From World Policy Journal, David L. Phillips (Columbia): The Balkans' Underbelly; Michael J. Jordan on the roots of hate. From Notre Dame magazine, a look at what we can learn from Transylvania (really!). From a political party to a cultural lifestyle: Danilo Breschi on trends of post-communism in Italy. An article on Spain's integration of Gypsies as a model for Europe. From Baltic Review, why do Scandinavians work? Minority rules: How Sweden's far-right rose from neo-Nazi skinheads to populist Muslim-baiters to the country's new kingmakers. For the first time in the postwar era, far-right extremists garnered enough votes to enter Sweden’s parliament — even in troubled times, this is shocking news. Doesn’t anyone out there care what’s happening to Sweden? Richard Svensson on the mystery dragons of Sweden, from Norse sagas to modern sightings. How to become an Estonian: Don’t have a ready-made national epic? Get Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwald to write one. The Seven-Headed President: Switzerland celebrates Europe's strangest system of government. As Wall Street hangs on the question “Will Greece default?,” Michael Lewis heads for riot-stricken Athens, and for the mysterious Vatopaidi monastery, which brought down the last government, laying bare the country’s economic insanity. With pot laws changing, GQ sends a weed-averse correspondent to see what life is really like in Amsterdam, the world's cannabis capital. The King's Two Bodies: They recently dug up Nicolae Ceausescu's corpse — a dictator never really dies.
