Today the Dutch dailies shift their focus abroad to a compromise debt deal in the US, ongoing bloodshed in Syria and a shift in Turkey’s balance of power. Back home there’s a flash of sunny weather and the sordid past of kiddies’ TV to talk about.

US debt crisis averted: so why the long faces?
All of today’s papers focus on the news that the US appears to have found a way out of the debt crisis that threatened to bring the country to a standstill. “America is as good as saved” says De Telegraaf. “Now that an end has come to the embarrassing soap opera between the Democrats and Republicans, Obama can catch his breath again – even if he did have to make serious concessions.”

But De Telegraaf is the only paper putting a brave face on the story. De Volkskrant comments that on the surface it looks like the politicians have saved the world’s number one economy but in fact “the American austerity plan is an empty shell.” The paper complains that “once-brave leaders are now running scared” while “populists hijack crises”.

Trouw presents the Republican Tea Party as the clear winner of the US debt battle, as it has become “a power to be reckoned with on the right wing”. But the paper goes on to warn that it’s an “unscrupulous” and “reckless” victory which has done nothing to tackle the root of the problem: “putting the brakes on America’s debt”.

Does Syria spell the end of the Arab Spring?
Syria’s internal strife is another international story preoccupying all the papers. Trouw reports that President Bashar al-Assad “calmly carries on shooting” and quotes eyewitness accounts of “streets full of dead bodies” in the opposition stronghold of Hama.

AD observes ruefully that “little remains of the hope and euphoria of the Arab Spring”, with “the biggest tragedy taking place in Syria, where a depraved minority regime [...] orders tanks to shoot at unarmed civilians.” Meanwhile, “President Assad knows he has little to fear from the international community. Protests and sanctions alone won’t stop him trampling his people underfoot.”

De Volkskrant takes stock: “four months of violence, a death toll over 1,500 and no sign that the opposition is prepared to be silenced or that the regime has any other response than brutal repression.” The paper concludes “it is becoming ever more absurd to spare Assad” simply because he’s “the devil we know”.

Turkey bids farewell to military dominance
NRC.next focuses on a shift in the balance of power in Turkey, where “the army is no longer the boss”. It believes last Friday’s resignation by the country’s senior military commanders has brought an end to centuries of Turkish politics being dominated by the army.

The paper recalls “there was a time when the Turkish people flocked to show their support for the army, once the most reliable institution in the country.” But the recent resignation of the heads of the armed forces in protest at the arrest of hundreds of soldiers and officers has barely created a ripple: “not a single Turk took to the streets in sympathy.”

NRC.next also raises questions about human rights in modern-day Turkey. It points out that “there are more journalists behind bars in Turkey than in China”. Accused by the government of “terrorist activities”, many have had no official charges brought against them and have no prospect of their case being heard in court any time soon. “This,” says the paper “is democracy in Turkey.”

Holiday sunshine: get it while you can
“Summer at last!” sigh AD and De Telegraaf in unison. Amid cheery seaside snaps of bikini-clad blondes brandishing beach balls and granddad topping up his tan while the grandkids go for a paddle, the papers are determined to soak up some sun after a damp and dreary July. Make the most of it while you can is the message. De Telegraaf warns “the clouds will be back tomorrow”.

It’s not all fun in the sun, though. De Telegraaf tells the sorry tale of a German family who rolled up to Amsterdam in their camper van only to have it broken into within 15 minutes and everything stolen ... under the nose of a security guard and full CCTV surveillance. “Yesterday all we had left was 2.95 euros ... enough for a single can of cola and five stale donuts,” complain the would-be holidaymakers, eager to get back home as soon as possible.

Sex, drugs and rebellion: welcome to Dutch kiddies’ TV
NRC Handelsblad takes us back to the 1990s, a golden age for children’s television in the Netherlands according to many. The paper’s columnist remembers sneaking downstairs in her pyjamas to watch on a Sunday morning to be confronted by “prostitution, drugs, violence and lots of sex. [...] Just watching it made me feel naughty. And that’s exactly why I watched.”

She recalls how the presenters of one show Rembo & Rembo encouraged the kiddiewinkies to clean out the toilet bowl with dad’s electric toothbrush, adding helpfully “don’t forget to change the batteries when you’re finished, or he’ll find out”. According to them, the one thing you weren’t allowed to do was slam your little brother’s head between two sliding doors “because you might damage the doors”.

Possibly to the relief of many Dutch parents, such heights of irreverence – including one cartoon in which “a little man in a purple ski suit [...] runs euphorically over a field of surging breasts” – are now a thing of the past. The paper reckons “we’re more prudish these days [...] research suggests that young parents are giving their kids a stricter upbringing than they had themselves.” It’s nice to know that the dads of today can clean their teeth without having to worry where the brush has been.