A U S T R I A:
Commotion in 3/4 time
Saša Cvijetić
While the rest of the world symbolically stormed out of meetings and debated sanctions against Austria's new government, the most pressing question on the minds of the Austrian media was: Will international isolation bring down the annual Vienna Opera Ball?

S O U T H E A S T E R N   E U R O P E:
Gangsters' Paradise
Židas Daskalovski
Last week's assassination of Serbia's Defence Minister, Pavle Bulatović, is yet another example of the increasing gangsterisation of the Serbia political elite.

S L O V A K I A:
Crisis in Government
Michal Frank
The ruling SDK party in Slovakia is on the verge of collapse as the rivalry between Prime Minister Dzurinda and the Minister of Justice Ján Čarnogurský comes to a head.

E N V I R O N M E N T:
A River Dies
CER Staff
Tuesday's spillage of cyanide into the Tisza River in Hungary has annihilated wildlife and plant populations as far as the Serbian border. The full consequences of this disaster will take some time to be fully evaluated, but initial reactions can be found in today's News Reviews from Hungary and Romania.

C o n f e r e n c e    T a l k

Essay  of  the  Month:

Hungarian Identity,
Globalisation and EU Accession
Gusztáv Kosztolányi
CER begins a new series of regular essays with this in-depth look at how Hungarians view themselves, how they view the world and how these views are changing as EU entry approaches.

Kinoeye:
F E S T I V A L   O V E R V I E W:
Ordinary People at an Extraordinary FEST
Židas Daskalovski
The Belgrade Film Festival hardly sounds like a winner of an event, given the recent war and the current sanctions. However, Herculean efforts have been made to maintain the capital's rich cultural life - and indeed normal everyday life - through this annual event.

Books and Literature

B O O K   R E V I E W:
The Political Economy of Protest and Patience
Jeremy Druker
Béla Greskovits's book serves as an appropriate antidote to all the anniversary blather that engulfed the media last November and asks tough, intriguing questions.

S U P P L E M E N T:
The CER Book Shop:
Books about Central and Eastern Europe
Have a look at CER's list of books on the region - all available from Amazon.com. The updated list is spread across several pages and contains many new offerings.

M   u   s   i   c

M U S I C:
From Berlin to Broadway
Charlotte Purkis
Hard to believe that 50 years after his death there should still be European premieres of a composer of the stature of Kurt Weill. A British season to celebrate his centenary revives unresolved questions in an oeuvre which can be considered a "journey for our times."

S U P P L E M E N T:
The CER Music Shop
In co-operation with Amazon.com, Central Europe Review offers you this on-line shopping supplement.

O n   D i s p l a y

EVENTS: Coming up in the UK Andrew J Horton Details of selected Central and East European cultural events in the UK over the next few weeks.

EVENTS: Coming up in the USA Karen M Laun Central and East European events in the United States in the coming weeks.