Eurotopics.net

Angela Merkel made her last state visit to Putin in Moscow on Friday. She then travelled to Kyiv and met President Zelensky. But she did not stay for the Crimea Platform summit on the future of the annexed peninsula which is taking place today, Monday. What are commentators saying about her farewell visits?

The Russian authorities have classified the popular pay-TV channel Dozhd as a "foreign agent". It is the 18th Russian media outlet to receive this designation. Such an announcement usually means the death of a non-state media outlet because its advertising revenues plummet and official bodies refuse to cooperate with it. Russian journalists are pessimistic.

Following the Taliban's recapture of Afghanistan, European commentators are fundamentally questioning Western involvement in Islamic countries. Is "exporting democracy " a laudable endeavour? A hopeless mission? Or even an imperialist presumption?

After the earthquake in Haiti last weekend, the aid agency Unicef estimates that at least 15 million US dollars are needed to meet the most urgent needs of those affected. Since many localities can only be reached by air, aid deliveries are arriving very slowly. In the face of this disaster, Europe's press debates how sustainable international emergency aid is.