I had planned that my first blog post on this site should probably cover some easy-going topic, like where to enjoy that perfect glass of Chianti in Milan. Then two news items hit me, one from Saudi-Arabia and the other from Turkey. I thought – here I am, and I could basically write about anything without being afraid of the consequences. But that's not the case everywhere and I wanted to remind myself that freedom of inquiry and free speech should never be taken for granted.