save the Eurozone, today. What is needed is wealth. That's why growth must be put back on the European agenda on the double." (29/05/2012)

» Artykuł (Link zewnętrzny, francuski)
Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Rynki finansowe, » Polityka, » Belgia, » Europa
Wszystkie dostępne teksty » Pierre-Henri Thomas
Aktualne debaty » Sposoby na wyjście z kryzysu zadłużenia

Director Michael Haneke won the Golden Palm for best film for the second time at this year's Cannes Film Festival, which ended on Sunday. The jury just keeps giving prizes to the same people, the Web magazine Slate laments: "The 65th Cannes Film Festival ended with a depressing ceremony. Certainly, people say here that Michael Haneke's film Love isn't entirely without its merits. Nevertheless the list of prizewinners does nothing to change the impression that preconceived, academic ideas and a certain incoherence hold sway here at Cannes. In the same way good old Ken Loach with his harmless The Angels' Share has no place here. ... Carlos Reygadas, for his part, did deserve his prize for best directing (for Post Tenebras Lux), but he is practically invisible in such a context, when all the other award-winning films - with the exception of Beyond the Hills by Cristian Mungiu - flounder in the conventions of a tired and greying cinema. These awards send a sad signal. Such time-worn conformism only reconfirms the widespread - albeit in part unjust - idea that the greatest film festival in the world does nothing but shower endless accolades on the same old faces." (29/05/2012)

» Artykuł (Link zewnętrzny, francuski)
Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Film, » Francja, » Cały świat
Wszystkie dostępne teksty » Jean-Michel Frodon

An 18-year-old shot and killed two people with a hunting rifle on Friday night in the southern Finnish town of Hyvinkää, also wounding seven others, in some cases severely. Finland must look for ways to prevent such crimes, writes the liberal daily Kaleva: "Violence and its glorification are everywhere, leading some people to have a completely twisted notion of what is right and what is wrong. ... In part this development has been fostered by a world that is increasingly shaped by technology. Internet forums are full of aggressive comments, and the more someone is defamed, the quicker others will be to give that person the thumbs-down as well. ... There are certainly plenty of reasons for senseless violence like the Hyvinkää murders. Now it's high time to initiate a project that spans all of society, in which experts in various areas seek the reasons for such violence at national, regional and local levels and - even more importantly - ways to prevent it." (29/05/2012)

» Artykuł (Link zewnętrzny, fiński)
Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Przestępczość, » społeczeństwo, » Finlandia

Shortly before the Euro 2012 is due to kick off, the Italian police arrested 19 people on suspicion of match-fixing in a nationwide raid in the early hours of Monday morning, including 13 professional footballers. Among the suspects was a national player who was immediately thrown out of the Italian national team. Italian football has lost all credibility and needs a thorough purging, writes the left-liberal daily La Repubblica: "Football is thoroughly corrupted by this, also at a national level. Having the police raid the national team's training camp puts an end to the credibility of our football. … No summary legal proceedings or generous 'let's forget it' stance can change this. The investigating judges must take the time they need to get to the bottom of the affair. In the meantime our sport institutions should recognise their obligation to bring about change. We need ideas and new faces to get our football back on track." (29/05/2012)

» Dalsze informacje (Link zewnętrzny, włoski)
Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Sport, » Przestępczość, » Włochy
Wszystkie dostępne teksty » Maurizio Crosetti