Is that even possible? According to their web address, www.onevoiceforeurope.eu, the newly founded European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) intends to provide that voice. Is it yet another attempt to save Europe from irrelevancy? And what exactly will that voice be?
This is a liveblog from the grand opening of the Graduate School of North American Studies at the Freie Universität Berlin. Since all the speakers hold their speeches in German, this post will now switch its language:
It’s election time in the Danish Kingdom, and what better way to churn out those votes, than to let the Prophet Muhammad work his magic?
The Danish People’s Party (DPP, Dansk Folkeparti) has published election posters (here) featuring a drawing by Alexander Ross from 1683 of the Prophet. The poster reads in bold, capital letters: “Freedom of Speech is Danish, Censorship Isn’t – We Hang on to the Danish Values,” and continues, “Danish People’s Party – Your Country, Your Choice.” According to Danish People’s Party’s party leader, Pia Kjærsgaard, “We [Danish People's Party] are not doing this to provoke, but are doing it exactly because a drawing – a 400 year old drawing of Muhammad – is a symbol of the freedom of speech in Denmark, because we hung on to that freedom of speech.” [Read more]
What can a drunken Robert Byrd really tell us about the American political system? Quite simple. The truth and nothing but the truth. While people like to focus on the president, it is quite clear that the true force in American politics is still Congress and here it is clearly the Senate which plays the overpowering role (due to its only 100 members and need for bipartisan consensus). Thus, Robert Byrd is not far off with this self-description. Big Daddy. The Man. [Read more]
“The Dynamics of the City – Fragmentation and Concentration” was the topic of a keynote lecture by Columbia University Professor Peter Marcuse (if the name sounds familiar, you might have heard of his father Herbert) at the Haus der Kulturen der Welt in Berlin tonight. The lecture was the opening of a conference on cultural diversity in New York and Berlin. [Read more]
FOX Business News launched yesterday; the channel has been on air since 5am EDT, same for the website. Here is how they kicked it off:
A Business News Station had been in Rupert Murdoch’s sketch book for quite a while, although FOX Business Networks (FBN) has to share the market with CNBC – reaching almost 90 million households alone – and Bloomberg. FBN will only be broadcasted to 30 million homes in the beginning. So what’s it going to be? A conservative, big-business friendly PR-machine? [Read more]
Eine einfache Frage während einem Auftritt John Kerrys an der Universität von Florida, in Gainesville, beschäftigte in den letzten Tagen die Amerikanische Öffentlichkeit. Verschiedene Videos zeigen den Studenten Andrew Meyer, wie er den Senatoren und ehemaligen Präsidentschaftskandidaten daran erinnert, dass dieser die Wahlen von 2004 doch eigentlich gewonnen habe und ihn schliesslich fragt, wie er das damals erlebt habe. [Read more]
When was the last time a hoard of crying Muslims set your flag on fire? If you are from Denmark, like I am, it couldn’t have been more than 20 months ago.
It is a funny thing symbols, really. One day, they’re decorating your birthday cake, the next, they’re burning on the West Bank. One day, they’re in your daily Qur’an, the next, they’re in a Danish, a French or a German newspaper with a bomb in their turban. One day, some Americans think your country is the capital of Stockholm (not kidding!), the next, they’re “supporting the Danes’ rights to freedom of speech” by drinking Carlsberg and eating Danish hot-dogs during football games. Seems ridiculous? It is. And it is not.
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