Denmark will not be reintroducing border controls. But even suggesting it endangers Europe – By Ruediger Rossig

In early May, Denmark announced plans to reintroduce permanent controls along its borders. The move would be a clear violation of the Schengen Agreement, which since 1985 has seen the gradual removal of frontiers transform this Scandinavian country and 27 other European nations into one big open space.

Moves to bring back restrictions on freedom of movement within the Schengen Zone originated from the right-wing populist Danish People’s Party (DF). With 25 seats, it is the third biggest group in the national parliament.  The center-right minority government is dependent on its support.

President Barack Obama’s latest address on the Middle East alarmed the Israeli government. Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu had tried in vain to have the passage deleted which envisages an emerging Arabic state within the 1967 boundaries. Yet Obama insisted on exactly that phrasing, which will serve as a blueprint for the borders of the future Palestine.

Why does Obama’s frontier concept pose such a threat to Netanyahu and his government? The assertion that Jerusalem steadfastly rules out giving up any territory and is categorically unwilling to vacate Jewish settlements is verifiably wrong. In 1979, Israel pledged in the Camp David peace agreement with Egypt to evacuate the entire Egyptian Sinai Peninsula occupied in 1967 – including the Israeli settlements. This promise was given despite fierce domestic protests.

By Lutz Lichtenberger and Peter H. Koepf

For 10 years the Americans hunted Osama bin Laden, the world’s most wanted terrorist. They finally found him in a complex of buildings in Abbottabad, Pakistan. That country’s military, especially its intelligence service, the ISI, has played a particularly dangerous game: allied with the US on the outside, infiltrated by extremists within. From the outset it was treacherous territory for any commando mission. The killing of bin Laden must be judged entirely from this perspective.

Bin Laden is gone, his terror franchise is manageable, but the professional fear mongers are already conjuring new devils – By Hans Leyendecker

A specter has been haunting the world: the specter of globally-networked Islamist terrorism. It appeared in various guises and forms and seemed to be omnipresent.

Because ghosts are also given names to better distinguish them from each other, this one was called al Qaeda. Some just called it Osama bin Laden. That sounded even more dangerous.

The world has experienced many religious fanatics and dangerous political criminals but no other absolutist dreamer sparked as much paranoia as the mass murderer of September 11. Well-founded concern about his alleged plans often turned into hysterical catastrophe-mongering.

Norway introduced affirmative action for women in the boardroom six years ago. Other European countries are following suit. But does it work? – By Jabeen Bhatti

When Norway’s Equality Minster Audun Lysbakken gathered a group of Norway’s top 100 female leaders for a discussion on quotas for women on boards in 2002, he split the room into two teams.

“He was dividing us up into those who were for it and those who opposed it,” recalled Benja Stig Fagerland, an economist who was involved with the initiative for quotas from the beginning. “Instead, we need to be talking about how we can get more women on boards, and why it is important for business to wake up and fish from the other half of the talent pool.”

Still, she adds, it was a tool to get us there: “And one, of all things, suggested by a man.”

Throwing flowers to his supporters during an election rally, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is set to secure a third term.

A sex scandal could mean a supermajority for the ruling AK party – By Nurhan Kocaoglu

Ask any Turkish family what they are doing on a Wednesday evening, and they will gladly fill you in on the intrigues and scandals of “Magnificent Century,” a Turkish soap opera set in the Ottoman Empire. In fact, most evenings there is at least one soap on TV, and it is usually being watched by tens of thousands of Turks living in Germany, too. But ask them about the elections and the enthusiasm dims. The usual televised political discussions and debates on Turkey’s parliamentary elections on June 12 aren’t as popular among the German-Turks this time around.

A fresh start with new faces? Philipp Rösler with party vice president Birgit Homburger, leader of the parliamentary group Rainer Brüderle and general secretary Christian Lindner (front row, left to right).

Philipp Rösler took over as FDP leader, Guido Westerwelle was eased out but remains foreign minister – By Peter H. Koepf

The three-day FDP party congress in mid-May resembled a child’s birthday party. The delegates appeared to be playing a game of musical chairs. Virtually all of the Free Democratic Party’s top leaders managed to find a chair when the tune stopped, even if it was not the same one as before. Everyone except the most senior member.

Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle is no longer deputy chancellor. That office now belongs to his successor as FDP chairman, Philipp Rösler, who has also made the transition from the health ministry to the economics ministry. Merkel will now have to deal with him first and foremost the next time the FDP wants to establish new policy goals.