More reading

As usual, the selection is determined by my personal interests.

So I start today with an interview with a biographer of Sir Vidya Naipaul. I have long held the strong opinion that recent decades of English-language fiction and writing has a strong tilt towards the subcontinent, and Naipaul was an early representative of that trend.

A Finnish artist has placed burqa-clad women in a Nordic forest...

An Iranian-american artist exhibits in Århus, with a monumental depiction of Iran in 1953.

The National takes a look at the future of culture in Abu Dhabi Saadiyat Island.

I would like to call attention to the work of ECPAT against sexual exploitation of children.

Svenska Dagbladet highlights the importance of developments in Kirkuk and Iraqis attending a course on post-conflict conciliation in Finland.

Aftonbladet calls for Sweden and Carl Bildt to follow in the footsteps of Jimmy Carter and start a dialogue with Hamas.

While Svenska Dagbladet is more sceptical to the political developments in the Middle East. Al-Jazeera also discusses the issues of Arab unity and regional trends.

Also new Abu Dhabi paper The National takes a look at the regional human rights agenda.

BBC reports on Human Rights Watch criticism against the situation of women in Saudi Arabia. Saudi blogger Fouad has been freed, BBC reports.

Middle East Reports looks at the connections and conflicts between the ruling AKP and the Alevi community.

BBC continues to look into the food crisis in Egypt.

BBC also writes of the dream of a Palestinian village.

Samantha Power recently visited Stockholm. Her position as Anna Lindh professor at Harvard University gives her a strong connection with Sweden, regardless of her US-political affiliations.

Merete Mazzarella writes for Svenska Dagbladet on the burden of generations of family (dynasty) entrepreneurship.

Hans Ingvar Roth writes on global democracy, oil and the middle class...

BBC reports on the strengthening hardliners in Iran.

Swedish radio reports on a German-Afghan spy scandal, perhaps kicking in the wrong direction...

Anders Lago, the mayor of Södertälje, has visited the US Congress and spoken of the responsibility his town takes for refugees from Iraq. Here he is interviewed by Svenska Dagbladet.

Swedish media has published pictures of a planned Swedish wartime currency - in me raising more questions than giving answers... Currency is trust, and who would trust and use this and who one could trust to use it, in dire times of occupation, I really don't know.