Berliner Zeitung, 21.09.2005

Christian Bommarius offers a cool analysis of the possibility of a "grand coalition" between the centre-left SPD and conservative CDU/CSU. Without Merkel: "The 98.6% with which she has been re-elected as leader of her parliamentary group will not prolong her political life, but rather raise her value as a pawn in the coming negotiations for a coalition." And without Schröder: "Schröder's evident wish to organise a coalition under his leadership seems like a model of Machiavellian praxis, but is in fact a lesson taken from the con man's handbook. He emphasised that he would not partake in a grand coalition under Christian Democratic leadership – meaning, it will be one without him. Those who support the grand coalition will demand the sacrifice of the Queen. The CDU will be more than happy to oblige but will demand in return, that the SPD relinquish its King, Gerhard Schröder. Checkmate."


Süddeutsche Zeitung, 21.09.2005

Thomas Steinfeld takes a look at the German admiration of Scandinavia, which runs through all political parties. They have accomplished "what we can only dream of: the integration of an almost American market economy in a welfare state with continuous growth and regular budget surpluses." The enviable openness of the labour market there can be attributed to the fact that Scandinavia lacks German vices: "The malice that is necessary to turn employment and unemployment into a question of character and perseverance and, on the other side, the gushing admiration, near devotion with which halfway successful entrepreneurs are regarded here in Germany, are products of a moralised view of labour unknown in Scandinavian countries."


Die Tageszeitung, 21.09.2005

In a jointly signed essay, European Green Party parliamentarian Daniel Cohn-Bendit and political scientist Claus Leggewie attempt to interpret the complicated mandate resulting from the German federal elections on Sunday. "The tattered parliamentary democracy in Germany has to be strengthened, to stand up to Schröder's chancellor democracy – with the predominant role it gives party bosses, its commissions and its toe-the-line majorities. In any event, the cartels of the weak major parties (SPD and CDU/CSU) no longer dictate the rules of the game. The European Parliament has shown that reasonable politics are possible even with variable majorities. Below the surface, there is a trend to the Europeanisation of public systems and usages. A common point of reference for European public space and communication is growing, even though politicians on the national level are unaware of it. It would be good if the Greens were neither on the Left on on the Right, but out front on this question of how democratic politics should develop."


Frankfurter Rundschau, 21.09.2005

In a short article, sexual researcher Volkmar Sigusch looks at the development of the question of sex. "It is a historical achievement when the question of eating is expanded to include social considerations. And it is an achievement when the question of society is expanded to include questions of sex and gender. But our notion of sexuality is in fact only a provincial, and in itself paradoxical, achievement. Because the sexual is at once dramaticised and hushed up, accentuated and hidden, sought out and forbidden, generalised and individualised. Such a twisted form of sexuality only exists in Europe and North America."


Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 21.09.2005

In a series for potential emigrants looking to leave the disheartened Federal Republic, Martin Kämpchen reports on the huge need for skilled professionals in India: "The South Indian magazine The Week announced at the end of August that the country needs computer and IT specialists, as well as pilots, aeronautics and automotive engineers. In addition, doctors and health care specialists, biotechnologists, pharmaceutical and food processing technicians are needed desperately. In a country as huge as India, such deficits quickly reach the hundreds of thousands."

Rose-Maria Gropp has visited the largest ever exhibition of works by 'Blue Rider' artist and co-founder Franz Marc, in which half of the artist's oil paintings and over 150 works on paper have been brought together at the Kunstbau and neighbouring Lenbachhaus museum complex in Munich. "Who would enter an exhibition like this not expecting overkill? Of colours and forms, of exposed epigonism and the unavoidable detrimental effect of popularisations? But the opposite is the case. A universe explodes in the underground rooms of the Kunstbau, which shows the major focus of the show: Franz Marc from 1910 to 1915 (Marc died of shrapnel wounds near Verdun in early 1916, aged 36 – ed). The prelude to this short phase of furious perfection and continual metamorphosis can be seen at the Lenbachhaus, where Marc's early works – from his groping beginnings around 1903 to the later 'Blue Rider' movement - are on display."