Katoikos: Children should not be used as an argument for or against gay marriages

As things stand, Europe is split in half, with the western part having embraced full equality for LGBT individuals, and the eastern and southern regions dragging their feet.

Currently the debate is ongoing in Malta, which is expected to follow Germany in near future, and Northern Ireland, which is the only region in Western Europe still reluctant to pass similar legislation. [...]

Instead of focusing on allowing two people to be treated as equals in the society in which they live, comparing homosexual couples to traditional, established heterosexual families is simply a way to erect obstacles to their happiness.

This is a mistake and both sides—those who campaign against gay marriage as well as the LGBT equality groups—are wrong. They are missing the whole point. [...]

I am not against gay adoption and if the law allows it for straight couples, then yes it must allow it for gay couples too. But this issue should not define the debate on the real issue—same sex marriage—or its outcome.

The cases that surely require special legislation and attention are those in which one of the partners in the same sex marriage already has a child from a previous relationship or is a lone parent.

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Al Jazeera: The crisis of regional order in the Gulf

At a time when the Middle East is in dire need of a positive agenda and a plan to overcome division, ominous new developments are dominating the scene and the forces of disintegration appear to have been unleashed.

The current "Gulf" crisis is just the latest manifestation of this trend. Before considering the way out of this crisis, it is important to accurately depict it, its root causes, and its regional implications. [...]

This crisis is neither a bilateral crisis between Qatar and its Gulf Arab neighbours, nor a geographically isolated dispute confined to the Gulf region.

Instead it is a regional crisis - the direct outcome of the lack of a sustainable regional order in the Middle East. [...]

Such a crisis of legitimacy at the level of political elites and the stark contrast between the aspirations of the people and the projections of the political class forms the backbone of all major crises in the region. This in return inhibits any fruitful engagement among states and societies at regional level. [...]

The fact that the region lacks institutions or frameworks that can govern these grievances or serve to channel feuds into diplomatic and political processes should also be an issue of major concern.

But this deficiency is not surprising. As discussed above, institutions are the product of intentions, and intentions are mostly shaped by actors' perceptions, and hence their political psychologies, which are in turn formed mainly by their level of socio-political legitimacy.

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Politico: Berlusconi battles to lead the Italian right

The four-time Italian prime minister, who turns 81 in September, may be marred by sex scandals and barred from holding public office after a tax fraud conviction. But that hasn’t stopped him from emerging as a potent political force ahead of a parliamentary election early next year. [...]

Rejuvenated by a surprise success in June’s local elections, Forza Italia is neck-and-neck with the far-right Northern League led by Matteo Salvini. According to a recent survey by the Italian polling firm IPSOS, both parties are polling at just over 15 percent. [...]

“Berlusconi is playing his new game smartly, in a subtle way,” he added. “He knows he’s not the center of Italian politics anymore, but he still can be one of the few kingmakers.” [...]

But he has recently softened his once strident Europhobia in public appearances, focusing instead on an electoral program that includes a flat tax at 15 percent and a pledge to reform the European Union by rewriting all its main treaties, including the Maastricht Treaty that created the euro and introduced fiscal limitations on national governments.

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Politico: The birth of a Polish president

Others in the party vowed to press on over Duda’s opposition and try to override the vetoes, arguing that the proposed legislation had been part of his electoral program. This act of presidential defiance takes Duda probably to the point of no return in the PiS fold, introducing an unexpected element in Polish politics that will play out between now and the next presidential election in three years. [...]

The assault on Duda culminated in a televised primetime statement by Prime Minister Beata Szydło. “The president slowed us down but we won’t surrender and will realize our program,” she said. [...]

PiS’ attitude toward the rule of law might have best been expressed in the words of the veteran anti-communist Kornel Morawiecki, who in an address to parliament said: “The law is an important thing, but the law is not a sanctity. Above the law is the good of the nation.” To a lengthy standing ovation from PiS deputies, he said: “If the law interferes in this good, we cannot consider it as something which cannot be breached and changed.” [...]

This may be an indication that Duda’s actions were motivated by his rivalry with Ziobro. The president was not consulted or informed before the law targeting the Supreme Court was introduced in parliament, and had later called for changes to the law regarding the National Judiciary Council.

His behavior also betrayed anger that the legislation gave the justice minister the sole authority to decide which Supreme Court judges would be allowed to stay. PiS proposed a compromise amendment, giving him the power to nominate judges that had been previously selected for him by Ziobro. But evidently, it was not enough.

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MapPorn: EU. Gross national income per capita in international dollars, 2016.

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