Most of today's editorial ire landed at the patent-leather-clad feet of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has reverted to running his country in the old Soviet style. At a European Union-Russia summit in the Hague on Thursday, Putin once again congratulated his pet, Viktor Yanukovych on his presidential election victory, essentially ignoring massive vote manipulation and the salient fact that hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians have spent days demonstrating against the results and trying to get opposition candidate Viktor Yushchenko sworn in as president. Putin also told the EU -- which has condemned the elections as fraudulent -- to stop meddling with the "internal affairs of the Ukrainian people." The EU responded that it was acting in the interests of democracy.

For the most part, Friday's editorial advice was harsh, unanimous and aimed at the EU and the Social Democratic government of German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder. "Get tough, Chancellor!" screams the tabloid Bild. "Schroeder has to make it clear to his friend in the Kremlin that there cannot be normal relations with an undemocratic Ukraine. Nor with a Russian godfather who supports clear election fraud." Likewise, the Berliner Zeitung insists Europe has to wake up and see Putin as he really is, not as it would like him to be. "There is a chance that the EU states will finally snap out of their enthusiasm for Putin," it writes. Still, it says, it is taking too long and giving the Russian too much leeway. For instance, when asked if he considered Putin a "democrat through and through," Schroeder responded, "yes, I'm convinced he is." The paper responds with bile. "How many opposition leaders do you have to get rid of to no longer be a considered an impeccable democrat in Schroeder's eyes?"

For the conservative Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung the Ukraine crisis is a chance for Europe to straighten out its attitude regarding Russia and to come out with a stronger position. "The governments of Europe's oldest members, including Germany, are still reluctant to realize that Russia under Putin is not going down the path they would like. It is time to make clear to Putin that oil and gas are not the highest values of the West. Even the Russian president has an interest in good relations, political and economic. The EU can finally dare to point out its own terms and conditions." The Sueddeutsche Zeitung goes even further, insisting that this will be a defining moment for Europe. If it stands by the people struggling on the streets of Kiev, the EU will be taking a strong and protective role in defending democracy, the paper writes. "Schroeder and the EU now have the chance to help shape the revolution in the Ukraine. They should do so using all possible influence on Russia."

The financial daily Handelsblatt directs its vile at Russia and accuses Putin of being the one meddling in Ukrainian affairs. "Putin meddled in the Ukrainian elections as never before.... But instead of being an example for Ukraine's modernizers -- which he could have done -- Putin is relying on tried and true solutions. These methods, however, haven't worked for the last 20 years and they definitely won't work now."

Finally, the left-leaning Die Tageszeitung heralds the uprising in Ukraine as the stuff of storybooks and insists that despite all attempts by Putin to install his puppet, the voice of the people cannot help but prevail. "A violent suppression of the uprising would indeed discourage Yushchenko's supporters, but in the long run, Yanukovich and his successors would have little chance against the legend of an heroic people, a legend every opposition can make its own."

And then there is Iran -- gladly providing yet another source for trans-Atlantic bickering. Both Iran and the US are against the British-French-German resolution presented yesterday calling for Iran to permanently stop enriching uranium. The US sees the agreement as flawed, in that it does not prevent Iran from producing plutonium and insists European diplomats took the wrong approach to the problem. Iran counters saying the agreement should not prevent it from operating 20 centrifuges, which can create the highly-enriched uranium used in A-bomb-making. "Even well-meaning observers will start to wonder whether Teheran is not making a fool of the Europeans," writes the Frankfurter Allgemeine. "The agreements with the Europeans are only seen as short-term concessions in order to avoid sanctions or worse. The European policy of patience is proving useful to Teheran."