A quote from Spengler in The Asia Times, 6 November 2007

America's "war on terror" proceeds from a political philosophy that treats radical Islam as if it were a political movement – "Islamo-fascism" – rather than a truly religious response to the West. If we are in a fourth world war, as Norman Podhoretz proclaims, it is a religious war. The West is not fighting individual criminals, as the left insists; it is not fighting a Soviet-style state, as the Iraqi disaster makes clear; nor is it fighting a political movement. It is fighting a religion, specifically a religion that arose in enraged reaction to the West.

A quote from the Syrian Muslim scholar Mohammed Habash, interviewed by Jan Leyers for Flemish public television VRT.

A quote from Mark Mardell at the BBC blog, 8 November 2007

And it's that time of year again – next Tuesday, for the 13th year running, the [European Union] Court of Auditors will refuse to clear the [EU] accounts because of irregularities.

A quote from the Open Europe Press Summary, 8 November 2007

A committee in the Belgian parliament (solely composed of Flemish delegates, after Francophones walked out) has voted for the partition of Bruxelles-Hal-Vilvorde, an electoral district which has been the centre of controversy for decades on account of being the only officially bilingual part of the country, and where citizens could vote both for both Flemish and Walloon parties. The move means that 120,000 – 150,000 Francophones will not be able to vote for French speaking candidates. Marathon coalition talks to form a national government have been suspended.
 

European Union leaders have reached agreement on a new treaty that many Europeans hope will transform the 27-nation bloc into a superpower capable of counter-balancing the United States in global affairs.

The 250-plus page Reform Treaty, which EU leaders will formally sign in Lisbon on December 13, calls for a permanent EU president, a European foreign minister and a European Union diplomatic service. The agreement also calls for EU nations to surrender sovereignty in many areas to centralized decision-making; and it reduces national veto rights to allow more decisions to be made by majority voting instead of by unanimous consent.

A quote from Andrew Bostom at Family Security Matters, 7 November 2007

The appointment [of Tariq Ramadan at Leiden University] was a sickening reminder of its diametric opposite: the principled stand taken at Leiden by Huizinga in 1933 […] Johan Huizinga, the great Dutch historian, then serving as rector of Leiden University, withdrew university hospitality to the Nazi scholar, Johannes von Leers, who was attending an international student conference at the university. […] Huizinga stood in courageous isolation when he took this action, suffering both personal criticism and significant problems in his dealings with German and Swiss publishing houses in the aftermath of the affair. (Ultimately, he died in Nazi detention, during 1945.) […].

Dan Hannan yesterday flags up an idea that was first floated by Chris Booker and has since been taken up by the Devil's Kitchen. That is that the Constitutional Crisis in Belgium may well have a significant impact upon the ability of the EU to get its Constitution.
As Dan puts it,

"the prolonged absence of a Belgian Prime Minister is beginning to cause concern around the EU. If the crisis is still unresolved by 13 December, there will be no one with the authority to sign the Lisbon Treaty"

A quote from The Local (Sweden), 6 November 2007

Designs for a Saudi-funded landmark mosque in Gothenburg have received the final go-ahead from Muslim leaders in the city, meaning building can start next spring. The new mosque, to be built in the Hisingen area, will include a 25-metre minaret. [...] The Gothenburg-based architect behind it, Björn Sahlqvist, says the minaret [...] will "lead and demand attention." The government of Saudi Arabia has contributed 44 million kronor of the 50 million kronor cost of building the mosque.

A quote from the Dutch press agency NIS, 7 November 2007

Tariq Ramadan is to hold the Sultan of Oman chair of Islamology at the University of Leiden. Education and Culture Minister Ronald Plasterk said yesterday in the Lower House that he does not object to Ramadan's appointment.