A quote from Theodore Dalrymple at the City Journal blog, 17 September 2007

It is impossible to know how many such German converts [to Islam] there are, but it is thought to run into tens of thousands, principally men; in the nature of things, it is also uncertain how many of them are attracted to extremism, but few people are so attracted by moderation that they are converted by it.

A quote from Reuters, 17 September 2007

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour said on Monday that bigotry and prejudice, especially in regard to Muslims, were common in Europe and called on governments to tackle the issue. […] Europeans "are shocked at times when it is pointed out that bigotry, prejudice and stereotyping is still sometimes very present in their attitude to others," she said.

A quote from Reuters, 18 September 2007

Two-thirds of the Flemish community from the northern Dutch-speaking region of Belgium think the country will sooner or later split, a poll by Belgian daily Het Laatste Nieuws showed on Tuesday. The paper also said almost every second Flemish person, or 46.1 percent, wanted Belgium to split, indicating separatists in the region are gathering momentum amid a political impasse. [...]

The survey showed 85.5 percent of Flemish people believed they should stick to their plans to reform the state and 77.3 percent believe this should be the priority of the new government.

A quote from Renate Sommer MEP, Vice-Chairwoman of the Delegation to the EU-Turkey Joint Parliamentary Committee of the European Parliament, 18 September 2007

Islamic law laid down in the Sharia is not compatible with European fundamental rights and standards. The fact that there are different forms of the Sharia does not change anything in this matter.

The European-led United Nations peacekeeping force in Lebanon known as UNIFIL is proof positive, if any were needed, of why Europe is unlikely to ever be a global superpower. When the 13,400-member force was scratched together following last summer’s 34-day war between Israel and Hezbollah, Europeans said their kinder, gentler “soft power” approach to peacekeeping would teach the United States a thing or two about global politics. While the United States starts wars, Europe ends them, or so they claimed.

Norwegian police have discovered that a large number of Pakistani taxi drivers, many of whom have already been charged with tax evasion in one of the worst cases of welfare fraud in the nation's history, have close contact with Pakistani gangs and operate as couriers of arms and drugs. In the city of Oslo it is documented that criminal Pakistani gangs also have close ties to Jihadist groups at home and abroad. This despite the fact that Norway, a nation of peace and home to the Nobel Peace Prize, should presumably get along just fine with Islam, which is, as we all know, a religion of peace.

Today is the 100th day since the Belgian general elections of 10 June. The Belgian politicians are still unable to form a government. Today is also the 20th day of the appointment of Herman Van Rompuy as “royal scout” by Belgium’s King Albert II. The latter asked Mr Van Rompuy, a veteran politician who is a former Deputy Prime Minister and former leader of the Flemish Christian-Democrats, to defuse the situation. So far his efforts have come to nothing.

A quote from the Belgian satirical weekly Père Ubu, 13 September 2007:

Sarkozy: "Belgium is set to fall apart?"

Fillon [The French PM]: "Almost, Mr President, only a little thread keeps it together!"

Sarkozy: "And what do you propose, my dear Fillon?"

Fillon: "Well, France could annex Wallonia…"

A quote from Christopher Booker in The Wall Street Journal, 17 September 2007

To appreciate just why it has been so important for EU leaders to get their constitution regardless of their peoples' wishes, one must grasp the fundamental principle on which those behind the "European project" have worked toward their ultimate goal. The process favored by the visionaries who first dreamed of a "United States of Europe" as far back as the 1920s was the very reverse of how the U.S. was launched. When the Founding Fathers gathered in Philadelphia in 1787, their idea of building a nation was to start with its constitution and let the new union grow from there. The Europeans chose the opposite strategy. They knew it was always going to be a much longer haul to place long-established nation states under the rule of a new form of supranational government.

A quote from Gregory Rodriguez in The Los Angeles Times, 17 September 2007

Belgium, it seems, not only shares its capital, Brussels, with the European Union, it also serves as the latter's model. Three short years ago, a United Nations report on "cultural liberty" glibly offered multiethnic Belgium as proof that countries don't have to "choose between national unity and cultural diversity." But it may have spoken too soon. […]

Right-wing Europeans like to pretend that multiculturalism was born with the arrival of large numbers of Muslim immigrants in the last quarter of the 20th century, but Belgium was a multicultural state long before that. […] Because it was designed to protect the rights of the country's three linguistic groups – the Flemish make up roughly 60% of the population, French speakers 40% and Germans less than 1% – the political system can best be described as an anti-majoritarian democracy in which power is balanced by proportional ethnic representation, executive power sharing and minority vetoes. […]