Life is dull without music. Dustin Hoffman's movie "Quartet" is the perfect occasion to dust off your old instrument and start playing.

The European usually doesn't publish movie reviews, and this article won't turn into one either - although Dustin Hoffman's directorial debut "The Quartet" surely deserves to have its...

Investment rounds are like trips to the theater: you might not expect much of the performance, but you'll be glad that you went.

When the word "ticket" is mentioned in start-up circles, it usually refers to the size of an investment. "Ticket" also reminds me of the stubs you purchase...

Male circumcision pits two fundamental rights against each other: bodily integrity, and freedom of religion. But don't look to the legislature for a solution: it will have to come from within Jewish and Muslim communities.

The doctors who appealed to the German government and parliament were right; we need more...

The cultural industry is on life support. Without money from Big Business, journalism, the arts, and academia are not sustainable. We are witnessing the triumph of economic logic over the world of insight and contemplation.

We're great. No, we're fantastic! Journalism has an important social and political purpose, our...

The euro is far from dead. Following successful integration, it will be nothing less than the next reserve currency of the world.

In the end, the euro will not only survive but also be strong. It isn't really the common currency that is currently in crisis, but instead the...

On June 29, Catholics around the world collect the so-called 'Peter's Pence' to provide financial support to the pope and the Vatican. This year, it's time to cut off the money supply to the corrupt institutions of the Vatican -- and the German Catholic Church has to rally in support...

To us Germans, two European partnerships are absolutely fundamental -- our alliances with Poland and France. The reasons are historical as well as contemporary. Both countries suffered tremendously under the Nazi regime. The mutual commitment to reconciliation laid the foundation for the peaceful agenda of the European Union after the...

In his recent book In the King's Shadow, Philip Manow explores the thesis that modern democracies have incorporated many monarchic forms of legitimization and expression. Our interpretation of democracy is rooted in the imagination of the monarchy. In his analysis, Manow focuses on regicide. He quotes the French revolutionary Robespierre,...

"Christian pigs" is a favorite nickname of adolescent Muslims for their German...

Italy has outlived its bizarre prime minister. Now the country must come to grips with the havoc he wreaked and rebuilt its political culture. A eulogy to the land I love.

When I first arrived in Rome in 1994, the orange city buses still drove with their doors open....

Across Europe, pundits demand a new narrative for the EU. But our foundations remain strong. We must only broaden our gaze: We used to say "never again" to the threat of war. Today, we say "never again" to the danger of debt.

History has touched us, however undeserving we...

Having a youth movement is good. But what are the demands of the Occupy protesters? Without a message, they might as well occupy their local playgrounds. Real change happens through institutions, not by protesting against them.

The damn train station doesn't motivate people anymore. For months, thousands had protested against...

Violence against Christians is the latest sign of the precarious state of the Arab Spring. Unless moderate liberals can modernize Islam, atheism is the only option for Egypt.

Being Christian can be a bloody business. Today, we are the world's most persecuted religion, especially in Muslim countries. Radical Islamists...

Pope Benedict XVI has during his visit to Germany rejected the idea that the Church must have worldly power. What matters are not one's worldly actions but one's faith before God. The pope's mission is the complete separation of church and state.

Pundits expected it, and the protestant church...

I decided not to fly into New York City (where I am attending a conference this week) on 9/11 but pushed my flight back. I arrived on Monday, September 12, in mid-afternoon. I imagined what it would be like to stroll down towards Ground Zero and visit the memorial site....

September 11, 2001 was a sunny day. I had just started working for the German TV station ZDF and was updating the teletext. I had been working for just over an hour when the first ticker news came trickling in. Around quarter past 3 p.m. German time, we heard that...

Has the Left been correct all along? Frank Schirrmacher, Publisher of the paper Frankfurter Allgemeine, has asked that question in Germany, Charles Moore asked it in Britain. And I ask myself the same question. The free market has been poisoned; our communities have been corrupted. We have gambled for social...

Can we talk about objective, irrevocable truth? Or merely about claims to truth that are contested by the statements of others? Truth or opinion -- the answer to that question has massive implications for our idea of man.

For the publisher of a debate magazine, the question is almost unavoidable:...

America is shifting its attention to the East -- away from Europe and towards the Pacific region. The EU is dropping down on the priority list. There might be a time when the continent is reduced to a tourist destination without political or military clout.

Without doubt the

Unless we continue with government aid packages, the banking system will collapse. At least that is what you hear from the bankers themselves. Alright -- we must prevent that collapse from happening. Governments must nationalize the profits that the banks accumulated with taxpayer money since the financial crisis. If bankruptcy...