Gazeta points out that Berlin’s bailout plan for Opel has been also criticised in Belgium, Spain, and Great Britain, as Germany expects that part of the EUR 4.5 bn bill will be footed by the countries where Opel has its factories, while only the automaker’s German plants will not risk closure. For example, Magna/Sberbank plans to cut down production in Opel’s Zaragossa plant by one third and fire 1,400 workers to save 1,700 jobs in Germany.

According to Wyborcza, Washington will now increase the pressure on its European allies. ‘The Americans are facing the wall because the Canadians, who have already lost 131 men, have pledged to withdraw their 3,000-strong contingent from the southern province of Kandahar by end-2010,’ reports the Warsaw daily. Yet, if anything, the Europeans are thinking about pulling out from Afghanistan. The prospect has already been hinted at by the Dutch, who have suffered 21 casualties (their 1,800-strong contingent is supposed to return home by 2011), and is openly discussed by the Italians, shocked by the death of six their commandoes in an ambush last week. Sources in the Polish government have also ruled out sending more troops to Afghanistan, at least for now. The only country that has pledged help so far is Spain, expected to send an extra 200 troops shortly.

All the countries ringing the Arctic Ocean – Denmark (via Greenland), the United States, Russia, Norway, and Canada – have territorial claims on the area, Politiken points out. With the question unresolved, each is beginning to "get prepared" – military-wise. Politiken judges the matter one for the United Nations to settle, observing that Denmark, which has "a long tradition of respect for international public law and the United Nations as an institution," could very well "take the initiative" and present a resolution.