Ready to run: is Sarah Palin gearing up for a presidential campaign?

We start out in Turkey, where yesterday’s referendum is making the headlines. The pro-government paper SABAH says: "More people vote for democracy, only 42 percent vote 'no'". The ruling AKP had proposed a series of constitutional amendments, like stepping up the protection of human rights, to be more in line with EU requirements. As you know, Turkey is hoping to join the EU. There was question however, if a reform of the courts would not give the government too much power.

The paper BUGÜN doesn’t agree. It reads: "democratic coup overthrows military, people didn’t vote for the constitution but for a democratic revolution". The coup refers to the 1980 military coup that put the current constitution in place.

Germany is one of the main international supporters of the referendum. The BERLINER MORGENPOST looks at the old, military constitution to point out what it considers rather positive changes.

The 1982 constitution had put in place a proportional voting system, allowing small, extremist parties to make it into parliament, and the military controlled the courts. Now, as I said, judges will be appointed by parliament. The article is also positive when it comes to bringing that constitution in line with EU standards.

Staying with elections and votes, THE GUARDIAN asks: “Will she or won’t she? All the signs say Sarah Palin is ready to run.”  The article says she has a campaign team and a fundraising machine…one of the main things you need for a presidential campaign.
And another important thing is: she has stayed in the media. People know and love her, even though both parties like her. And she is a woman!

There is one quote by a supporter that says: “I think of Sarah Palin as Margaret Thatcher of America. I admire her toughness.” Ok, that’s not all there was to the Iron Lady, but the word “admire” sums it up. Palin has a huge fan base that might just get her through the primaries.

THE INDEPENDENT has a scary-looking front pager here: are we heading for another winter of discontent?  Because striking isn’t just a French sport anymore, the Brits are getting quite good at it. Unions are gearing to show some muscle to protest against “cuts that hurt the poor.”

A study showed that 150,000 jobs will be cut in the public sector and local authorities will cut spending by 25 percent. Another study showed that the 10 poorest percent will be hit 13 times harder than the rest of the country. The last winter of discontent the paper is referring to was in 1990 because of a very unpopular tax reform (poll tax) that contributed to the downfall of Margaret Thatcher.