ITALY
ITALY
La Stampa, Turin, March 14: It is clear that the main European governments, from Paris to Rome and Berlin, regard Russian President Vladimir Putin as one of the most ambiguous, important characters on the world scene.
During the past seven years of his term ... there were negative assessments and positive prejudices on the unknown (former) KGB officer, who suddenly came out from the underground of the Bolshevik history to sit on the Kremlin throne.
By getting "American," Moscow became, ostensibly at least, the most opulent and surprising city of the former Communist block.
Degeneration
On the other hand, especially during Putin's second term, we began to feel more the degeneration into a condensed mix of personal authoritarianism and formal democracy.
Could the fact that 40 percent of European energy needs depend on Russian natural gas and oil make the Italian government dodge any talk of lack of democracy in Moscow's parliament and the violent repression of thousands of rioters in St. Petersburg?
Someone should still tell Putin that despite the need for foreign oil, he cannot force European democracies to clash with their American ally, to diminish NATO importance or forget about the protection of human rights in Russia and particularly in the Caucasus area.
JAPAN
Yomiuri Shimbun, Tokyo, March 14: Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and visiting Australian Prime Minister John Howard signed a Japan-Australia joint declaration on security cooperation Tuesday.
Japan has maintained security cooperation relations with the United States, which is Japan's only military ally, and this is the first time it has formed such a relationship with another country.
Weak cooperation
In the trilateral security relationship of Japan, Australia and the United States, the cooperation between Tokyo and Canberra has been relatively weak. Enhancement of such relations will contribute to peace and stability, not only in East Asia but also the whole international community.
The joint declaration stipulates stronger cooperation in various fields, including international peacekeeping activities, efforts to prevent proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, antiterrorism activities and securing marine and air transportation safety. The two countries will compile an action plan for such items.
It is also important to strengthen economic relations between the two countries. To create strategic relations with Australia, Japan also has to push negotiations for a bilateral economic partnership agreement to build two stable pillars of security and economy in their relations.
BRITAIN
The Observer, London, March 11: The experience of most civilians feels very distant from life in uniform. That is inevitable. Society asks a select few to put their lives in danger so that the many can go about their business untroubled.
But that detachment must never lead to neglect. Shamefully, that is what has happened in the case of injured soldiers treated in degrading conditions at Selly Oak hospital in Birmingham. Shocking letters revealed today by The Observer expose the desperate poverty of care they receive. The injured, their friends and families have had to plead for respect and dignity. Their treatment is insulting, a breach of the unwritten contract between a society and its military defenders.
Transition to civilian life can be stressful and disorienting. To foist it on a bedridden combat casualty is not just unreasonable, it is cruel. Some hospitalised soldiers have been subjected to abuse from civilians who, disapproving of the Iraq war, direct their anger at the uniformed scapegoats on their ward.
Political failure
Underlying this is a wider political failure. The government has been quick to use military power in the pursuit of foreign policy goals. Regardless of the arguments over whether it has been right to do so, it was foolish not to think through the consequences for servicemen and women. When battle fronts are opened, casualties must be expected and provision for them made. Those casualties cause discomfort for the leaders who sent them into battle.
Conditions at Selly Oak suggest that this disgraceful pattern will continue. But it is not too late to signal a change. More wards, under military management, must be dedicated to war casualties. Standard NHS restrictions on visiting times for injured personnel and their families must be lifted.
Above all, soldiers and veterans must not be caught up in political arguments about the wars they have fought. Whatever the outcome in Iraq and Afghanistan, our armed forces are bravely fulfilling their special duties abroad. They expect and deserve special treatment at home.
LATVIA
Diena, Riga, March 12: The Germany presidency is beginning to justify the hopes laid upon it. Last fall, when the European Union was suffering doubts about its decision-making ability, international influence and even its future, the Germans emphatically strove to minimize talk that, under their tutelage, the EU would get a new burst in the first six months of 2007 -- a chance to set the EU's daily regimen and mark solutions to Europe's painful institutional and psychological problems.
Yet at a session of the European Council at the end of last week, another Europe suddenly emerged -- forward-looking, capable of making decisions, internationally significant. EU government leaders agreed on targets to reduce greenhouse emissions to at least 20 percent of 1990 levels by the year 2020.
Internal disagreements
In one stroke, the EU has proven it has the ability to overcome serious internal disagreements (in this case over renewable energy), put forward ambitious goals for the future and continue challenging the rest of the world.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose leadership brought this result, has not only shown herself to be Europe's chief politician, she has also given a superb lesson how to transform a problem into a much-promising opportunity.