Flamini's corridors of power

In a World Politics Review exclusive, veteran foreign corresponden Roland Flamini discusses EU borders, the personal life of Sarkozy and Al-Qaida's targeting of the Knights of Malta:

Last week the number of signatories of the EU's Schengen Agreement jumped from 13 to 22, with the addition of nine more member states. This means that EU citizens are able to move freely, without checks, within an area expanded to 3.6 million square kilometers across Europe from France to the Baltic States (Britain is only a partial member of Schengen). In an age of world terrorism, it may seem like a risky development, but European officials maintain they have actually improved internal security within the European Union with the establishment of the Schengen Information System (SIS).

Set up in 1995, the SIS database ensures a free-flow of information in real time between all 22 countries, ranging from vital feeds on suspected terrorists to details of stolen automobiles. For example, the EU says that through October 2007, 1,826,908 SIS alerts had been issued concerning stolen cars. EU sources are a little less forthcoming about terrorist information..

..The Roman Catholic Knights of Malta are the last surviving remnant of the Christian Crusades against Muslim occupation of the Holy Land. Today, their historic order is an international humanitarian organization with its own hospitals, clinics, and medical teams. For example, St. John relief services provide on-scene emergency help at major disasters. But its crusading past (nine centuries ago) has made it a target of Islamic militants, and some Arab media have recently claimed that the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St. John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta (the order's full name) was involved in military operations in Iraq.

The inevitable next step was that a Web site close to al-Qaida urged jihadists to attack the order's embassy in Cairo. With headquarters in Rome, the order maintains diplomatic relations with a number of countries, and has observer status in the United Nations..

The reference to Rhodes and Malta in the order's name reflects the two successive locations where the order settled following the final withdrawal of the Crusades from the Holy Land in the early 16th century. Its knights governed Malta for nearly 250 years. The Order was originally religious as well as military, with its members taking a vow of chastity. A handful of the present knights, including the present grand master, Andrew Bertie, a prominent English Catholic, still adhere to the chastity rule...