The author argues that, despite the Labour Government’s best efforts, the proposed plan for ID cards in the UK will almost certainly be a key topic for debate in the run up to the next general election, as it is a controversial policy that affects citizens in numerous ways, such as by directly challenging our accepted civil liberties. Will this very costly expenditure even make the UK any safer?

Russia attempts to come back to life by playing with the strength of its two geo-strategical instruments: oil and natural gas.

Find out why the crisis in South Ossetia has constituted a tough international setback for Russia and the Slavophile and pro-Oriental positions that the new president Medvedev and his prime minister Putin defend. However, should Europe expect some type retaliation by Moscow in terms of energy?

The European companies with the greatest number of women in leadership positions show above average returns, as evidenced by Ericsson or Nokia. So why is the sex ratio so disproportionate in positions of responsibility in the political and business fields? Would the European Union work better with more female leadership?

The Irish no to the Treaty of Lisbon has made a clear statement: it is imperative to take every European citizen seriously. If this does not happen, the EU will continue without substantial progress in the political arena. The preeminence of technical and the bureaucratic complications will push the EU at two different speeds, which could cause it to derail entirely, says the author.

• The European Union: The Coming Crisis
  por Carlos Taibo

After Ireland’s rejection of the Treaty of Lisbon, the EU has two options: to repeat the referendum or to continue with the document’s ratification. If the community directors continue their protests, the Union runs the risk of entering in a crisis of the growing dissatisfaction of citizens, walking into an alley without an exit, the author warns.

• Anemia in the European Union
  por Luis Méndez Asensio

A tacit and politically correct agreement between parties, media, and institutions in Italy previously prohibited the association of the word delinquent with any concrete nationality. This pact has been broken by the immigration policy of Silvio Berlusconi’s new government, the risk of which, the author says, lies in the use of simplified formulas of communication that center all public attention in fear of the others and the illusion that their expulsion will solve the problem.

• Berlusconi returns with the same formula from four years ago
  por José Catalán Deus

Although the terrorist group ETA was beheaded in France and this political blow had psychological effects on the morale of the terrorists, this operation does not mean the end of the terrorist group, but rather the relay point for new leadership, said the author.

Serbia continues to be entangled in an inescapable deadlock, without internal options that involve the majority of the population and without any reason to trust outside proposals – especially those of the European Union, despite their success in the parliamentary elections, says the author.

• The Kosovan State is unviable
  por Raquel Sánchez Bujaldón
• Kosovo´s final status: another chapter of turmoil in the Balkans?
  por Borja Lasheras