Der Tagesspiegel 12.10.2006

In an interview with Caroline Fetscher, Moscow philosopher Michail Ryklin discusses the Putin system and the murder of Anna Politkovskaya (more here). "Until now, we critical spirits believed in a civilisational minimum at the least, a more or less walkable floor to society. Now the message is: none of you are safe any more. Notability, Western friends, respect and awards can no longer protect against violent attacks on the freedom of expression. If someone like Politkovskaya can be murdered in broad daylight in such an beastly way, any of us could be next. That is a shock. All the more so because in today's Russia, most political murders are never solved."


Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 12.10.2006

Chechen journalist Mainat Abdullayeva explains what Anna Politkovskaya's work meant to the Chechens, and concludes: "Politkovskaya's murder clearly shows no one can feel safe in Putin's Russia. Not even in Moscow in broad daylight, and not even as an internationally respected journalist. Possibly the real objective of the murder was to warn the rest of the disobedient that the killer with the dark baseball cap – who felt so safe he didn't even hide his face from the video cameras – will come one day to anyone who presumes to criticise the power of the reincarnated KGB. The West looks away coyly every time the current Russian regime shows its true face. How many ritual sacrifices are necessary before it plucks up the courage and takes a closer look at this bloody mug?"


Die Zeit 12.10.2006

After five years of renovations and a "Sleeping Beauty" existence during the communist era, Berlin's Bode Museum, which houses the sculptural treasures of the Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz (Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation) will open in a week's time. Jens Jessen is delighted at what he's seen. "The Riemenschneider gallery is truly gripping, not to mention the charming Gothic Parisian Madonnas or the virtuoso miniature bronzes of the Italian Mannerists. Then there are the rare specimens of large Byzantine and Romanic sculpture, and fragments of the largest Baroque high altar, the so-called Mannheimer Hochaltar. This is completely covered in gold, and even as a fragment it evokes a shudder of admiration. Then we have Pisano and Vittoria, Maiano and Canova. The collection of Italian sculpture is the most important outside Italy."

Hanno Rauterberg is pleased that, forty years after his death, Le Corbusier's St. Pierre Church in Firminy has finally been completed. "Le Corbusier, born Charles Jeanneret, fought for years for this church, with bishops and building authorities. He couldn't understand why they didn't just trust him; he was, in the early 1960s, the most influential architect of the century, an architectural revolutionary. He had already built two much-admired churches, in Ronchamp and Eveux, and now there should be a triad, an architectural trinity. But in Firminy in southern France, a mining town of 20,000 near Lyon, there wasn't enough money." For forty years, the unfinished church, "a submarine bunker" waited to be either completed or torn down. Financing from the municipality and the EU finally made the former possible. "It still looks unfinished, definitely eccentric. A bit like a cooling tower or maybe a volcano. A huge sand castle? A silo to God?"


Neue Zürcher Zeitung 12.10.2006

Georges Waser expresses his doubts about the choice of 35 year old author Kiran Desai for this year's Booker Prize. "In the shortlist of 6, the only established names were Sarah Waters and Kate Grenville. Kiran Desai, M.J. Hyland, Hisham Matar and Edward St. Aubyn are the new voices, and with Matar's 'In the Country of Men,' a debut novel made the last round. Nonetheless, reading the Booker's press release on the award, a funny feeling creeps in. Edward St Aubyn is praised for the fact that he was raped by his father as a child until he – at the age of eight – rebelled against him. How embarrassing can promotion possibly be – does literature really have to sell itself that way? Involuntarily you think of Graham Greene's refusal to be nominated for the Booker Prize."