The Financial Times calls for the resignation of Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe: "To have a chance at recovery, Zimbabwe needs a clean break. This is something the long-suffering Zimbabwean electors proved only too aware of when they voted in a first round of presidential elections in March to retire Robert Mugabe. At the least, they now need a strictly defined, internationally monitored, timetable that brings a near-term end to his catastrophic rule. ... Mr Mugabe may be willing to relinquish some of his powers. But he has sought to retain the trump card – a grip on the army and police. It is hubristic on his part to think that simply handing over the ruins of Zimbabwe's economy will be sufficient to persuade the international community to step forward with a rescue package. ... The wily autocrat is turning negotiations into a means of preserving the status quo. At this point, the talks are only worth pursuing if they establish a peaceful way for him to go." (14/08/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » Security Policy / Crises / War, » Domestic Policy, » Africa

Liisa Laakso, professor for international politics at the University of Helsinki, calls in the daily Helsingin Sanomat for the West to exercise restraint in the Zimbabwean crisis: "Zimbabwe holds the world record for inflation. ... The spread of AIDS is the main reason for the world's lowest life expectancy of 35 years. ... There is also great danger of widespread famine. ... The government of Robert Mugabe and [his party] ZANU-PF is responsible for the country's present plight. ... But the opposition has proven its staying power and the old government's resources for oppressing [the people] are almost exhausted. The new situation demands ... a division of powers. ... But the West should not be given credit for this. ... It will take time and effort to achieve national reconciliation, economic recovery and security in the near future. The fate [of this country] lies in the hands of the Zimbabweans. We can only offer support to the Third World in its search for lasting solutions." (14/08/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » Security Policy / Crises / War, » Domestic Policy, » Africa

The Süddeutsche Zeitung comments on the role of South African Presidet Thabo Mbeki in the coalition talks in Zimbabwe, calling for one last negotiation attempt: "Thabo Mbeki could not have ... disgraced himself more. He will appear empty handed at the summit meeting of the South African Development Community [in Johannesburg]. ... With Mbeki as a negotiator, there will presumably be no true sharing of power in Zimbabwe between the tyrant Robert Mugabe and the opposition. Mbeki is far too close to the despot. Morgan Tsvangirai, head of the MDC opposition party, had no choice. He had to break off negotiations. ... It would have been a complete surrender to the criminal Mugabe if Tsvangirai had played at being prime minister without any power. ... The South African states should recall Mbeki as negotiator and send a neutral personality from their ranks to Harare. Tsvangirai should agree to one last attempt at negotiation." (14/08/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » Security Policy / Crises / War, » Domestic Policy, » Africa

The daily Der Standard criticises the way the EU is conducting the negotiations in the Caucasus conflict: "Welcome to the 'softie' EU. The Georgians and the inhabitants of those countries Moscow euphemistically refers to as its 'close foreign countries' and which Russia in fact regards as one big training ground for its army on its western borders - Ukraine, the Baltic states, Moldova and the oil republic of Azerbaijan - are no doubt rubbing their eyes in amazement at the foreign ministers' decision for a ceasefire in the Caucasus. After careful and lengthy consideration the European Union has decided to send 'observers'. Meanwhile, for Georgia every second counts now. ... Russia is being allowed to dictate its conditions for peace in the Caucasus because the Europeans - and the Americans - are unwilling to oppose its claim to power. ... In the past few years the leaders of the EU were always happy to point to Georgia as a model of Europe's neighbour policy and in speeches about a 'transit corridor' between Central Asia and Europe for the EU's energy security. Only the Eastern Europeans who have already had their experiences with the Soviet Union, and Great Britain, which has no illusions about the nature of the new Russia, are prepared to show solidarity with Georgia. Ukraine has now restricted the movement of the Russian fleet in Crimea. What the Georgians want now is a concrete sign of solidarity." (14/08/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » Security Policy / Crises / War, » EU Policy, » Russia, » Europe, » Georgian Republic
All available articles from » Markus Bernath

The Irish Taoiseach Brian Cowan has been in office for 100 days. The Irish Times evaluates his performance and evokes the "difficult times" faced by the leader: "Brian Cowen's first 100 days as Taoiseach have coincided with two intense administrative and economic challenges that have shaken his self-confidence and threatened the authority of Government. A further horrendous period like that and the public will begin to look around for a successor. ... The Fianna Fáil leader is in a thankless position. By putting the economy first and taking harsh budgetary decisions, there is a risk that the party may lose out in next year's local elections. However, resolute leadership is required and he must gamble that the electorate will reward him for it. His reaction to the Lisbon challenge will dictate how Ireland's concerns are viewed in Brussels. He will need to be imaginative and lucky." (14/08/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » EU Policy, » Domestic Policy, » Ireland

Not the prosecutor's office but the Romanian parliament decided yesterday that no corruption charges should be brought against two members of parliament, former prime minister Adrian Năstase and former transport minister Miron Mitrea. According to Gândul newspaper, the decision will have profound consequences. "This vote puts an end to justice in Romania. For 18 years the citizens of this country have lived with the ideas of the constitutional state, democracy and equality before the law. And they believed in these principles. But now they have been openly ridiculed. ... Parliament should have sent Năstase and Mitrea not to jail or the electric chair, but to court - if not out of moral responsibility, then at least as a political calculation. ... The parliamentarians who opposed this move have sunk even deeper in public opinion than they already were. What pressure were they under? Who was their most important advisor? There is only one answer: fear. The brute fear of facing the prosecution themselves in a court of law. The extent of this crippling fear exposes the number of skeletons in the closet, the magnitude of the thievery and dishonesty, and the enormous sums of money that have been amassed in the Palace of the Parliament." (14/08/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » Romania
All available articles from » Cristian Tudor Popescu

Le Monde newspaper criticises the reforms of the new Cuban President Raúl Castro in a lead article. "Since Fidel's forced retirement in the summer of 2006, change has been taking place at a snail's pace. The 'structural and conceptual changes' promised by his brother and successor Raúl are long in coming. .. Among the hindrances to effective reforms are global economic difficulties - namely the rise in food prices - but also political obstacles. ... The famous liberalisation of mobile telephones, the much needed agricultural reform and the improvement of public transport present real but insufficient examples of progress. ... If Cuba wants to avoid sinking even deeper into crisis, it must overcome the reluctance of the nomenclature and the Castro supporters and accelerate the speed of change. .. Raúl knows very well that true political liberalisation would bring fresh economic impulses and an indispensable normalisation of relations with Europe, Latin America and the US. Raúl knows that time is playing against him. Will Fidel ever admit this?" (13/08/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » Latin Amerika

On the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the Soviet invasion of Prague on August 21, 1968, political scientist Søren Riishøj discusses in Jyllands-Posten the upheavals in the divided Europe of 1968: "The unique thing about both of these 'springs' was that they took place at the same time. But the differences are manifest. The students in Prague mostly wanted a humanisation of Marxism and a rapprochement with the West. With the youth protests in the West, however, the goal was to give Marxism a 'doctrinaire purity'. ... In other words, the intellectuals in Western Europe looked with mistrust at Prague, while the students in Prague looked with indulgent smiles at the youths who stormed the streets of Paris, 'afflicted with an erroneous idea [of socialism]'. ... For most Czechs the Velvet Revolution in 1989 was an 'anti-1968-event'. The idea was not to reform socialism, but to return to Europe. ... Prague Spring, the invasion of the Warsaw Pact [troops] on August 21 and the 20 year-long ice age that followed ... are examples of the tragic, historic events of which the Czech Republic and Slovakia have so many." (14/08/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » History, » Eastern Europe, » Western Europe
All available articles from » Søren Riishøj

British historian Henry Kamen uses the case of the arrest of Radovan Karadžić, the former leader of the Bosnian Serbs, to examine the question of whether the sentencing of an alleged war criminal before the International Court of Justice can help to resolve a conflict. "The sentence against Karadžić, who is held responsible for the deaths of 20,000 people, was an important symbolic gesture. But will it resolve the causes for the bloody conflict in Bosnia? ... One suspects that the trial in The Hague is little more than a Roman Circus Maximus in which the persecutors isolate and destroy their prey. The judges who condemn him will demonstrate that they have defended civilisation against barbarism. We can sleep more peacefully and wait until the next regional leader in some remote corner of the world provides us with a new Banja Luka, a new Srebrenica. Once again a world power, perhaps this time under Obama's leadership, will march into a country. And when it's all over only the regional leader will be sentenced before the International Court of Justice. And once again we can sleep peacefully knowing that another war criminal has been caught." (14/08/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » Security Policy / Crises / War, » Crime and Law, » U.S., » South East Europe, » Serbia
All available articles from » Henry Kamen

According to the Belgian daily De Standaard Belgium needs to battle recession not only with short-term measures but by reforming its economy: "Ireland is often held up as a model for a nation that has rid itself of poverty by opening up and modernising its economy. This success has now ... reached its limits but [the modernisation] created prosperity. Reducing the influence of the state on the economy, creating tax incentives and opening up its borders to foreign workers: all these measures have driven growth. If you get rid of the restrictions on companies you create dynamics that no amount of regulations and laws can prescribe. The coming months will be tough. The confrontation between population groups eager to secure their purchasing power and companies that are fighting to survive will be extremely fierce. But what is important is to set one's sights beyond the economic downturn." (14/08/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » Economic Policy, » Ireland, » Belgium
All available articles from » Bart Sturtewagen

Mervyn King, governor of the Bank of England, has announced a gloomy prognosis for the British economy. The Guardian comments on the implications for the British government. "If wages remain sluggish, the case for a rate cut will soon become unanswerable. The Bank remains nervous, but at least has the prospect that its dilemma will thus ease. No such luck for ministers, who will find no comfort at all in Mr King's suggestion that the 'squeeze on real take-home pay' will soon intensify. For Gordon Brown, in particular, the worry is voters will now turn even more violently on the man who once led them to believe that he had abolished boom and bust. He must show struggling families that he is on their side, but his options are limited as the slowdown is hitting the government's already-battered books. The scant funds available must be channelled into assistance with heating, and targeted help with mortgages for those in danger of repossession. It will not be easy to afford such a package. But what the government can afford even less is to stand idly by and leave vulnerable people to struggle alone as the big squeeze takes hold." (14/08/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » Fiscal Policy, » Consumers, » United Kingdom

UNESCO has ordered the city of Prague to revise a project for constructing skyscarpers near its centre, threatening that unless the city complies it could be struck from the World Heritage list. Prague newspaper Pražský deník notes that the critics of the project can notch up UNESCO's demand as a success: "UNESCO has put an end to the skyscraper plans. These buildings that were to reach a hundred metres into the sky will now end up at least 30 metres smaller because otherwise Prague's unique panorama would suffer. The civic initiatives have won their battle - albeit on international soil. The city authorities had so far proven immune to their demands. Mayor of Prague Pavel Bem claimed that the threat of the city being struck off the World Heritage list was not real. Now we know that it is indeed real." (14/08/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » Architecture / Cities, » Cultural Policy, » Czech Republic
All available articles from » Jitka Eisenhammerová

The Sziget Festival, one of the biggest music festivals in Europe, began yesterday in Hungary. The German daily die tageszeitung reports on the spectacle where the youth of Europe gather. "For one week there is a wonderland on earth. It has hundreds of flags and new anthems each day. Its language is a Babylonian mishmash. ... The sun shines on the rest of the world, but here it shines brighter. At ten in the morning, walking along the lanterned streets, you'll see hundreds of people doing yoga exercises, forcing their legs behind their heads. Beside them on the grass lie drunken metalheads clad in black. ... Sziget is a funfair. But for adults. My time is slowly running out, the time limit in the Internet tent is twenty minutes. Olympic wrestling matches are being shown on a huge screen outside. In the background a didgeridoo sounds softly, beckoning you back to the wonderland under the Hungarian August sky. With a whisper it promises that the magic will not stop. For a whole week." (14/08/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » Music, » Public Culture, » Hungary, » Europe

Göran Greider, chief editor of the daily Dala-Demokraten, disparages media coverage of the Caucasus conflict: "The coverage ... is one-sided and it looks like an old-fashioned Russian bogeyman is being dragged out to scare people. Georgia is practically a satellite of the US. ... I listened to an interview with [Swedish Foreign Minister] Carl Bildt on the radio today in which he was basically given the role of an independent expert. When at the end of the interview he was asked whether the Georgian leadership bears responsibility for the dramatic escalation of the conflict, his reply - after several attempts at evasion - basically boiled down to a no. And this pattern is repeated everywhere. A self-appointed Russia expert claimed that Russia has distanced itself from European values. Excuse me? Why were the UK and the majority of European countries not accused of distancing themselves from these values when they participated in the illegal war in Iraq? ... It is completely unreasonable that Carl Bildt's analysis appears to be setting the standard for the media's view on the situation." (14/08/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » Security Policy / Crises / War, » Audiovisual Media, » Print media, » Sweden, » Russia, » Georgian Republic
All available articles from » Göran Greider

The daily Les Echos reports on discrimination against the English in Ireland: "The latest story circulating in Dublin is not the one about the notorious Polish plumber but about one of his English colleagues who was the victim of discrimination on a construction site in Ireland. It all began with unfriendly remarks about an English builder who had a job in Dublin installing industrial pipes. To his great dismay the English football team was eliminated from the World Cup 2006 after a miserable performance. And the colleagues of this man, who is only referred to as 'Mr C' frequently reminded him of this. Much too frequently. Then the nasty comments were replaced by insults and bad jokes which bordered on racism. Things got so bad that an Irish court recently ordered Mr C to be paid 20,000 euros in damages. The Irish Times agrees that 'discrimination against English people is no joke'." (14/08/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » Migration, » Integration, » United Kingdom, » Ireland