That’s the title of a conference I’ll be attending this week, organized by the Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House) in London, in partnership with the Khayami Foundation. Among the notable speakers: Euro-Islamist Tariq Ramadan and Iranian reformer Abdolkarim Soroush. I’m paired with Fred Halliday, who teaches international relations at the London School of Economics. Halliday and I last “debated” back in the 1990s, in a plenary session of Britain’s Middle East studies society. Since then we’ve traded a few blows, so I’m looking forward to the event. Here’s the program.

Is Islam a threat to the West? When I get the answer, I’ll report back to readers of Sandbox. In the meantime, ponder this simulation of how the Houses of Parliament could appear in future (click on image to enlarge). It’s the work of a group of provocative Russian artists. I suppose it’s one possible answer to the conference question.

Sorry, no blogging or links this week. The site will return to life sometime over the weekend, after I get back.