While the Czechs and the Slovaks commemorate the 20th anniversary of the collapse of the communist regime, the Greeks are also honouring their 17 November democratic movement. "The Polytechnic, 36 years later," announces the To Vima headline over a photograph of Prime Minister, Georges Papandréou, who turned out carrying a rose to pay homage to the students of the Athens Polytechnic, who rebelled against the military junta in 1973. On the day following the official ceremony, the traditional march of Polytechnic students to the American embassy was "overshadowed by a heavy police presence," notes the daily. In the run-up to the anniversary of the December 2008 riots, authorities are concerned by about the possibility of disturbances orchestrated by the anarchist movement,which has been increasingly violent in recent months.
The leader of Greece’s leftist alliance SYRIZA is the new bright hope of Greek politics. Steering a course between pragmatism and the rhetoric of class warfare, he has unsettled Berlin, and not just those who back Angela Merkel's austerity policies. 
Europe’s economic woes have forced us to try to understand the secret Olympian world of global finance. But now that we pay more attention to bond yields and stability mechanisms, isn’t it clear that the experts up on their lofty peaks don’t know what’s going on either? 
This year’s Eurovision Song Contest is hosted by Azerbaijan, a country that is far from being a model democracy. An Estonian journalist takes a critical look at the deferential treatment enjoyed by the regime in Baku.