FAZ publisher Frank Schirrmacher weighs in on Germany's polemical debate, urging that "the mix of youth criminality and Muslim fundamentalism" be correctly named, as "the closest thing to the deadly ideology of the 20th century." Schirrmacher argues: "Recently, Germans have been called 'pig-eaters' during baseless attacks, which already moves the conflict into the sphere of a cultural war. You can't take such comments lightly because they are developing as an evolutionary stage in the parallel worlds of our society. The second and third generation of disenfranchised immigrants has turned parts of Berlin into ungovernable zones, according to their mayors. ... The lack of integration of immigrants, which is our own fault, is now making itself felt among those born here: the majority is falling apart, through the selective slaughter of a few." (15/01/2008)

» Artykuł (Link zewnętrzny, niemiecki)
Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Polityka wewnętrzna, » Niemcy
Wszystkie dostępne teksty » Frank Schirrmacher

Petra Stuiber is concerned that Austria will follow Germany in its debate about youthful offenders, after the publication of the country's latest criminal statistics. "There are also problems in schools in Vienna's finer districts, with juvenile theft of mobile phones and possession of knives. But the call for Law and Order in such cases is far softer than in those instances involving immigrant youth – or any so-called 'foreign' children. There is a knee-jerk demand for 'expulsion' even before legal proceedings – in Austria as in Germany. People are only too happy to ignore the fact that marauding gangs of neo-Nazis are no less dangerous. Given the current brouhaha, perhaps it's worth taking a look at Spain. There, too, youth violence is on the rise. ... But instead of calling for tougher laws, the country is discussing ways to improve social rehabilitation." (15/01/2008)

» Artykuł (Link zewnętrzny, niemiecki)
Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Polityka bezpieczeństwa / Kryzys / Wojna, » Polityka wewnętrzna, » Niemcy, » Hiszpania, » Austria
Wszystkie dostępne teksty » Petra Stuiber

Hungarian journalist Károly Lencsés thinks it's not enough to talk about prison for criminal youth. There must also be pressure on parents and schools: "If a youth grows up in an environment where he has not learned an ounce of respect for basic norms, then he will hardly obey the Ten Commandments. Is it right to put him behind bars for that? Of course, criminals must be imprisoned, even young ones. If the law is changed, even 12 year olds will go to jail. But that does not relieve us from responsibility. Everyone must have a chance to become a proper adult. And we should give this chance to Hungary's 4,000 juvenile delinquents." (15/01/2008)

» Artykuł (Link zewnętrzny, węgierski)
Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Węgry, » Europa
Wszystkie dostępne teksty » Károly Lencsés

Slovakia is among the countries gripped in debate about how to deal with youth violence. This was recently triggered by the corporal punishment of a 15-year-old inmate at a youth correction facility by one of the staff. Márius Kopcsay comments: "The method used against this 15-year-old youth will surely have legal repercussions. But on the other hand, aggressivity is on the rise among youth, and in society as a whole. Increasingly, victims are attacked merely because the perpetrator wants to demonstrate physical dominance. And it usually does not stop with a slap in the face but rather with a trip to the hospital or to the cemetery. … If violence becomes the social norm, politicians must put a name to it and look for answers." (14/01/2008)

» Artykuł (Link zewnętrzny, słowacki)
Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Słowacja
Wszystkie dostępne teksty » Márius Kopcsay

The German sociologist Ulrich Beck urges the end of nation state politics in Europe. "Cosmopolitan Europe was consciously conceived and launched after the Second World War as the political antithesis to a nationalistic Europe and the physical and moral devastation that had emerged from it. ... The decline of the nation-state is really a decline of the specifically national content of the state and an opportunity to create a cosmopolitan state system that is better able to deal with the problems that all nations face in the world today. Economic globalisation, transnational terrorism, global warming ... There are a host of problems that are clearly beyond the power of the old order of nation-states to cope with. The answer to global problems that are gathering ominously ... is for politics to take a quantum leap from the nation-state system to the cosmopolitan state system. ... More than anywhere else in the world, Europe shows that this step is possible." (15/01/2008)

» Artykuł (Link zewnętrzny, angielski)
Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Stosunki międzynarodowe, » Polityka UE, » Europa
Wszystkie dostępne teksty » Ulrich Beck

In order to add words to the Spanish national anthem, the Spanish Olympic Commitee (COE) carried out a public survey. The publication of the resulting song last weekend has triggered a lively debate, some resenting the nationalist character of the song. Antoni Gutierrez-Rubi, a communications advisor, notes that, contrary to other European countries "national sentiment is not unanimous in Spain, there are those who believe Spain is a nation and those who refuse to accept that it is a nation or that they belong to it. An anthem with words is putting an end to a free space, exquisite and useful, an end to our diversity. To listen to the wordless national anthem in silence allows a better reception of the diversity of feelings provoked by the word 'Spain' among citizens. ... Let everyone feel what they like. The song will not make 'Spain' any more Spanish." (15/01/2008)

» Strona www (Link zewnętrzny, El País)
Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Polityka wewnętrzna, » Mniejszości, » Hiszpania
Wszystkie dostępne teksty » Antoni Gutiérrez-Rubí

"Since agreeing to take on the world's trickiest job, international peace envoy to the Middle East, Mr Blair (former UK prime minister) has been largely invisible", notes journalist Gordon Rayner. "But this month, Tony Blair begins a comeback which, if all goes according to plan, will see him crowned as the inaugural president of the European Union in 12 months' time - making him, in effect, Gordon Brown's boss. ... Mr Blair could soon be more powerful than ever. Winning the presidency of the EU would put him at the very heart of not only European but world politics. He would be able to influence pet issues such as climate change and spend his time arranging grand summits with other world leaders. And in case that prospect wasn't sending Mr Brown's blood pressure quite high enough, Mr Blair announced this week that he is joining the ranks of the super-rich by taking a part-time advisory role with American banker JP Morgan Chase for £2m a year." (15/01/2008)

» Artykuł (Link zewnętrzny, angielski)
Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Stosunki międzynarodowe, » Polityka UE, » Wielka Brytania, » Europa
Wszystkie dostępne teksty » Gordon Rayner

The Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is currently in Madrid, taking part in the first Alliance of Civilisations Forum organised by the UN and supported by Spain and Turkey. It aims to overcome misunderstandings between the Western and Muslim worlds. According to the daily, Spain and Turkey have good relations and these "could be further improved if, as Madrid desires, this big Mediterranean country were to be finally integrated into the EU. ... Faking those opposed to its accession because of its Muslim identity - as if Europe were a Christian club - , Spanish governments run by the Popular Party and by the Socialist Party have always maintained that if Turkey fulfils EU criteria, its Muslim roots are by no means a obstacle. They are even an enriching factor for European countries." (15/01/2008)

» Strona www (Link zewnętrzny, La Vanguardia)
Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Rozszerzenie UE, » Polityka UE, » Polityka wewnętrzna, » Hiszpania, » Cały świat, » Turcja

As the Lisbon treaty will be presented to the Commons next Monday January 21st, the daily notes how in a speech on January 14th, Prime Minister Gordon Brown made "a clear statement of his vision of Britain's place in a Europe which can build international financial stability, remove regulatory restrictions on the world economy, promote free trade, help the world's poorest nations and take a lead on climate change. It was a vision rooted in enlightened self-interest. Almost 60 per cent of British trade is with Europe. More than three million British jobs in 700,000 British firms depend on it. And the future offers more – access to a market of 500 million people. ... The Prime Minister faces guerrilla opposition from the Tories and from maverick Labour backbenchers, who will try to unpick the detail and continue to call for a pointless referendum on the treaty. He will have to weather that, as indeed he should." (15/01/2008)

» Artykuł (Link zewnętrzny, angielski)
Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Polityka UE, » Polityka wewnętrzna, » Wielka Brytania, » Europa

On Tuesday, January 15th, French parliament begins to examine the government bill modifying the Constitution, a necessary preliminary before parliamentary ratification of the new European treaty. Laurent Joffrin regrets that France has given up the idea of a referendum. "Once again, EU partisans give the impression that they are acting in favour of a closed elite and refusing any clash of ideas. It is true that Members of Parliament are elected by the nation and they are in a legitimate position to ratify treaties. It is true that the text has thankfully been rid of the most clumsy or objectionable passages in the eyes of both those for and against. ... Convincing arguments refuting the idea of a referendum are being sought in vein. The time has come to thoroughly examine the question. In the absence of this those in favour of the treaty will give the sad impression that they are afraid of the people." (15/01/2008)

» Artykuł (Link zewnętrzny, francuski)
Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Polityka UE, » Francja
Wszystkie dostępne teksty » Laurent Joffrin

57 Social Democratic and Communist members of parliament have submitted a constitutional challenge to the creation of an authority for research into the totalitarian regime. Their reason: True, the 1950s in former communist Czechoslovakia were terrible years, but the 1970s and 1980s were bearable. Erik Tabery is amazed that there is no protest against this position: "Czech intellectuals have been waiting for years for a probing of the past, based on the German model: For the young to ask the older generations what they really did back in the old days. But that's not happening at all: Instead, the older ones come along and demand that the courts proclaim that these years were not so bad after all. And the younger ones go along with it; it's basically all the same to them. They'd rather take arms against the American Satan." (15/01/2008)

» Artykuł (Link zewnętrzny, czeski)
Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Polityka wewnętrzna, » Historia, » Czechy
Wszystkie dostępne teksty » Erik Tabery

In the name of secularism, several dozens of Teachers at the University of Sapienza in Rome have called for a protest against the visit of Pope Benedict XVI on January 17th. The Holy Father traditionally participates in the opening ceremony of the academic year. In an interview with Orazio La Rocca, the writer Dario Fo explains why he is not necessarily on the side of the teachers. "I am opposed to all forms of censorship because the right to speech is sacred. But this should be a reciprocal right. It doesn't seem to me that the Church and the Pope have been exemplary in matters of freedom of expression. This is why the invitation that the University of La Sapiencza addressed to Benedict XVI leaves me somewhat perplexed. It seems to me that before sending out invitations, a more attentive evaluation should have been made of this university, an institution universally recognised as a temple of secular culture and knowledge." (15/01/2008)

» Strona www (Link zewnętrzny, La Repubblica)
Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Religia, » Włochy
Wszystkie dostępne teksty » Dario Fo, » Orazio La Rocca

Jérôme Bourdon, a media historian, considers French president Nicolas Sarkozy's intention of withdrawing all advertising from public television. As far as he is concerned, this is "a blow for France Télévisions, but also, let us not be afraid of big words, for culture (French culture in this case, though the problem stretches well beyond France). Why not applaud Sarkozy? Simply because we have to think first and foremost in terms of public sector financing. A major television service able to provide good programmes is rich. The French audiovisual production is weak compared to Germany and Great Britain, which is mainly due to the low cost of TV licensing. The suppression of advertising can only make sense with a clear plan introduced at the same time, with a balancing, or better still, much better still, a notable increase in resources." (15/01/2008)

» Artykuł (Link zewnętrzny, francuski)
Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Media audiowizualne, » Francja
Wszystkie dostępne teksty » Jérôme Bourdon

A debate has erupted around the film "Baklava" by Bulgarian director Alekso Petrov, who lives in Canada. The film involves an orphanage in Burgas, and it has residents of the home portraying the sex and drug abuse that is rampant there. State institutions and others have charged the director with using scandal to try to manipulate public opinion. Emil Tonew begs to differ: "Why are state institutions so focused on the film? In order to distract public attention from the failures of the government by turning them toward social policy . ... The film's chilling scenes are a small detail of the pigsty in which we live. ... This young director has the chance to change our society. He and his peers have to be even more radical, more scandalous and vulgar, because our generation - the older one - has not managed to accomplished the societal changes for which we longed.” (14/01/2008)

» Artykuł (Link zewnętrzny, bułgarski)
Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Film, » Bułgaria
Wszystkie dostępne teksty » Emil Tonev

In mid-December, Russia ordered Great Britain to close two regional offices of the British Council, in St. Petersburg and Yekaterinburg. The reason is an alleged offence against Russian finance and tax law. So far, Great Britain has refused to comply. The Estonian paper blames it all on politics. "Of course, the British Council is not an independent institution. But its main tasks revolve around culture and education. It is difficult to link this with the current political games. So it seems especially silly that the Kremlin, in testing its mettle against London, has picked out the British Council as its scapegoat. The biggest losers are the Russians themselves, and the schools, colleges and museums that have enjoyed support from the British." (15/01/2008)

» Artykuł (Link zewnętrzny, estoński)
Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Stosunki międzynarodowe, » Polityka kulturalna, » Wielka Brytania, » Rosja

In the Kattegat and Baltic seas, the codfish population has dropped by between 75 and 90 percent compared to the 1970s. ICES, the international working group on fishing technology and fish behaviour, recommends a moratorium on fishing in the Skagerrak strait and the Kattegat Sea, in the North Sea and the eastern Baltic. The EU commission wants to reduce intake by 25 percent, but the ministers of fisheries were only able to agree on an 8 percent reduction. Now, Sweden's gourmet chefs have joined the fray: "Many Swedish star chefs have stricken cod from their menus. As trendsetters, they are sending an important signal. If many people give up eating cod, the demand can drop drastically, while pressure on politicians climbs. After all, who wants to eat the last cod?" (13/01/2008)

» Artykuł (Link zewnętrzny, szwedzki)
Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Środowisko, » Handel, » Rynek konsumencki, » Szwecja