Berliner Zeitung 13.04.2007

Ukrainian author Mykola Riabchuk is against seeing the events in Ukraine as a simple clash between rival rulers Victor Yushchenko and Viktor Yanukovych. "It would also be too simple to view the conflict as a mere rivalry between two oligarchical clans - 'millionaire versus billionaire,' as observers joked during the revolution - or as a regional tension between the 'pro-Russian East' and the 'pro-European West.' Basically, the conflict is the upshot of an 'unfinished revolution,' one that did not thoroughly do away with the Soviet legacy - either in 1991 when Ukraine became independent, or with the 2004 Orange uprising. Nevertheless, the chances for radical change in 1991 were slight: the democratic powers were weak and only got a third of the vote in the parliamentary and presidential elections. But in 2004 thing were different. It was blundering and shabby behaviour and infighting among the Orange leaders that brought about their parliamentary defeat in 2006, and with it Yanukovych's return."


Die Tageszeitung 13.04.2007

In an interview with Stefan Reinecke and Daniel Bax, French philosopher Bernard-Henri Levy takes a romp through the world's problems, touching on his new book "American Vertigo", European Anti-Americanism and totalitarian Islam on the way. He believes it is a grave mistake to think that Islamic terrorist organisations such as Hamas will become less radical when they get into government. "There are also terrorist movements which did not become more moderate once they got into power. The National Socialists in Germany were one such example. In the twenties all number of people believed that they would calm down once in power. And what happened? How can you as a German be so sure that things will work out better with this precedent?"


Der Tagesspiegel 13.04.2007

Gregor Dotzauer works himself into a rage in his review of Andre Glucksmann's autobiography "Une rage d'enfant," (see our feature here), which has just come out in German: "Very often, the mirror of autobiography leads writers to discover a stranger. Glucksmann, however, sees pretty much exactly the independent, anti-ideological spirit he purports always to have been. His political u-turn at the beginning of the 70s? A bagatelle. And his membership in the French Communist Party, before he was expelled in 1957 for protesting against the quashing of the Hungarian Uprising isn't even mentioned. The months spent as an 'anarcho-maoist' after May '68 are only briefly referred to. It seems that nothing is worse for a political renegade like Glucksmann than having to admit to himself that he's just continuing his old mission under a new guise. Gluckmann's thinking and feeling as documented in this book betray a two-fold, internally conflicting continuity. There is the silent and the overt, the first lurks in the shallows of memory and the second is manufactured as literature."


Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 13.04.2007

The Pope has written a new book "Jesus of Nazareth," signing the foreword with both his private and papal name. Christian Geyer found it an impressive read, and is eager to find out what the response will be from theologians. "It spices up the discussion about the substance of a world religion, and tears this world religion out of its two-dimensional self-perception as a mere humanitarian and ethical project. Metaphysical seriousness has regained a point of reference. This is the achievement of this book which cannot be valued highly enough."


Frankfurter Rundschau 13.04.2007

Martina Meister reports that in the French presidential elections, the intellectuals are less visible and audible than they have been in the past. "Show business VIPs have taken on the old role of the French intellectuals. As if the brief lightening storm had replaced the weight of words once and for all. 'What's become of the intellectuals?" one worried commentator asks in the Catholic daily La Croix, who described their role as election celebrities as having shrunk to that of cheap extras."