The Swedish government’s reaction to the story recently published by the popular Swedish daily tabloid Aftonbladet, suggesting that Israeli had harvested the organs of Palestinian victims for their own purposes, is difficult to understand. The article was entitled “Our Sons’ Organs Were Plundered” and was based on interviews with Palestinian families - although no evidence [...]

Now and then the question arises: how can we get a transnational discourse on European topics underway, or create a European online public space?
The two phrases in bold, above, both come from one of the latest posts on the topic, this time from Julien Frisch. They follow initiatives like Steffan’s Bloggingportal.eu, which aggregates Euroblog posts [...]

There is a movement afoot to bring the education and industry sectors closer together. The European Commission is on board, industry is thrilled and business schools see a market opportunity.
Some go as far as to suggest that industry should have input into university curricula.
The prevailing logic runs like this: Industry and innovation are essential [...]

Sir,
Regarding ‘EU light bulb ban attacked from all sides as phase-out starts‘:
There is a great deal of hot air being generated in what passes for the ‘debate’ on more efficient lighting. A couple of stats would be helpful. In a home that is heated by oil or gas (and has no air conditioning), the two [...]

Sir,
Regarding ‘UK looks to France for fighting online piracy‘:
The UK government should be applauded for its proposal to take a tougher stance on illegal downloading. Emulating the French government’s recent initiative, it sends a clear signal that decisive action is needed to uphold the rights of creative artists.
Protecting the rights of artists and songwriters [...]

How did the European Parliament promote online the 2009 European Elections? In which ways, the strategic use of social media helped to raise awareness about this major issue?
Context
The turnout of the European Parliament Elections has been falling steadily since the first elections in 1979. In order to reverse this tendency, the European Parliament is using  [...]

Economic Partnership Agreements (EPA) seem to be causing some jitters on the African continent. At best they are considered as providing Least Developed Countries (LDCs) with access to the EU market and at worst they are viewed with suspicion or have been outrightly rejected. Some of the reasons put forward range from the undue [...]

With less than five weeks to go, the debate on the Lisbon Treaty gathers momentum. In Ireland, two very big companies, INTEL (Ireland) and Ryanair, have announced that they will be promoting a Yes vote.
Having been a consumer advocate for so long, my reaction was a bit mixed. I am not anti-business, quite the contrary [...]

The EPSO’s Personal Data Protection Policy Deceit
In an age of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.
George Orwell
Part 1: The Treaty of Lisbon Deceit
Last week I read a statement issued by the Commission of the European Communities (alias the European Commission, EC) in response to claims made by a group of framers called [...]

It’s interesting to compare the populations of EU Member States with those of Chinese provinces:
• 14 Chinese provinces figure in the biggest 20
• 4 are bigger than Germany
• 8 are bigger than France and the UK
• 9 are bigger than Italy
• 14 are bigger than Spain
• 15 are bigger than Poland
These figures put in perspective [...]

Although there are differences between the situation in Tibet and Xinjiang, there are also similarities. This note it is not judgmental and is intended as a constructive contribution to the need to solve a serious tension in Chinese society concerning ethnic minorities,
Satisfying the preservation of the unity of a country and the aspirations of [...]

Now that some time has elapsed, it is useful to revisit the troubles that broke out in Urumqi on early July. These comments are not judgmental and are intended to expose the lack of mutual understanding and misperceptions between Europeans and Chinese, and the need for dialogue in all sectors of society and at [...]

The China Daily of 15 August reported that the US is testing a new technology called ‘Feed over Email’ (FOE) that enables web users in countries with internet censorship to bypass the blocks put in place. This could soon give the country’s 300 million web users another way to access information blocked by the [...]

The Chinese authorities permitted the domestic and foreign media to go to Urumqi, immediately after the recent riots, whereas journalists were banned from Tibet after the riots in Lhasa in March 2009. There are apparently differing views within the leadership.
The unity of China is an ongoing preoccupation of its leadership. There is a [...]

This note is based on Jason Tower’s article in China Review, summer 2009.
Civil society is developing well in China. There are tens of thousands of ‘NGO’s.
Chinese official activity in all realms of international society is ubiquitous. However, Chinese civil society organisations are notably absent on the international scene. This creates difficulties for [...]