The very first fundamental condition that must be met in order for a State to exist is for other international players to recognize it. In that case, Kosovo is already a full State, since it has been recognized by the strongest members of the European Union (France, the United Kingdom, Italy and Germany) and the United States. But is this recognition enough for Kosovo to begin its independent life? Does Western support make the Kosovan State viable?

• An intermediate solution to the Kosovo conflict
  por Ferran Requejo
• Kosovo´s final status: another chapter of turmoil in the Balkans?
  por Borja Lasheras

No one disputes Juan Carlos I’s role as facilitator of democracy during the Spanish transition. Regardless of the current crown-wearer’s behavior, the author believes it is necessary to open up a serious debate concerning the viability of the monarchy, and he directly points to the type of regime that we want in Spain.

The French President, Nicolas Sarkozy was Minister of the Interior during the greatest urban disturbances in recent French history, which took place in the most marginalized neighborhoods of the principal cities. He wants to avoid repetition of these events. The twentieth plan that he wants to apply to the suburbs has been dubbed Hope. Are the measures effective? What is the origin of the violence? Are we dealing with an Islamic revolt? Will it be useful to maintain a hard line?

Finding a solution to the future of Kosovo that satisfies the Serbs and the Albanian-Kosovars is proving to be a difficult task; perhaps the alternative could at one stage be the creation of a Confederation between Serbia and Kosovo, which is still its province; it would not be an optimal situation for either of the parties, but it could be an intermediate route towards the final, peaceful solution to the conflict.

The refusal of the United States to halt the installation of the anti-missile shield in Poland and the Czech Republic, and the mounting aggression between Washington and Moscow, gave the impression that a new Cold War atmosphere has come over International Relations.

• Kosovo´s final status: another chapter of turmoil in the Balkans?
  por Borja Lasheras
• Poland Wagers for Change
  por Mercedes Herrero de la Fuente
• Spain, before and after funding from the European Union
  por Ferran Requejo
• Anemia in the European Union
  por Luis Méndez Asensio
• Changes in the Russian Security Agenda
  por Rafael Calduch Cervera

Kosovo’s independence is inevitable, given the failure of multiethnicism in the Balkans, the overwhelming support it has amongst Kosovars, and the fact that Serbia’s grip upon the region is currently only nominal, argues the author. He suggests that the EU should play a more important role in mediating the conflict and attempt to implement the main parts of the Ahtisaari Plan. At the same time, caution must be exercised, so as to avoid a crisis with Serbia or Russia, as well as a repeat of the gruesome violence that gripped the region during the 1990s.

The crisis between the Turkish army and the Kurdish rebels of the PKK seems to be mitigated thanks to the offers guaranteed to Turkey on behalf of the United States and Iraq, but the chaos that devastated the latter, predicts that the conflict will continue in the short term, and possibly the long term as well. Turkey has emerged victorious from its first incursion but the future is no more flattering for its interests. A large part of the solution the crisis is thanks to the United States.

The electoral results received in Poland have transformed the political landscape of the country: the defeat of the conflicting Kaczynski brothers, and the failure of the radical parties has restored to the Polish people true optimism. Among, the first measures of the administration of Donald Tusk is the announcement of the retreat by 2008 of the 1,200 Polish soldiers stationed in Iraq, the adoption of the Euro in 2012, and the signing of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU.

Spain contributes to the missions of multilateral peace, humanitarian aid, and reconstruction that was proposed by the Government and passed by the Congress which represents the Spanish citizenry. The country is already a power on the global stage, and for this reason it neither can nor should elude its responsibilities.