Mc Masterchef posts his “final draft of a paper on European Muslims at Liberals against terrorism I wrote for my recently concluded class on Islamic Political Movements with Professor Husain Haqqani.” at Liberals against terrorism: Clash of Identities: Integration, Islamism, and the Question of Europe?s Muslims.
The great Brad Plumer summarizes and discusses a survey [...]

This story from a week ago frightens me greatly. The lack of attention it has gotten is remarkable.
?Until recently we would find giant ?chimneys? in the sea where columns of cold, dense water were sinking from the surface to the seabed 3,000 metres below, but now they have almost disappeared,? he said.
?As the water sank [...]

Dutch Finance Minister Gerrit Zalm is in the news again. Last time I read about him it was because he had started a weblog. This time the issue is different: he describes himself as being “totally fed up” with the fact the Dutch public thinks that it was effectively robbed by the way the [...]

People in Turkey are getting nervous. If French voters reject the Consitution Treaty later this month, it will be for a whole string of reasons, none of which necessarily are related to any of the others. Some will vote against the treaty because it is perceived as removing sovereignty too much, others because [...]

The European Union yesterday issued a final warning to China over its booming textile exports, threatening sanctions against two categories of textiles to prevent ?irreparable harm? to European producers. EU Commissioner Peter Mandelson has proposed emergency talks with China on imports of T-shirts and flax yarn. T-shirts and flax yarn are two of the [...]

“We have already captured around 100 bandits. Some of them are already confessing”Uzbekistan Interior Minister Zakirdzhon Almatov

Despite plenty of evidence to the contrary Uzbek government officials continue to dismiss eyewitness reports that soldiers opened fire on civilians during last weeks protests in the eastern town of Andijan.
Not a single civilian was killed by government forces there,? Prosecutor General Rashid Kadyrov said.
Registan notes that Kyrgyzstan has opened a refugee camp in [...]

As suggested last week on Afoe, the Spanish parliament yesterday voted ‘yes’ to talks with ETA, if ETA is prepared to lay down its arms.
Spain’s parliament last night gave prime minister Jos? Luis Rodr?guez Zapatero the go-ahead to open negotiations with armed Basque separatist group Eta if it shows it is ready to abandon terrorism.
“The [...]

Unemployment continues a slow but steady rise in the UK. More eviedence of the slowing economy?
U.K. jobless claims rose for a third month in April and wage growth eased to the slowest in almost a year amid signs expansion in Europe’s second-largest economy is faltering.
The number of people claiming unemployment benefit rose by 8,100 to [...]

In Germany the debate continues. What ever happened to the ‘reform agenda’ I wonder?
German chancellor Gerhard Schröder will next month call for a European initiative to promote public spending on research, set minimum social standards in companies and tighten controls on international financial flows, senior members of his Social Democratic party said on Tuesday.
The plan, [...]