Political analyses

Mr Fukuyama seems to have found his way out of the end of history quite well. Prospect has a great article about Identity & Migration which gives a lot of food for thought. So, he refers to Olivier Roy's Globalized Islam which seems to imply that radical islamism can actually be interpreted as akin to the Reformation. That's a tantalising thought, especially since many think that Islam's fundamentalist tendencies are due to its lack of something like an Age of Enlightenment - which followed the Reformation.

But that's not all - Mr Fukuyama also addresses the need for liberal European societies to strengthen their identity:

The civilisation of the European Enlightenment, of which contemporary liberal democracy is the heir, cannot be culturally neutral, since liberal societies have their own values regarding the equal worth and dignity of individuals. Cultures that do not accept these premises do not deserve equal protection in a liberal democracy. Members of immigrant communities and their offspring deserve to be treated equally as individuals, not as members of cultural communities. There is no reason for a Muslim girl to be treated differently under the law from a Christian or Jewish one, whatever the feelings of her relatives.

I fully subscribe to that, as to most of the rest of the article.

Secondly, I'd like to refer you to a great piece of contemporary Realpolitik, namely Containing Russia, by former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yuliya Tymoshenko. Ms Tymoshenko seems to have a pretty level-headed, fair view of her country's titanic North-Eastern neighbour. Let's hope she will be in a position to put it into practical policy again soon ...