The day is approaching fast (likely the release date of Microsoft’s next version of its Windows operating system, called Windows Vista) on which a so-called trusted platform module on your computer’s motherboard will be able bar you from accessing the data on your computer, or at least bar you from doing with it what you [...]

While I’m still struggling to put my reaction to the cartoon row into appropriate writing, today’s Spiegel Online’s English edition features an interesting and important article about a different kind of culture clash. It’s a timely story about the fact that Islam the religion and Islam the cultural practice are often quite distinct. It’s a [...]

Alex, I agree. But to know what happened to the ideals when they became their respective opium can only serve as a reminder to be careful, and, that politics matters. In fact, my idea of “dealing with Islam” doesn’t necessarily include the CRS, but compulsory Europe-wide reading of the relevant articles on Wikipedia, for example. [...]

Alex,
a) I love the term „snack thinker“. She may well be, but her narrative lends a credibility most people do not have. She’s paying a high price being who she is and as such is probably entitles to being over-the-top at times. And, of course, there’s the Dutch history of pillarisation, which radicalises this debate [...]

a reference I read a while ago and found very interesting with respect to Islamic reform movements.
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/17054
Also, just two weeks ago, there was a highly praised symposium in Bonn with, among other speakers, Tariq Ramadan, about this very topic (some add. info, for those who read German) –
http://www.qantara.de/uploads/463/Schimmel_Symp.pdf
http://islam.de/4661.php
http://www.faz.net/s/Rub5C2BFD49230B472BA96E0B2CF9FAB88C/Doc~E51FA69281734495BB6E9C87271C8049C~ATpl~Ecommon~Scontent.html
Interestingly I just found out that, Christoph Luxenberg [...]

Gentle readers, the 2006 Satin Pajama voting period is approaching and we have a couple of great things in the afoe r&d pipeline, which we will tell you more about soon. But for all this we needed a less error prone server. So we’re on the road again, and thus, there’s a certain probability you [...]

If there’s one mystery trumping all the others in the recent Russian-Ukrainian gas supply row, it is the one concerning the role and intentions of the Kremlin, particularly with respect to Vladimir Putin: Why fight a public battle over an issue that is almost as intransparent and complicated as the geological processes that created the [...]

Just on the day when the French Assemblée Nationale kind of accidentally introduced some kind of “cultural flatrate” (which is obviously opposed to the government’s intent) the Independent has learnt that the British government is demonstrating boldly that digital technology need not be used to free either bits and bytes, or even people.
Britain is to [...]

Nation building in failed states can be a little tricky, as not just a few political strategists are realising these days. With respect to Iraq, the deadly result of their misconceptions can be watched on the hour every hour. This, on the other hand, has, for better or worse, reduced the world’s attention devoted to [...]

Below, David asked about Bloggers who contributed to our common attempts to understand what is happening in France, and possibly elsewhere in Europe, and why it is happening. But it seems, some Bloggers have been contributing a little too much: No pasaran! and Loic LeMeur link to a Reuters report (in French) stating that three [...]