Middle East screams replace idle trade talk

Let the finger-pointing begin.

After the collapse of the Doha Round, the media observe the escalating blame game and consider the future of free trade.

The Netherlands' De Volkskrant laments the apparently insurmountable power of the humble farmer. "Any attempt to cut agricultural subsidies is doomed to fail," it writes in an editorial.

The paper also worries that the breakdown of the talks "will increase the scepticism among ordinary citizens about the benefits of free trade. That's an ideal breeding ground for dangerous protectionist sentiments, which are already on the rise."

Austria's Die Presse focuses on the "irreconcilable differences" between the EU and US, and the fact that "neither of the two blocs would give way first". It complains that the "biggest loser" is the developing world.

Switzerland's Le Temps explains that China, Brazil and India "now fill us not with pity but with fear", so that "everybody feels entitled to shamelessly defend their own private domains". Hey, what about Switzerland?

Meanwhile, Europe's papers also consider the continuing Middle East crisis, and wonder whether the EU has the cojones to send a multinational peacekeeping force to Lebanon.

France's Libération recalls the 1983 bombing in Beirut that claimed the lives of 58 French paratroopers. "The memory of the French soldiers who died," it says, "will remind people that an intervention in Lebanon - even if carried out with the best intentions in the world - is not risk-free."

Germany's Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung is more gung-ho. "In the medium term," it says, "there may be no way around sending such a force." It cautions that the troops must be given a robust mandate and wide-ranging powers.

Die Welt says Israel would only agree to the deployment of an international force once southern Lebanon is "free of Hizbullah".

Berliner Zeitung doubts whether the EU would be able, in practical and political terms, to deploy a force. It points out that it has "already reached the limits of its current capacity with its much smaller Congo mission".

Sweden's Sydsvenska Dagbladet thinks Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert would be more willing to hand the task to NATO, unless he wanted to buy more time to deal with Hizbullah by "tossing the issue over to the notoriously indecisive EU".

Spain's El Pais examines the recent troubles faced by EADS, the European aerospace consortium, including delivery delays for its much-hyped Airbus A380 super-jumbo and the departure of two senior executives.

Perhaps not surprisingly for a Spanish paper, it blames the competing interests of France and Germany, the countries that dominate EADS. It points out that the new management team is also Franco-German, and will need to operate as "a more agile, modern leadership". It adds that "efficient company management requires a single head of EADS, a repository for the trust of all the European countries".

• Craig Winneker is editor of TCSDaily.com

Let the finger-pointing begin.

• Primary Source