‘Unfortunately, most Hungarians expect their politicians to be on the take and that's because many of them are. I'd love to name names, but I'm not in the mood for litigation’

A new outburst of anti-Semitism in Paris has brought violence out from the banlieues into the heart of Paris

‘Now that Berlin is officially one of the coolest places in Europe, many have developed a peculiar sense of being German - a form of confidence, or nonchalance at least, about their nationality’

Although previously banned, Tariq Ali's books can now be read anywhere in Pakistan. In the aftermath of the jihadist attacks in Mumbai and on the Sri Lankan cricket team, will the Brit-Pak's fluent words offer any solutions to the problems there?

‘Then the beating began. One of the new arrivals punched Christopher hard in the face. Two others grabbed his arm and started dragging him across the street. For the first time the Hitch looked scared’

Standpoint's Writer-At-Large visits the slums of Mumbai to assess the Oscar-winning film

A new documentary made in Afghanistan has won two awards at the the Sundance Film Festival. Afghan Star could help the cause of feminism there and encourage a desperately-needed sense of national community

‘The post-1989 temptation in Prague has been two-fold. The first has been to legislate the totalitarian past out of existence, the second has been to copy the liberal West blindly at a lag of 20 years’

‘In his decade as president, Chávez has parlayed socioeconomic resentment into near-invincibility. But Venezuela's decay, and the chinks in his armour, are there for all to see’

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US Election Week diary: New Yorkers and their attitudes towards the new president