I am an author and Orientalist, musing and writing about the intersection of culture and politics in the past and present. My interests include world literature, political theories, history of ideas, cultural history, foreign languages (Arabic, Greek, Chinese …), comic books, martial arts and much more.

I read Middle Eastern Languages and Literature, Modern Greek Literature, and Political Science at RUB (MA in 2000, Dr. phil. in 2005), before I worked for different universities. I am a former short-time contract soldier (1991), a former scholarship holder of the State of Israel (2001-2), a trained journalist (FJS Berlin, 2020), and a fervent practitioner of Chinese martial arts (since 2017).