The Estonian daily Postimees sees Prime Minster Yulia Tymoshenko as one of the main culprits in Ukraine's never-ending political crisis: "In the past months she presented herself as a reliable partner whose main goal was the preservation of the government. But the whole time she was playing a very different game: she turned to Moscow for support in the presidential elections and had her own faction join forces with the opposition Party of Regions in the vote to limit the powers of President Viktor Yushchenko. Conversely, she has often evaded political responsibility for Ukraine's development. These politicians have quickly gambled away all the achievements of the democratisation process of 2004 and have thus become a deterrent example for the even less democratic states of the region." (10/10/2008)

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Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Polityka wewnętrzna, » Ukraina, » Rosja

Russia will gain the most from the power struggle between Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and President Viktor Yushchenko, writes Der Standard newspaper. "The next step in this power struggle comes with the early elections on December 7 - the third in three years. The elections are an indirect consequence of the war in Georgia. While Yushchenko ... condemned the Russian action and stood firmly on the side of the controversial Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, Tymoshenko avoided openly criticising Moscow. ... The result is a polarisation that harms the country as a whole - and that heightens Moscow's influence. This is all the sadder as a broad consensus exists among the Ukrainian population, politicians and businesspeople that the future of the country lies with the EU. But with the current political players, the way there is firmly blocked." (10/10/2008)

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Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Stosunki międzynarodowe, » Ukraina
Wszystkie dostępne teksty » Josef Kirchengast

"'Orange Ukraine' has tossed its chances to the wind", writes the left-liberal Süddeutsche Zeitung. "The domestic political crisis is crippling the country at the very time when a major international crisis is rocking the entire Black Sea region. The leadership in Kiev has been divided by Russia's invasion of Georgia and has no coherent plan for countering Russian pressure in the energy sector or for relaxing tensions on the Crimean Peninsula. Both there and in Moscow a growing number of politicians are brazenly calling for the peninsula to be split off from Ukraine. But Kiev has no clear approach either to Russia or to Yushchenko's favourite topic of Nato membership. As long as the Ukranian leadership fails to speak with one voice, it will be weak in foreign policy matters. In fact both Yulia Tymoshenko and Viktor Yushchenko are striving to create a stable, sovereign Ukraine. But their dispute is having just the opposite effect. Their inability to reach a compomise is doing the country great damage." (10/10/2008)

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Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Stosunki międzynarodowe, » Polityka bezpieczeństwa / Kryzys / Wojna, » Polityka wewnętrzna, » Ukraina, » Rosja, » Gruzja

According to the business newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore no one but Ukrainian head of state Viktor Yushchenko wants new elections in Ukraine. It writes that the preliminary elections announced on the president's homepage are solely the result of the "rivalry between the former allies of the pro-Western revolution, President Viktor Yushchenko and Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko. They are to blame for the defeat of the democratic coalition that was laboriously formed following the last elections in autumn 2007. None of the rivals has managed to reach an agreement with Viktor Yanukovych's opposition pro-Russian Party of Regions. But it looks like the President's party Our Ukraine is the only one that wants an election. Neither Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko nor Yanukovych nor the democratic independents led by Vladimir Litvin want elections." (10/10/2008)

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Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Polityka wewnętrzna, » Ukraina

The UN General Assembly has called on the International Court of Justice to investigate the legality of Kosovo's declaration of independence. The daily Večer sees a potential source of conflict in the decision: "Above all the democratic government of Serbian president Boris Tadić is profiting from the decision, because not even the opposition has anything to reproach the government for in this matter. ... In Serbia the decision is being touted as a success for Serbian diplomacy, but that is nothing but phrase-mongering and no one takes it seriously. Practically everyone involved is happy with the General Assembly's decision because it wins them time. ... However, much can change ... before the case comes before the court in The Hague. After what will probably be a very swift rapprochement between the EU and Serbia, the Kosovo question will be even less important there than it is now. ... Yet putting off the final decision could also bring a host of new problems with it. The biggest of these would be if ... the Kosovo Serbs understood the General Assembly's decision as a motiviation for even more radical measures. Then a policy of sticking one's head in the sand would no longer help." (10/10/2008)

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Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Stosunki międzynarodowe, » Rozszerzenie UE, » Polityka bezpieczeństwa / Kryzys / Wojna, » Serbia, » Kosowo
Wszystkie dostępne teksty » Mirko lorenci

The European Court of Human Rights has dismissed a claim brought by the "Preußische Treuhand" (Prussian Trust), the organisation representing German expellees. The daily Rzeczpospolita welcomes the decision: "The news that the European Court of Human Rights has rejected the claim brought by the German expellees is perhaps the best news Poland has ever had from Strasbourg - and the most important. It takes a load off the minds of many Poles - those who feared they could lose their homes or the fields they cultivate and those who anxiously watched the claims of a small group of expellees play havoc with relations between Germany and Poland. We have waited almost two years to hear what the tribunal in Strasbourg had to say about the case brought by the Prussian Trust. And although almost all the experts assured everyone that the action didn't stand a chance of winning, there was great unease. Now the Prussian Trust has lost its right to exist." (10/10/2008)

» Artykuł (Link zewnętrzny, polski)
Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Stosunki międzynarodowe, » Migracja, » Historia, » Niemcy, » Polska
Wszystkie dostępne teksty » Jerzy Haszczynski

Lisbon's municipal authorities have ordered the removal of an anti-immigration poster put up by the right-wing extremist Portuguese National Renewal Party (PNR). But according to the daily Jornal de Negócios this censorship is exactly what the PNR had hoped to achieve. "A single poster against immigration has sufficed to get copies of it printed in all the media. ... On the right-hand side of the poster is a map of Portugal ... with a white sheep kicking a black sheep off the map. ... Although the sentence: 'Immigration? We say no!' features at the top of the poster, it doesn't establish a direct connection between the black sheep and black immigrants. This is left to the person looking at the poster. ... It was an overreaction to order ...  the removal of the poster ... because the town hall's task is simply to analyse what is actually written and drawn rather than assess subjective messages. The censorship ... is a more serious problem than the message itself because it aims to fight extremists with the weapons of extremism." (09/10/2008)

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Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Migracja, » Integracja, » Mniejszości, » Portugalia
Wszystkie dostępne teksty » Eduardo Cintra Torres

The Nato defence ministers have met in Budapest to discuss the situation in Afghanistan. The Irish times argues in favour of entering into talks with the Taliban. "Nato defence ministers meeting in Budapest are considering renewed pleas from the United States for extra troops in Afghanistan to boost the alliance's military effort there against the Taliban. ... It is a contentious issue, made even more difficult by the world financial crisis, which severely constrains military budgets. Even without that pressure there is more and more open talk among leading Nato commanders that the war is unwinnable. ... This welcome new realism about the conflict recognises that it will need to be resolved in political talks with the Taliban. ... Political efforts to make progress should distinguish between pragmatic and fundamentalist opponents of the Karzai government, with the former more willing to reach an agreement to end hostilities and attempt to reconstruct the country." (10/10/2008)

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Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Stosunki międzynarodowe, » Polityka bezpieczeństwa / Kryzys / Wojna, » Azja

The Dutch government is starting a new organ donation campaign but has rejected the idea of adopting the Belgian system whereby everyone is automatically considered a donor. The daily newspaper De Volkskrant notes the success of the Belgian system: "It's remarkable that [Dutch Health] Minister [Abraham] Klink, who has no qualms about telling people what to do in other areas, is stressing the individual freedom of the donor in this, a matter of life and death. Naturally the state cannot force people to donate their organs. Nor can it force relatives to give their permission. This is not even legally possible. But the state can make organ donation a social norm - an expression of solidarity with one's fellow citizens. Every year hundreds of people die owing to the lack of donated organs. We must do everything possible to prevent this suffering." (10/10/2008)

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Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Zdrowie, » Holandia, » Belgia

António Guterres, UN High Commissioner for Refugees, calls in the weekly newspaper Rheinischer Merkur for a global pact to improve the situation of refugees. "Symptomatic of the 21st century are the immense flows of people forced to move from one region to the next. These human masses fleeing from military conflicts, human rights violations and natural catastrophes have abandoned homes in every corner of the world. Globalisation and the related economic expansion, endemic poverty and a lack of security push many people to leave their homes. ... If the situation improves - such as in Afghanistan, Burundi, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Southern Sudan – the transition from immediate relief to long-term development and peaceful stabilisation must be encouraged and strengthened. ... We need aid measures to improve the situation in underdeveloped regions. But they must not serve the richest countries of the world as a pretext for sloughing off the problems of humanitarian aid and protection onto countries less able to deal with the flow of masses. Protective measures for refugees in the South can never be an alternative to granting asylum in the North. In these times of a rapidly growing and increasingly mobile world population, what is needed is a new humanitarian protection pact. Global stability will depend on the ability of the countries of this world to divide the fruits of this shrinking planet more peacefully and equitably than previously." (09/10/2008)

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Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Polityka bezpieczeństwa / Kryzys / Wojna, » Migracja, » Cały świat
Wszystkie dostępne teksty » António Guterres

Writer and historian Timothy Garton Ash describes in the Italian daily La Repubblica the scenario of a culture war in the United States that he says also plays a signigicant role in the current election campaign. "No one has generated more hot air in this cause than Fox News anchor Bill O'Reilly, who in 2006 published a book proudly called 'Culture Warrior'. He describes the culture war as a battle between traditionalists ('T-Warriors') like himself and 'the committed forces of the secular-progressive movement that want to change America dramatically: mold it in the image of western Europe'. Like Europe! God, how horrible. ... O'Reilly pounds the hot buttons of the culture war with a ham fist: abortion, drugs, gay marriage. ... The framing of the political debate in cultural conservative terms ... contributed significantly to George Bush's election victories in 2000 and 2004. And one way of understanding the direction taken by the McCain campaign over the past few weeks is this: only the culture war can win it for us now. On Iraq, we lose. On the economy, we lose. But by caricaturing the liberal otherness of a candidate called Barack Obama, perhaps we can snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. Enter Sarah Palin, the Katyusha rocket of red America. ... Even if the red-clawed tactics of culture war don't pull Obama down at the last minute, an Obama victory won't spell the end of this war. But perhaps it may spell the beginning of the end. ... The world needs the United States to get over its cultural civil war, and get over it fast. Not that these moral, cultural and social issues are unimportant. They are among the most important things. But they are also among the most private things. The business of government and the law should be confined to providing a liberal (in the classical sense) framework in which men and women can make personal choices about private goods." (10/10/2008)

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Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Polityka wewnętrzna, » Światopogląd, » USA
Wszystkie dostępne teksty » Timothy Garton Ash

The conservative newspaper The Daily Telegraph comments on the diplomatic ill-will between Britain and Iceland after Prime Minister Gordon Brown used anti-terror laws to freeze Icelandic assets in Britain: "But can all the blame be attached to the Icelanders? Did not British depositors put their money in their financial institutions with open eyes in the expectation of profitable returns? ... How far should Britain go in demanding protection from the Icelanders for imprudent investors? The British are not alone, either. There are 100,000 Dutch depositors with money in the collapsed Icelandic banks. Mr Brown is stoking up an international crisis by threatening Reykjavik with legal action and freezing Icelandic assets in Britain, so he had better be pretty sure of his grounds and not merely rely upon an appeal to jingoism. Once the state, any state, starts bailing out people and institutions for making careless financial decisions, where is it going to end? A line must be drawn." (10/10/2008)

» Artykuł (Link zewnętrzny, angielski)
Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Stosunki międzynarodowe, » Rynki finansowe, » Wielka Brytania

The daily Lietuvos Rytas expresses concern about Lithuania's over-dependence on Russia in the energy sector. "In terms of energy policy we are dependent on Russia because over the last 18 years we have still not managed to decouple our electricity mains [from Russia] and build a connection with the West. We sold the Kaunas power station to [Russian energy giant] Gazprom, Lithuania's greatest 'friend'. We failed to implement our plans for a new nuclear power station. And we invested millions of euros in EU funding that were originally intended for the closure of the currently operating nuclear power station [in Ignalina] in the Elektrenai [gas turbine] power station [Lithuania's biggest power generator], which is entirely dependent on supplies from Russia. Will we be able to break free from this dependence with Europe's help? We must at any rate focus our efforts on achieving an energy mix." (10/10/2008)

» Artykuł (Link zewnętrzny, litewski)
Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Stosunki międzynarodowe, » Energia, » Litwa, » Rosja
Wszystkie dostępne teksty » Ramunas Bogdanas

The conservative newspaper Lidové Noviny approves of the decision to award the Nobel Prize in Literature to French writer Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio in view of the quality of his works. But nonetheless the daily speculates on whether one of the world's internationally best-selling authors does not also deserve to win the prize for once. "Normal people ... experienced the same reaction as last year (with Doris Lessing): 'Who's that? Have you ever read one of her books?' ... No one can force the committee in Stockholm to honour people who cater to the tastes of the masses. But perhaps [one could select] people who not only write beautifully but whose books are read in all corners of the world. However, the next question would be: Are there still such authors nowadays?" (10/10/2008)

» Artykuł (Link zewnętrzny, czeski)
Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Literatura, » Cały świat
Wszystkie dostępne teksty » Ondřej Horák

The Hungarians should seek the causes of their problems among themselves rather than with the European Union, two authors for the Hungarian think-tank Demos write in the business newspaper Figyelõ. "The majority of Hungarians see EU membership as one of the root causes of their imaginary or real hardships. But to always attribute all one's troubles to external circumstances is extremely detrimental. ... The background to the current problems lies in the political changes of 1989/90. In comparison to those of its neighbouring countries, Hungarian society had a particularly negative experience of the post-communist transformation process. The main reason for this is ironically the notion that we in Hungary had it 'too easy' under communism. ... So within the space of a few years we went from being the 'happy shack' to the 'dreariest shopping centre'." (10/10/2008)

» Artykuł (Link zewnętrzny, węgierski)
Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Stosunki międzynarodowe, » Rozszerzenie UE, » Węgry
Wszystkie dostępne teksty » Liska János Kollányi Zsófia