A quote from a pro-Belgian Antwerp bar owner on CafeBabel.com, 9 October 2007

This is the only country in the world that has no proud identity nor any sense of chauvinism. That’s also why I like it! Look at the French and the Germans, so proud of themselves. We are the exact opposite. This flag doesn’t provoke any feeling in me, except a short sharp slap in the face for the extremist minority who wants to separate people who have never had a problem among themselves.

A quote from the Norwegian daily Aftenposten, 12 October 2007

Norway's center-left government has issued a warning to 140 companies that still don't have enough women on their boards of directors: Appoint more, or be dissolved. […]

A quote from the Norwegian daily Aftenposten, 12 October 2007

The Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 2007 on Friday to former US Vice President Al Gore and the United Nations' climate panel, citing the importance of battling global warming.

A quote from a comment on Takimag.com, 11 oktober 2007

So why have Americans suddenly taken interest in the Vlaams Belang? Events in Europe and the United States have made it hard to ignore the party. Since September 11, the threat of Radical Islam has been one of the most popular issues among conservatives. And in the last few years, opposition to illegal immigration has exploded. A number of books such as Mark Steyn’s Eurabia and Tony Blankley’s The West’s Last Chance have examined the War on terror as a “Clash of Civilizations,” which includes the Islamization of Europe. Terrorist cells found in Europe of even second and third generation immigrants, the murder of Dutch filmmaker Theo Van Gogh, and the riots following the publication of pictures of Mohammed in Danish newspapers made many Americans wonder if Europe would be better off with a Muslim majority.

A quote from Ayaan Hirsi Ali in Reason Magazine, November 2007

Reason: [When you say that Islam has to be defeated] Don’t you mean defeating radical Islam?

Hirsi Ali: No. Islam, period. Once it’s defeated, it can mutate into something peaceful. It’s very difficult to even talk about peace now. They’re not interested in peace.

Reason: We have to crush the world’s 1.5 billion Muslims under our boot? In concrete terms, what does that mean, “defeat Islam”?

A quote from Daniel Hannan MEP at his Daily Telegraph blog, 9 October 2007

Yet the even bigger winners [from a break-up of Belgium] might be French-speaking Belgians. For subsidies, while expensive for the donor, are ruinous for the recipient. When commentators say that “Wallonia” benefits from subventions of x or y billion euros, what they really mean is that a handful of Francophone politicians and officials benefit: the grants give them the power to reward their friends and punish their enemies. Almost all institutions end up being corrupted: the trade unions, the political parties, the state-owned enterprises. Everyone becomes a junkie.

A quote from Taki at his blog, 10 October 2007

There are worse things [than being spiked by The Spectator], like a back operation I have to have in order to defend my title next year in Brussels. By that time, I hope, there will be an independent Flanders, and my friend Paul Belien will be foreign minister.

Denmark

A quote from EUobserver, 10 October 2007

The Danish discussion on whether to have a referendum on the new EU draft Treaty has taken another twist after the country's main opposition party changed course and called for a political discussion on the issue [...] The opposition leader, social democrat Helle Thorning-Schmidt, wants Denmark to enter into a political discussion [...] “We were at no point in doubt that the former draft constitution should be subjected to a referendum. We would like to look at the new treaty and do a similar evaluation” [...]

A quote from a resolution of the Parlementary Assemblee of the Council of Europe (passed with 48 votes to 25 and 3 abstentions), 4 October 2007

If we are not careful, creationism could become a threat to human rights which are a key concern of the Council of Europe. [...] The war on the theory of evolution and on its proponents most often originates in forms of religious extremism which are closely allied to extreme right-wing political movements. [...] If we are not careful, the values that are the very essence of the Council of Europe will be under direct threat from creationist fundamentalists. It is part of the role of the Council’s parliamentarians to react before it is too late.

Last Thursday, Viscount Etienne Davignon, a Belgian who is the chairman of the secretive Bilderberg Group, celebrated his 75th birthday. Mr. Davignon is a former vice president of the European Commission and the author of the 1970 "Davignon Report" that laid the foundations for a common European foreign policy. In the Viscount's honor a conference about the future of the European Union was held in the prestigious Egmont Palace in Brussels. One of the speakers was the wealthy anti-Bush activist George Soros, another was Daniel Cohn-Bendit, an erstwhile campus revolutionary during the 1968 Paris student riots, who is currently a German member of the European Parliament for the Green Party.