"It is from behind a Janus mask that Tony Blair yesterday announced a substantial reduction of British troops in Iraq", considers the editorialist Jurek Kuczkiewicz. "While one mouth told disabused British voters that this retreat marks the beginning of the one wished for, made possible by an 'improvement' of the situation on ground level, the other announced that the British are not abandoning their American allies, since they were prepared to stay 'as long as requested'. Everyone knows that both mouths were lying. With his statement, Tony Blair delivered a painful funeral sermon: that of the Iraq adventure to start with, but also, through allusion, or omission, the announcement made by the British Prime Minister is the avowal that the military operation did not bring peace and democracy to Mesopotomia, but unbelievable chaos and violence instead. Thus this Prime Minister, the most flamboyant since World War II, has delivered his own funeral sermon, having been struck down by the Iraq disaster that he threw himself into, following George Bush." (22/02/2007)

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Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Stosunki międzynarodowe, » Polityka bezpieczeństwa / Kryzys / Wojna, » Wielka Brytania, » Irak
Wszystkie dostępne teksty » Jurek Kuczkiewicz

The daily considers that Tony Blair's announcement "suggests the classic scenario of a defeated leader deciding to declare victory and leave. For all Tony Blair's insistence that the criteria for reductions have been met, that the Iraqis are now well-enough trained to take over responsibility for security, and that Basra is very far from being Baghdad, there was much in his Commons statement that invited scepticism. This was partly because it was stuffed with uncertainties and ambiguities. What was presented as a major withdrawal was in fact smaller than had been mooted. The time frame was left imprecise, and even if 1,600 troops are withdrawn by autumn, this means that 5,000 are staying, probably until the end of 2008. ... And why did he note in justification that most of the violence was not sectarian, but directed against British troops ? It is almost half a year since the head of the British Army, Sir Richard Dannatt, made precisely this point, and advised an early withdrawal." (22/02/2007)

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Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Stosunki międzynarodowe, » Polityka bezpieczeństwa / Kryzys / Wojna, » Wielka Brytania, » Irak

"The period of relative calm [in southern Iraq] has created the illusion that the British troops can make a triumphant withdrawal. This will enable Blair to save face and - with the last remnants of national approval - bring to an end the adventure for the beginning of which he was partly responsible," Michael Prüller comments. He takes a dim view of Iraq's future. "But the break-up of Iraq is now inevitable. And this is a tragedy for the country, where dangerous criminals can dominate the everyday life of entire regions as never before. It is a tragedy and, for the Western alliance, an expression of deep resignation. That they are trying to sell this off as a sign of hope is perhaps the most tragic aspect of the situation. How can one place even a modicum of trust in the leaders of the free world when they have lost the last remnants of their weak desire for truth?" (22/02/2007)

» Artykuł (Link zewnętrzny, niemiecki)
Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Stosunki międzynarodowe, » Polityka bezpieczeństwa / Kryzys / Wojna, » Wielka Brytania, » Irak
Wszystkie dostępne teksty » Michael Prüller

Tøger Seidenfaden sees Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen's announcement that the Danish soldiers stationed in Iraq will be withdrawn as a response to the general mood in the country: "Denmark and the Danish soldiers can count themselves lucky that we have a prime minister who is not quite as stubborn as President Bush. Anders Fogh Rasmussen wants to be re-elected - this is the best explanation for his decision. Bush, on the other hand, can no longer be re-elected. However, what represents a defeat in domestic policy for Denmark is an ongoing tragedy for the Iraqis. The situation there is getting worse and worse and there is no prospect of a solution. Even the withdrawal of the American troops would not improve the situation." (22/02/2007)

» Artykuł (Link zewnętrzny, duński)
Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Stosunki międzynarodowe, » Polityka bezpieczeństwa / Kryzys / Wojna, » Dania, » Irak
Wszystkie dostępne teksty » Tøger Seidenfaden

Unlike Great Britain and Denmark, Romania's Defence Minister Sorin Frunzaverde has announced that Romania will not withdraw the approximately 600 soldiers it has stationed in Iraq and will continue to consult its NATO allies before implementing decisions. Emilian Isaila comments on the changed situation: "Romania stands between several fronts. Under these new conditions Romania's foreign policy will take a new direction and President Traian Basescu will have to moderate his aggressive, pro-American discourse. What have we got to gain by remaining there? Not much, apparently. Now that the British have begun their withdrawal, there can be no talk of breaking a promise... We are a member of NATO and a member of the EU. We are no longer pursuing a security policy; we are pursuing a purely diplomatic course." (22/02/2007)

» Artykuł (Link zewnętrzny, rumuński)
Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Stosunki międzynarodowe, » Polityka bezpieczeństwa / Kryzys / Wojna, » Irak, » Rumunia
Wszystkie dostępne teksty » Emilian Isaila

Jörg Lau tries to explain what makes Islam so different from other monotheistic religions: "The older relatives of Islam, Judaism and Christianity, are religions with great pathos: Judaism with its dream of the deliverance of the chosen people from their plight, Christianity with the promise of individual redemption through the suffering of the God of love. Islam is remarkably free of this dramatisation of the relationship between God and man. The (for Christians almost shocking) sobriety of the relationship between God and man is what makes Muslim piety unique. No other monotheistic religion has thought the absoluteness and the transcendent nature of God through as profoundly as Islam. It puts man directly in front of a God who, in his overwhelming uniqueness, is far beyond even the most pious of the pious. This experience of God between directness and absolute transcendence is the great gift of Islam to man. Today it is buried under mountains of political ideology and sterile erudition, but the excavation has begun." (22/02/2007)

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Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Religia, » Filozofia, » Światopogląd, » Cały świat
Wszystkie dostępne teksty » Jörg Lau

In an interview conducted by Carles Geli, the Spanish sociologist Salvador Giner, who has just been given the 2006 National Award for Sociology and Political Science, analyses the social and political evolution of Spain. "What took 120 years in the North of Europe has taken 30 years here. Everybody is talking about a political transition, but it is on a cultural level that this has been most extraordinary. Spain was a country that burned churches down and where the Catholics killed Freemasons. Forty years on, the churches are empty. The conflagration of churches has been replaced by an indifference to them. This is a brutal leap. Conversely, the ethnic-cultural leap has not been very big: 'Catalanism' and 'Andalousianism' have been reinforced. Collective Spanish identities have been intensified. This may be the result of a compensatory process stemming from the loss of this personality. We have no more beliefs left: we are proving as indifferent to the Church as we are to the Communist Party." (22/02/2007)

» Artykuł (Link zewnętrzny, hiszpański)
Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Religia, » Światopogląd, » Hiszpania
Wszystkie dostępne teksty » Salvador Giner, » Carles Geli

Timothy Garton Ash ponders Karl Marx's prescience in the light of today's global capitalism. "Marx thought capitalism would have a problem finding consumers for the goods that improving techniques of production enabled it to churn out. Instead, it has become expert in a new branch of manufacturing: the manufacture of desires. The genius of contemporary capitalism is not simply that it gives consumers what they want but that it makes them want what it has to give. It's that core logic of ever-expanding desires that is unsustainable on a global scale. But are we prepared to abandon it ? We may be happy to insulate our lofts, recycle our newspapers and cycle to work, but are we ready to settle for less so others can have more ? Am I ? Are you ?" (22/02/2007)

» Artykuł (Link zewnętrzny, angielski)
Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Filozofia, » Cały świat
Wszystkie dostępne teksty » Timothy Garton Ash

Romano Prodi, leader of the Italian government, submitted his resignation on Wednesday, February 21st, after losing a crucial vote on foreign policy in the Senate. The editorialist Gerald Papy comments on the political crisis that is unfolding in the country. "By not approving the programme proposed by Massimo D'alema, Minister of Foreign Affairs, which calls for the continuation of Italian presence in Afghanistan and an extension of the American base in Vicenza, have the Forza Italia [Silvio Berlusconi's right-wing party] MPs not dropped their commitments for the sake of politicians' base considerations ? The fall of the Prodi-D'Alema government is more fundamentally the latest symptom of Italian politics' ailment: the dissipation of the centre-left government's strength and, more generally, of the political class at large. For it must be said that this government, formed after a very narrow victory, has never really been up to leading the country in a coherent and durable manner." (22/02/2007)

» Strona www (Link zewnętrzny, La Libre Belgique)
Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Polityka wewnętrzna, » Włochy
Wszystkie dostępne teksty » Gérald Papy

Ezio Mauro, the daily's chief editor, comments on Prodi's defeat. "What is surprising is that this policy is perfectly in keeping with the programme announced by the Prodi coalition and that it would be applauded by the left in any other European country. But not in Italy. ... Subsequently, a crisis was inevitable, seeing as without political consensus on foreign policy, the country would be ungovernable. Extreme radicalism reveals the fact that Italy not only lacks a majority, but also a clear idea of itself in order to point it in the right direction from day to day, allowing it to know its place in this part of the world that we call Europe and the West. If, that is, we don't want to end up living in it by chance, or by mistake, foreigners in our own homeland, orphans because of a disastrous and dangerous ideology". (22/02/2007)

» Strona www (Link zewnętrzny, La Repubblica)
Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Polityka wewnętrzna, » Włochy
Wszystkie dostępne teksty » Ezio Mauro

Stephan Müller, former advisor on minority affairs for the OSCE mission in Kosovo, draws attention to the precarious situation of minorities in Kosovo: "Up to 100,000 Serbs and around 100,000 Roma, Ashkali, Egyptians, Turks, Bosnians, Gorani and Croats still live in Kosovo. The fact that during the seven years of UN administration the number of members of minorities who have left Kosovo is greater than the number of displaced persons who have returned should make us think. Why and how is an independent Kosovo going to improve this situation?... This subject was not brought up during the status negotiations and is not mentioned in Ahtisaari's [the UN envoy's] proposal. This is because according to the twisted logic of the team of negotiators, Kosovo is to be first and foremost for the Albanians and then for the Serbs (because the country belongs to them now). Only those who have no interest in seeing things change in Kosovo can believe that the situation will improve now." (22/02/2007)

» Artykuł (Link zewnętrzny, niemiecki)
Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Mniejszości, » Europa Południowo-Wschodnia, » Serbia
Wszystkie dostępne teksty » Stephan Müller

Visiting Athens on Wednesday, February 21st, the Cypriot president Tassos Papadopoulos reproached Turkey for applying a "policy of threats and provocations" on the subject of exploring gas and oil fields surrounding the island. The daily ponders this new bone of contention between Nicosia and Ankara. "Turkey, whose army has occupied Northern Cyprus since 1974, cannot stand the idea that Mr Papadopoulos may be able to hold petrol. The Greek Prime Minister, as well as the European Union, has recalled the fact that Cyprus is an independent, sovereign State that can legitimately sign bilateral agreements. The question directly concerns Greece, which is afraid that this incident might damage Greek-Turkish relations, since Turkey is threatening to send exploration vessels all over the Aegean Sea. Calls for calm coming from the United Nations and the European Commission are doing nothing to appease the tension and Cyprus has no intention of backing down." (22/02/2007)

» Strona www (Link zewnętrzny, To Vima Online)
Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Stosunki międzynarodowe, » Energia, » Handel, » Cypr, » Turcja

According to a study published by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) the Baltic States are making rapid economic progress and may soon bring up the economic rear in the EU together with Portugal. However, the chances of them experiencing a long-term boom like that in Ireland are also not bad, the report concludes. The Estonian paper asks if Ireland can really serve as a role model for Estonia. "The general euphoria has also given way to a certain degree of scepticism among the Estonian people about how sustainable our economic growth really is. Even so, comparisons with Portugal are not really appropriate, nor can Ireland really serve as a role model. There can be no doubt that the Irish model is a sure bet because in Ireland there is a consensus between employers and employees about suitable outline agreements. However, we must bear in mind that Ireland took the first important steps towards boosting its industry a quarter of a century ago. It sounds like a cliché, but for Estonia, the only alternative is a science and research-based economy. Portugal, on the other hand, has the red lantern in the EU because of its low level of education, which is markedly higher in Estonia." (22/02/2007)

» Artykuł (Link zewnętrzny, estoński)
Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Polityka wewnętrzna, » Nauka/ Badania naukowe, » Estonia

The journalist Daniel Conrod considers that the cultural projects proposed by the French presidential candidates, which are in keeping with current cultural policy, are out-dated. "For the most part, France is living with policies that were imagined and developed between the Popular Front and the Liberation at the end of the WWII. Globalisation as we know it, new technology that is modifying our existence and increased marginalization such as we fear it, were not part of the programme back then. ... Globalisation, technological upheaval, marginalization, individualism..., here are a few of the new realities that new thinking - or possible utopias - could be based upon, commensurate with our times and the questions they raise. In an unstable and fragmented world, on a planet that has also become precarious, how can each and everyone be entitled to a concrete experience of sensitive perception, of beauty and of all that is genuinely for free ?" (21/02/2007)

» Artykuł (Link zewnętrzny, francuski)
Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Polityka kulturalna, » Francja

The Slovenian ministry of education plans to drastically reduce the number of optional subjects on offer in the last three years of primary school. Until now, pupils could, in theory, choose from up to 60 subjects to be taken for three hours a week, including bee-keeping, rhetoric and journalism. Now there is to be more emphasis on second languages, sport, and technology. Teacher Zdenko Medves opposes the measures: "We [the panel of experts] were already aware by the end of the 1980s that a move away from the programmatic nature and uniformity of the curriculum was necessary. This was achieved with the introduction of optional subjects as an obligatory component of the primary school curriculum. If we want to keep up with European and global developments, we must create the conditions for pupils to accumulate knowledge without losing sight of their inclinations and interests." (22/02/2007)

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Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Słowenia

Twenty years ago today, pop art icon Andy Warhol, whose family came from Ruthenia, now part of Slovakia, died. In 1991 a small museum dedicated to Warhol was founded in the former socialist cultural forum in the east Slovakian town of Medzilaborce. It contains a large number of original works by Warhol, who was born Andrej Warhola and later changed his name to the American version. Today, however, the newspaper reports that the museum is virtually empty. Warhol's works are on display at a large exhibition in the Moravian city of Ostrava. Michal Bycko, curator of the museum, comments: "This is why most of the museum's walls are empty today. In a way it's in keeping with the concept of pop art. However, we'll light a candle in front of the museum in honour of Warhol's memory." (22/02/2007)

» Artykuł (Link zewnętrzny, słowacki)
Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Wystawy / Muzea, » Sztuki piękne, » Słowacja