Poland is the EU country most willing to grant political asylum to refugees, reports Dziennik Gazeta Prawna. According to a recent Eurostat report, Polish officials last year okayed 65% of asylum applications – more than twice the EU average. A great majority of refugees (91%) seeking asylum in Poland come from Chechnya. Following in the Chechens’ footsteps are Georgians who have submitted a few thousand applications for asylum in the first half of 2009 – most which have been rejected, says Ewa Piechota from Poland’s Office for Foreigners. In 2008, EU countries granted political asylum to 7,400 refugees from Russia, 2,700 of them accorded by the Polish authorities. “Poland is more often seen as a rich country so we can’t prevent the influx of new immigrants”, says Jacek Białas from Amnesty International. According to a recent poll, 67% believe Poland should take in more refugees since many Poles that were persecuted under communism in the 80s were offered protection by the West.
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.