This week's signandsight

Ex-Stasi agents are at the heart of a spy-scandal currently rocking
Germany. Najem Wali is amazed by the silence of his fellow Iraqi
writers. Daniel Libeskind explains why he doesn’t build for dictators.
Three German museum directors are sharing the knowledge of the world
with a sheik in Dubai, in return for wads of cash. And Peter Handke
has issued some impenetrable words about Yugoslavia.

Inflated phrases

When matter leads to immateriality and transcends the actuality of the
object, we are reading a text about art. Notes on the crisis of
criticism by Christian Demand

Magazine Roundup

The New Humanist observes the rise of Muslim Creationism. Nepszabadsag
wonders how democracy should deal with covert racism. The New Yorker
introduces Dr. Fadl, a reformed terrorist and one of al-Qaeda’s
fiercest critics. In the New York Review of Books, the head of the
Harvard library explains why the news is only a story. Caffe Europa
describes the xenophobia of Italian politicians. Die Weltwoche warily
watches the vicious hoodies in the new Justice video.