As rioting and arson sweep French cities, Europe’s governing classes are reaping the harvest of a fatal delusion that mistook the dismantling of inherited identity for moral progress. The Arson at Limoges Town Hall. In the 1975 thriller Peur sur la ville (Fear Over the City), French cinematic icon Jean-Paul Belmondo hurtles across the rooftops of Paris in pursuit of a twisted serial killer terrorising the capital. In the film - one of Belmondo’s umpteen policiers of the perio

Part 1 - The greatest attraction is not always a monument. For me, travel begins long before I board a flight. It begins with planning. an itinerary, studying maps, tracing railway connections, searching for small hotels and charming motels, checking the weather and deciding what to pack. Sometimes, the excitement lies simply in discovering how two seemingly insignificant towns are connected by a local train, a scenic bus route or anunexpected road. This is why I have always

Vladimir Dedijer’s long-neglected The Road to Sarajevo remains one of the finest guides to the assassination that changed the course of the twentieth century. Later this month, on July 28th, the world will quietly pass the 112th anniversary of one of history’s defining moments. On that day in 1914, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia. Within days, Europe’s elaborate alliance system would lurch into motion. By August, the Continent, which had largely been at peace for nearl

Austria’s chancellor visits India, signalling a pragmatic European pivot towards a rising Asian partner For a country often described as the quiet heart of Europe, Austria has chosen a moment of global flux to step outward. Its outreach to India, in form of Austrian Chancellor Christian Stocker’s recent visit this month, is marked by shifting alliances, economic anxieties and a search for reliable partners beyond the Atlantic. Austria’s geography has always endowed it with an