Assimilating Islam ... At some point this summer I'd planned on writing a longer piece on why Europe, with all its professed liberalism, is nonetheless having so much trouble integrating its Muslim populations. I never quite got around to it, if for no other reason that on any given day another issue seemed more pressing.

Now it turns out I won't have to write it all: David Rieff has already done so.

Rieff slightly understates, I think, the reality that Europe never quite defined its national identities according to political ideals rather than ethnic heritage. But otherwise he articules just about every point I have to make on the subject.