A quote from Marc De Vos in The Wall Street Journal Europe, 10 October 2007

Flanders is more a mixture of social conservatism and free-market thinking, while Wallonia is a bland of social liberalism and socialism. The economic development of both regions is dramatically different. Thriving Flanders feels it is subsidizing bankrupt welfare policies in Wallonia. Wallonia feels that greedy Flanders is abandoning solidarity in her hour of need.

A quote from Jonah Goldberg in The Los Angeles Times, 9 October 2007
 
[H]ere's the hilarious irony of all this: The European Union is in effect subsidizing nationalism in Belgium and across the Continent. As the EU assumes more of the responsibilities of states – regulations, the economy, currency, possibly even defense – the cost of independence becomes lower. […] The catch-22 is delightful. By scaling back the job description of a nation-state to a few ceremonial duties, ethnic minorities see fewer risks and a lot more rewards in breaking away. Countries such as Slovakia get to trade on their votes in the EU and the U.N. They get their own anthems and sports teams and to teach their own language and culture. It's like a McDonald's franchise. […] The question is whether the nationalist hunger of such McNations can be satisfied by just the symbolism of autonomy.

A quote from Ian Traynor in The Guardian, 8 October 2007

Switzerland is an exercise in exceptionalism. Not least among the exceptions is that the hardline anti-foreigner campaign is coming not from a small neo-fascist party on the margins, but from the strongest political force in the country.

 
A quote from Elaine Sciolino in The New York Times, 8 October 2007

Unlike the situation in France, where the far-right National Front leader Jean-Marie Le Pen campaigned for president in the spring alongside black and ethnic Arab supporters, the SVP [Swiss People’s Party] has taken a much cruder us-against-them approach.

And so the quadrille begins. One country puts a deliberately provocative proposal on the table for the sole purpose of allowing another to veto it, and then swagger before its electorate. Each leader issues Lear-like threats for the benefit of his home audience. But, behind the scenes, the deal has already been done.

A quote from Associated Press, 7 October 2007: “Belgium has 6.5 million Dutch-speakers and 4 million Francophones. Just about everything — from cable companies to boy scouts to pigeon racing clubs — is split into Dutch- and French-speaking camps.”

Everything, but not the trade unions, and they run the country.

Today, day 119 since the general elections of June 10th, Belgium still has no government. Belgium’s politicians, however, expect the country to have a new government soon. Yves Leterme, the leader of the Flemish Christian-Democrats, who last week was reappointed as “formateur” (Prime Minister Designate) by Belgium’s King Albert II, knows that he has no choice but to succeed in forming a government. If he does not, his political career is over. Mr Leterme, who won last June’s elections on a pro-Flemish platform, will have to withdraw all the Flemish demands because the Walloon politicians have vetoed them all.

A quote from CNSnews, 3 October 2007

University of Manchester academics Ludi Simpson and Nissa Finney predict in a report that in Birmingham, the second largest city in England, the white population will become a minority by 2024 – still the largest group by far, but no longer accounting for a majority of the total population.

A quote from Expatica, 4 October 2007

President Nicolas Sarkozy faced growing unease inside his ruling Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) party Wednesday over rumours that he intends to invite more opposition Socialists into the government.

The “Human Rights Commission” of Saudi Arabia, a country where slavery was formally abolished as late as the 1960s and is still practiced more or less openly (it is allowed according to sharia law), now lectures Europeans on Islamophobia. Notice that this is not an isolated incident; it is part of a sustained, ongoing effort with the explicit goal of surrendering half a billion Europeans to Islam.

A quote from The Wall Street Journal Europe, 4 October 2007

Germany's Social Democrats are moving to the left in expectation of elections down the road. So, too, are their senior coalition partners, the Christian Democrats, […]. On Monday, the Social Democrats proposed to revive generous unemployment benefits cut by none other than themselves when Germany's center-left ran the previous government. They are arguably trying to keep up with their coalition partners, who unveiled similar plans late last year. […]