All the members of the European Union espouse the common value of fair and efficient cooperation, which in turn involves smooth communication on as equal a footing as possible in business, politics, the arts and the EU institutions. The large linguistic communities, whose languages are often learned as foreign languages, also have particular interests....
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Since they were published in September last year, the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons have excited responses from every corner. Below we've collected a daily press review, a philosophical analysis, a balanced appraisal by an Islamic scholar, an interview with a Lebanese poet, an open letter by eleven French writers, a statement of indignation and a piece on how it all began.
The twelve Muhammad cartoons
A new Rushdie affair? All of Europe is involved in the controversy over the Danish cartoons: French newspapers, Danish newspapers, Spanish, Belgian, Lithuanian, Hungarian, English, Swedish, German, Portuguese, Slovenian, Swiss, Czech, Austrian, Italian, Polish newspapers... A survey of the European press since December 9, 2005.
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Separating truth and belief
A clash of cultures? No, of mindsets. Philosopher Andre Glucksmann on truth and belief, and why the Danish Muhammad caricatures and cartoons about the Holocaust are two different things.
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Rousing the lethargic bull
Anyone familiar with Middle Eastern literature knows it abounds with jesters who heap scorn on God, the mullahs, and rulers. But if Western media show endless stereotypes of Muslims - hooded men with machine guns and faces distorted with rage - you should not be surprised when hatred escalates and turns violent. By Navid Kermani
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The right to blaspheme
The disconcerting thing about the cartoon conflict is having to remind people that we have the right to commit blasphemy, that picking on the parish priest has long been a national sport. When we talk about anti-Muslim racism, we ask: what race are we talking about? Is Islam genetically transmittable? An open letter by eleven French writers.
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On the heels of the anti-Western reflex
Lebanese poet and writer Abbas Beydoun talks to Bernhard Hillenkamp about the rioting in his country in response to the Danish Muhammad cartoons and the creation of a more general "Islamic" paranoia.
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"What next, bearded one?"
We are offended. Our traditional values have been quashed. Freedom of speech and reason are sacred to us. And let's not forget, the world isn't flat. A wake-up call. By Sonia Mikich.
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Who's afraid of Muhammad?
In September, the Danish paper Jyllands-Posten printed cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad. Some Muslims were not amused. Jörg Lau explains how the seemingly innocent pictures caused an international crisis.
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In local elections at the beginning of the month, the Austrian state of Carinthia effectively granted a governing majority to a dead man. Eva Menasse looks at an idyllically beautiful corner of the world that has been dumbed-down to death. Photo by 
The fatwa against British Indian author Salman Rushdie was issued 20 years ago. Today, says Thierry Chervel, Islamism has the West more firmly in its grip than ever before – thanks to our left-wing intellectuals.
Tunisian-born writer Abdelwahab Meddeb depicts the pain and sadness afflicting Gaza, where the horror of the human race appears in all its nakedness.
The age of privatisation is over. Politics not the market is responsible for promoting the common good. Philosopher Jürgen Habermas talks to Thomas Assheuer about the necessity of an international world order. (Photo: Wolfram Huke)
Iceland was determined to be a globalisation winner at any price. German-Icelandic writer Kristof Magnusson looks into the culture and history of this mini-state to find out how it became buried in debt.
Why Austria's far-right under Heinz-Christian Strache and the late Jörg Haider are celebrating their election triumph. By Doron Rabinovici
Russian author Arkady Babchenko rose to international fame with the remorseless description of the Chechen conflict in his autobiographical novel "The Colour of War". Babchenko was also the millitary correspondent for the Novaya Gazeta during the recent Russian military operation in South Ossetia. Jörg Plath met up with him in Berlin.
Radovan Karadzic might be on trial in The Hague, but he can sit back in his Hugo Boss suit, confident that his work is done. His heirs are young, healthy and full of hate. And as far as they are concerned, the war is far from over. Croatian author Dubravka Ugresic dreams of a procession of collective shame and a ritual of repentance.
The dead body of Russian artist Anna Alchuk was pulled out of the river Spree in April this year. She and her husband, philosopher Michail Ryklin, had moved to Berlin in November 2007 after life in Russia became intolerable as a direct consequence of Alchuk's participation in the exhibition "Caution: Religion!". Michail Ryklin looks to his wife's tormented diary entries to help him approximate the causes of her death.