Femen, the Ukrainian feminist group, have staged another topless attack on Vladimir Putin, as he toured a factory in Hannover this morning.

Political statements such as 'Muslim women let's get naked' are problematic to say the least, as they represent quite a black and white, essentialist view of what feminism is and how to achieve the goals it aspires to realise.

Step forward Azerbaijan. The country has the potential to become one of Europe's major allies and suppliers. It is one of the most stable energy players in the region and is fast developing into a hub for the Caspian Sea basin and Central Asia's oil and gas.

True democracy is never thrust onto a country; it is something it grows into. Institutions needs to be developed, an independent media fostered, legislation fine-tuned and citizens have to learn how to take part and wield their vote effectively.

It's a great big world out there, and this week a lot of crazy stuff has been happening in it. We start in the USA, the alpha and the omega of crazy.

Now that the dust has long since settled from the Euro 2012 championships it is perhaps a chance to review the successes and failures of the tournament, not on the field but rather in terms of tackling the incidents of racism and antisemitism which I had been forecasting for many months.

What Euro 2012 has revealed is a real and immediate need for us to study Ukraine on its own terms and to engage the country more directly as an object of knowledge, if only to see how its problems are dwarfed by its hard-won achievements and promising possibilities.