Eurotopics.net

European courts have repeatedly handed down sentences to sex offenders that the public considers too lenient. Commentators have focussed recently on cases in Spain and Turkey. They call for the offenders to receive just punishment rather than being given lenient sentences on the grounds of extenuating circumstances.

Tehran has responded to a tweet in which US President Trump threatened Iran with war. Trump is the biggest threat to his country and the international community, an advisor to Iranian President Rouhani stated. The US president must be extremely careful in his dealings with Iran, commentators warn.

Following a heated public debate over his controversial photograph with Turkey's President Erdoğan, footballer Mesut Özil has quit the German national team. In a statement Özil harshly criticised the German Football Association citing racism and a lack of respect. Not all commentators believe the football world champion has done the right thing.

US President Donald Trump's former chief strategist Steve Bannon plans to establish a foundation to support European right-wing populists. According to the news website The Daily Beast, Bannon's objective is to instigate a "right-wing populist revolt". How should Europe react to Bannon's "The Movement"?

After the Novaya Gazeta newspaper released a video filmed in 2017 showing an inmate in a penal colony in the city of Yaroslavl being tortured by prison employees, the investigation into the incident, which had been closed, has been reopened. But this won't make any difference to the situation in Russia's prisons, commentators from the opposition predict.