Weekend Roundup: Is Europe Imploding?

WORLDPOST WEEKEND ROUNDUP Is Europe Imploding? Getty/WorldPost Illustration Europe is facing divisive challenges on all fronts. It is being torn within by hardening attitudes toward the growing presence not only of Muslim immigrants, but also of citizens. On Monday, demonstrators thronged the streets of Dresden in support of "Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamization of the Occident." On Wednesday in Paris, 12 people were killed, including cartoonists who lampooned the Prophet Muhammad, in the horrific Charlie Hebdo attack. While the euro tumbles, northern and southern Europe are bitterly at odds over austerity policies and continuing high unemployment. And a newly aggressive Russia is challenging European values on its eastern frontier. Writing from Berlin, Alexander Görlach analyzes what is behind rising Islamophobia in Europe. From Paris, Le Huffington Post editorial directorAnne Sinclair pays homage to the slain journalists. "Infidel" author Ayaan Hirsi Ali warns that we can't let political Islamists define the territory of insult. And renowned Islamic scholar Akbar Ahmed looks at the long history, and present social conditions, of Muslims in Europe. Commenting on the Paris massacre, philosopher Ramin Jahanbegloo argues that fanaticism that allows no other truth than its own is the sign of barbarism. Writing from Paris, Dominique Moisi resists the impulse to "sacralize" the Charlie Hebdo satirists. Olivier Roy writes that there is no "Muslim community," only a "Muslim population" in France. Writing from Athens, Syriza leader Alexis Tsipras lays out the political program he will pursue if he takes power after Greece's upcoming elections. Writing from Frankfurt, European Central Bank President Mario Draghiargues that monetary union does not require more integration than already exists in Europe. From Kiev, former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko examines how the limbo of Putin's "no peace, no war" strategy is corroding the political situation. Alexander Motyl compares Ukraine's Donbas region to the American Deep South during segregation. Fabrizio Tassinari suggests Ukraine learn from Latvia's experience that "real convergence" must happen within society before the division between East and West can be healed. Recalling the anniversary of Benazir Bhutto's assassination, Farahnaz Ispahani writes from Karachi that the slain leader was among the few to see the jihadi threat long ago. Amal Clooney and Mark Wassouf, lawyers for Al Jazeera journalist Mohamed Fahmy, who is imprisoned in Cairo, argue he should be released and tried outside Egypt. The first president of the Islamic Republic of Iran after the revolution, Abolhassan Bani-Sadr, analyzes the internal political gridlock that is preventing Iran from agreeing to a deal on its nuclear program. Former CIA analyst Graham Fuller sets out his predictions for the Middle East in 2015. Writing from Havana, dissident blogger Yoani Sanchez reports a continuing crackdown on freedom of expression despite the recent opening to the U.S. American diplomat Thomas Pickering proposes that now is the time to give Guantanamo back to Cuba. Back in the saddle with a mandate after he triumphed in a snap election, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe says a key to Japan's economic recovery is to bring more women into the workforce. Writing from Seoul, South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se proposes a novel form of multilateral diplomacy -- value based partnerships. As the sensational corruption trial of "big tiger" Zhang Yongkang gets underway in Beijing, Minxin Pei asks whether it will be a political show or actually advance the rule of law. Nobel laureate Michael Spence outlines five reasons why the global economy is on such a slow growth path. In an interview, "Capital in the 21st Century" author Thomas Piketty talks about how the myth of national sovereignty lets globe-spanning corporations off the hook. Nouriel Roubini wonders what robots will do to our jobs. Alexis Crow warns that the OPEC sheikhs may still be standing when shale oil wells start running dry down the road. In our continuing "Following Francis" series, Vatican correspondentSébastien Maillard muses that Francis may one day become another "Pope emeritus." WorldPost Senior Editor Kathleen Miles notes that the first book choice of Mark Zuckerberg's new book club is "The End of Power," by WorldPost Contributing Editor Moises Naim. In this week's Singularity University series, Peter Diamandis reviews the information technologies that erase borders. Gaia Vince looks at the pluses and minuses of the Anthropocene Age, where humans dominate the planet.Christine Kenneally reflects on the controversies introduced by new developments in genealogy and eugenics. Finally, in an interview, Susie Orbach argues that "fat is a feminist issue."