German Bounty Tears Veil Off Swiss Secrecy: Celestine Bohlen The Swiss are shocked again, this time over the German decision to buy a list of some 1,500 possible tax cheats saved on a disc lifted from a Swiss bank. It’s stolen property, say the Swiss bankers. It’s bank robbery, cry the lawyers. It is behavior unfitting of a “civilized state,” harrumphed one Swiss politician.

Sniping at U.S. Haiti Role Shows EU Weakness: Celestine Bohlen Most Americans are probably unaware that the rapid dispatch of U.S. troops and military equipment to Haiti after the Jan. 12 earthquake was an occupation.

Women Under Wraps Don’t Deserve French Ire: Celestine Bohlen To listen to French politicians now making the round of TV talk shows, there is no issue more urgent than the burqa, the head-to-toe Muslim garment worn by very few women in France.

War on Terror Ignores Rule to Know Thy Enemy: Celestine Bohlen Here we are, eight years into a global war against al-Qaeda, and we still have trouble identifying the enemy.

World War Pope Sainthood Like Obama’s Nobel: Celestine Bohlen It’s not at all clear that the world needs another Roman Catholic saint, let alone another canonized Catholic pope. By one count, there are already more than 10,000 saints and “beati” or blessed, accumulated since Roman times, with at least three saints already assigned for every day of the year.

Attacks, Girls, Chaos Do Berlusconi’s Work: Celestine Bohlen Silvio Berlusconi has always said that people were out to get him. After he got smashed in the face with a replica of Milan’s Gothic cathedral, it looks like he’s been proved right.

Minaret Threat Eclipsed by Swiss Intolerance: Celestine Bohlen If it did nothing else (and it may end up getting knocked down in a European Court of Human Rights), Switzerland’s vote to ban the building of minarets drew attention to Europe’s identity crisis. The Swiss -- like the French, or the Germans, or the British for that matter -- are clearly worried about the Muslims living among them.

Cheney’s Sniping Only Masks Bush Era Failures: Celestine Bohlen President Barack Obama’s foreign policy is getting slapped around from all sides these days.

U.S. Trails the World in Bank Pay Overhaul: Celestine Bohlen The American business model gets a bad rap in much of Europe, particularly in France, where newspaper cartoons and editorials, or a chat with a bartender, will almost always cough up the worst “Anglo-Saxon” stereotype: rapacious, uncouth and socially unaware.

Socialist Nightmare Might Make U.S. Healthier: Celestine Bohlen That’s it, folks. The U.S. is headed for “Euro-style socialism,” thanks to the public option in the House version of the universal health-care bill.