"Image of Muhammad"
"One day the British foreign secretary will wake up and discover that, in practice, there's very little difference between living under Exquisitely Refined Multicultural Sensitivity and Sharia. As a famously sensitive Dane once put it, 'To be or not to be, that is the question.'" Mark Steyn
"BEHEAD THOSE WHO INSULT ISLAM"
(Stephen Hird, Reuters, 2006/02/03)Galleries with the 12 cartoons:
"Muhammad Cartoon Gallery" (Human Events Online)
"Mohammed Image Archive: Depictions of Mohammed Throughout History" (zombietime)
"Danish Imams Propose to End Cartoon Dispute" (Hjörtur Gudmundsson, The Brussels Journal, 2006/01/22)
News and commentary on the Danish cartoon affair.
2006/02/13 - 2006/07/17
2005/09/18 - 2006/02/12February 2006
Sunday, February 12, 2006
"Barbarians in the Gates" (Joshua Trevino, The Brussels Journal, 2006/02/12)
"We Are Being Pissed On" (Per Nyholm, Jyllands-Posten/The Brussels Journal, 2006/02/12)
"Islamic Protestors in Paris Come Face to Face with an Unexpected Counter-Protest" (Eric, ¡No Pasarán!, 2006/02/12)
"Toon-deaf Europe is taking the wrong stand" (Mark Steyn, Chicago Sun-Times, 2006/02/12)
"Muslims are trading respect for fear" (Minette Marrin, The Sunday Times, 2006/02/12)
"Islamo-bullies get a free ride from the West" (Andrew Sullivan, The Sunday Times, 2006/02/12)
"We were brought up to hate - and we do" (Nonie Darwish, The Sunday Telegraph, 2006/02/12)
"Public anger at Muslim protesters" (David Smith, The Sunday Times, 2006/02/12)
"Leader of cartoon rally warns of 'fire throughout the world'" (Ben Leapman, Nina Goswami and Charlotte McDonald-Gibson, The Sunday Telegraph, 2006/02/12)Saturday, February 11, 2006
"The Adversary Culture: The perverse anti-Westernism of the cultural elite" (Keith Windschuttle, The Sydney Line, 2006/02/11)
"PROPERTY OF ISLAM" (Andrew Stuart, AFP, 2006/02/11)
"Thousands join pro-Islam protest" (BBC News, 2006/02/11)
"Iran: U.S., Europe Should Pay for Drawings" (Nasser Karimi, AP/Yahoo! News, 2006/02/11)
"Denmark asks citizens to leave Indonesia after threats" (Ireland Online, 2006/02/11)
"Denmark Pulls Envoys From Syria, Iran" (Karl Ritter, AP/Yahoo! News, 2006/02/11)
"The Cartoon Jihad: The Muslim Brotherhood's project for dominating the West" (Olivier Guitta, The Weekly Standard, 2006/02/20)
"Selling Out Moderate Islam" (Reuel Marc Gerecht, The Weekly Standard, 2006/02/20)
"Reborn extremist sect had key role in London protest" (Ian Cobain, Nick Fielding and Rosie Cowan, The Guardian, 2006/02/11)Friday, February 10, 2006
"Muhammedan self-censorship" (SD-Kuriren, 2006/02/02 [?])
"The Right to Offend" (Ayaan Hirsi Ali, ayaanhirsiali.web-log.nl, 2006/02/10)
"Editor apologizes for caricatures" (Aftenposten, 2006/02/10)
"DESSIN SATANIQUE" (Le Canard Enchaîné, 2006/02/08)
"Viva Voltaire" (Theodore Dalrymple, City Journal, 2006/02/10)
"THEY MAY GET ME FROM MY BAD SIDE..." (The Daily Tar Heel, 2006/02/10)
"Cartoon Controversy in Chapel Hill" (Amber Rupinta, abc11tv.com, 2006/02/10)
"FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION IS WESTERN TERRORISM" (Sayyid Azim, AP, 2006/02/10)
"Seething protests around world over Mohammed cartoons" (AFP/Yahoo! News, 2006/02/10)
"Losing Civilization" (Victor Davis Hanson, National Review, 2006/02/10)
"Curse of the Moderates" (Charles Krauthammer, The Washington Post, 2006/02/10)
"Cartoon rage" (Diana West, The Washington Times, 2006/02/10)
"The Ayatollah Joke Book" (Michael Kinsley, The Washington Post, 2006/02/10)
"Sweden shuts website over cartoon" (BBC News, 2006/02/10)
"Säpo stops Muhammad cartoon site" (The Local, 2006/02/10)Thursday, February 9, 2006
"Sweden dragged into cartoon row" (The Local, 2006/02/09)
"Caricature publisher reported to police" (Aftenposten, 2006/02/09)
"Nasrallah to US: 'Shut up' about Muslims" (AP/The Jerusalem Post, 2006/02/09)
"EU mulls media code after cartoon protests" (Reuters, 2006/02/09)
"Taleban say 100 enlist for suicide attacks over cartoons" (AFP/Khaleej Times, 2006/02/09)
"It’s time to get serious" (Theodore Dalrymple, The Spectator, 2006/02/11)
"Cartoon war - global intifada?" (Arnaud De Borchgrave, UPI, 2006/02/09)
"Rent-A-Riots ABCs" (Amir Taheri, New York Post, 2006/02/09)
"Here are the rest of the cartoons inside of the Newspaper" (Al Fagr/Rantings of a Sandmonkey, 2006/02/08)
"Cartoons in Egypt: Last October" (Paul Belien, The Brussels Journal, 2006/02/09)
"All the Rage" (Bruce Bawer, The Stranger, 2006/02/09)
"Our media must give Muslims the chance to debate with each other" (Timothy Garton Ash, The Guardian, 2006/02/09)
"Moral Atomic Bomb" (Bernard Henry-Levy, OpinionJournal, 2006/02/09)
"100,000 Muslims to vent anger in London at cartoon protest" (Nick Britten, The Daily Telegraph, 2006/02/09)
"Bush Shifts on Muslim Protests" (Jim VandeHei, The Washington Post, 2006/02/09)Wednesday, February 8, 2006
"Sheikh Al-Qaradhawi Responds to Cartoons of Prophet Muhammad: Whoever is Angered and Does Not Rage in Anger is a Jackass - We are Not a Nation of Jackasses" (MEMRI, Special Dispatch Series - No. 1089, 2006/02/09)
"Muslims urge cartoons law change" (Daily Mail, 2006/02/08)
"Imams barred from integration plans" (The Copenhagen Post, 2006/02/08)
"Editor: Imams used other images to stir anger" (Carol Eisenberg, Newsday.com, 2006/02/08)
"The story of one feather, five hens and twelve drawings" (DR Nyheder/michellemalkin.com, 2006/02/08)
"Chirac warns media over cartoons" (BBC World, 2006/02/08)
"Something Is Rotten Outside the State of Denmark" (Cinnamon Stillwell, SFGate.com, 2006/02/08)
"Clash Reunion Tour" (National Review, 2006/02/08)
"A member of TIPH, or Temporary International Presence..." (Damir Sagolj, Reuters, 2006/02/08)
"Foreigners Forced From Hebron" (Nasser Shiyoukhi, AP/Yahoo! News, 2006/02/08)
"UK Muslim Moderates Call for 'Civility', Fighting, Killing" (Scott Burgess, The Daily Ablution, 2006/02/08)
"Cartoon jihad is not about hate censorship but the idiosyncratic dogma of one particular faith" (Jonathan Kay, Jewish World Review, 2006/02/08)
"IT'S HARD TO BE LOVED BY FOOLS" (Charlie Hebdo/¡No Pasarán!, 2006/02/08)
"French weekly reprints cartoons" (Kerstin Gehmlich and Swaha Pattanaik, Reuters, 2006/02/08)
"Calvin and Hobbes -- and Muhammad" (Ann Coulter, Town Hall, 2006/02/08)
"Free speech? Labour cares more about the Muslim vote" (Matthew d'Ancona, The Daily Telegraph, 2006/02/08)
"A Cartoon's Portrait of America" (Anne Applebaum, The Washington Post, 2006/02/08)
"Bonfire of the Pieties" (Amir Taheri, OpinionJournal, 2006/02/08)Tuesday, February 7, 2006
"A MUSLIM'S FAITH IS ABOVE WESTERN VALUES" (Irwin Fedriansyiah, AP, 2006/02/07)
"Shameful appeasement" (Kathleen Parker, USA Today, 2006/02/07)
"Let's be honest: Multiculturalism can kill a nation" (James P. Pinkerton, Newsday.com, 2006/02/07)
"How Muslim Clerics Stirred Arab World Against Denmark" (Andrew Higgins, The Wall Street Journal, 2006/02/07)
"Why can't Muslims take a joke?" (Spengler, Asia Times, 2006/02/07)
"The Cartoon that Broke the Camel's Back" (Nidra Poller, Tech Central Station, 2006/02/07)
"Cartoons 'part of Zionist plot'" (The Guardian, 2006/02/07)
"NY Press Kills Cartoons; Staff Walks Out" (The New York Observer, 2006/02/07)
"BBC Admits Fatal Negligence" (Paul Belien, The Brussels Journal, 2006/02/07)
"Four die in fresh cartoon protests" (Robert Birsel, Reuters/Yahoo! News, 2006/02/07)
"UK student paper shredded after Prophet cartoons" (Robert Birsel, Reuters/Yahoo! News, 2006/02/07)
"A protestor, later identified as Omar Khayam..." (Cathal McNaughton, AP, 2006/02/04)
"Teenager arrested over priest murder in Turkey" (Sibel Utku Bila, AFP/Middle East Times, 2006/02/07)
"Cartoons and Islamic Imperialism" (Daniel Pipes, New York Sun/danielpipes.org, 2006/02/07)
"There’s No Clash Here" (Lee Harris, National Review, 2006/02/07)
"The Clash to End All Clashes?" (National Review, 2006/02/07)
"All of a sudden offensive toons no longer ‘halal’" (Tom Gross, Jewish World Review, 2006/02/07)
"Four killed as Afghan crowd attacks Norwegian base" (Reuters/Yahoo! News, 2006/02/07)
"Live Free or Die" (Paul Belien, The Brussels Journal, 2006/02/07)
"Tolerance Toward Intolerance" (Thomas Kleine-Brockhoff, The Washington Post, 2006/02/07)
"'Suicide bomber' is freed drug dealer" (Matt Barnwell, The Daily Telegraph, 2006/02/07)Monday, February 6, 2006
"'Everyone Is Afraid to Criticize Islam'" (Der Spiegel, 2006/02/06)
"No Beheadings, Please, We’re British" (Theodore Dalrymple, City Journal, 2006/02/06)
"Abu Hamza, free speech and the 'Prophet' Mohammed" (Johann Hari, The Independent/johannhari.com, 2006/02/06)
"Great Danes" (Gerard Baker, The Times, 2006/02/06)
"New protests erupt in cartoon row" (Christian Oliver, Reuters/Yahoo! News, 2006/02/06)
"Cleric calls on Mohammed cartoonist to be executed" (The Daily Telegraph, 2006/02/06)
"Creating Outrage" (Lorenzo Vidino, National Review, 2006/02/06)
"'The truth plus taxes'" (Henrik, Viking Observer, 2006/02/06)
"Iran paper plans Holocaust cartoons" (Aljazeera.Net, 2006/02/06)
"The cartoons and the offence" (Oliver Kamm, oliverkamm.typepad.com, 2006/02/06)
"Muslim Anti-Cartoon Clashes Turn Deadly" (Amir Shah, AP/Yahoo! News, 2006/02/06)
"The Angel Gabriel speaking to Mohammed" (zombietime)
"Pictures of Muhammed in Swedish textbook" (TT/Expressen, 2006/02/06)
"Iraq" (Henrik, Viking Observer, 2006/02/06)
"One law for the bloodthirsty, another for the tolerant" (Rachel Sylvester, The Daily Telegraph, 2006/02/06)Sunday, February 5, 2006
"Coping in Copenhagen" (Greyhawk, Mudville Gazette, 2006/02/05)
"Violence Spreads Over Muhammad Caricatures" (Zeina Karam, AP/Yahoo! News, 2006/02/05)
"Cartoons: 'Cut them to pieces'" (Omar Sinan, News24.com, 2006/02/05)
"Catholic priest shot dead in church in Turkey" (Reuters, 2006/02/05)
"Beirut mobs torch Denmark consulate" (DPA/Bangkok Post, 2006/02/05)
"A Lebanese Islamist stands outside the burning Danish consulate..." (Adnan Hajj, Reuters, 2006/02/05)
"Protesters Torch Danish Embassy in Beirut" (Zeina Karam, AP/Yahoo! News, 2006/02/05)
"How can we have respect for Islam when we are too fearful to criticise it?" (Muriel Gray, Sunday Herald, 2006/02/05)
"Want freedom of speech? You may not like what you are going to hear" (Iain Macwhirter, Sunday Herald, 2006/02/05)
"Danish Muslims Rebel Against Imams" (Hjörtur Gudmundsson, The Brussels Journal, 2006/02/05)
"'Sensitivity' can have brutal consequences" (Mark Steyn, Chicago Sun-Times, 2006/02/05)
"Timeline: a history of free speech" (David Smith and Luc Torres, The Observer, 2006/02/05)
"Europe's New Dissidents: Middle Eastern repression comes to the Continent" (Daniel Schwammenthal, OpinionJournal, 2006/02/05)
"Muslim protests are incitement to murder, say Tories" (Melissa Kite, The Sunday Telegraph, 2006/02/05)Saturday, February 4, 2006
"Cartoon Debate: The case for mocking religion" (Christopher Hitchens, Slate, 2006/02/04)
"The cartoon jihad (2)" (Melanie Phillips, melaniephillips.com, 2006/02/04)
"Two Jordan editors are arrested" (BBC News, 2006/02/04)
"Iran president orders economic reprisals for cartoons" (AFP/Yahoo! News, 2006/02/04)
"Angry demonstrators set ablaze the Danish embassy..." (Louai Beshara, AFP, 2006/02/04)
"Cartoon row: Danish embassy ablaze" (CNN.com, 2006/02/04)
"The reality of cartoon violence" (Christopher Caldwell, Financial Times, 2006/02/04)
"If you get rid of the Danes, you'll have to keep paying the Danegeld" (Charles Moore, The Daily Telegraph, 2006/02/04)
"So they have thin skins. That shouldn’t stop us poking fun at them" (Matthew Parris, The Times, 2006/02/04)
"Drawn into a religious conflict" (Tim Rutten, Los Angeles Times, 2006/02/04)
"Portraying prophet from Persian art to South Park" (Anthony Browne and Ruth Gledhill, The Times, 2006/02/04)
"Child's tale led to clash of cultures" (Luke Harding, The Guardian, 2006/02/04)
"Danish cartoonists fear for their lives" (Anthony Browne, The Times, 2006/02/04)
"Call for holy war at London demo" (Steve Bird and Daniel McGrory, The Times, 2006/02/04)Friday, February 3, 2006
"BEHEAD THOSE WHO INSULT ISLAM" (Stephen Hird, Reuters, 2006/02/03)
"Text of Danish Imams' case against Denmark" (Judith Apter Klinghoffer, HNN, 2006/02/03)
"Democracy in a Cartoon" (Ibn Warraq, Der Spiegel, 2006/02/03)
"Protecting Mohammed" (William F. Buckley, Jr., National Review, 2006/02/03)
"Three Pillars of Wisdom" (Victor Davis Hanson, National Review, 2006/02/03)
"The lies we tell ourselves" (Caroline Glick, The Jerusalem Post, 2006/02/03)
"Turkey Condemns Danish Cartoons of Islamic Prophet" (Amberin Zaman, VOA News, 2006/02/03)
"US sides with Muslims in cartoon dispute" (Reuters, 2006/02/03)
"Protests Over Muhammad Drawings Intensify" (Ibrahim Barzak, AP/Yahoo! News, 2006/02/03)
"Anger sweeps Middle East over cartoons of Mohammad" (Nidal Al-Mughrabi, Reuters/SignOnSignDiego.com, 2006/02/03)
"Anger over Mohammad cartoons spreads" (Kerstin Gehmlich, Reuters/Yahoo! News, 2006/02/03)
"Muslims attack Danish embassy building in Jakarta" (Reuters/Yahoo! News, 2006/02/03)
"'The War is On'" (Hjörtur Gudmundsson, The Brussels Journal, 2006/02/03)
"European press review" (BBC News, 2006/02/03)
"Day of anger threatened over cartoons of Prophet" (David Rennie and Tim Butcher, The Daily Telegraph, 2006/02/03)
"Cartoon wars and the clash of civilisations" (Daniel McGrory and Dan Sabbagh, The Times, 2006/02/03)
"Foreigners flee as gunmen hunt 'targets'" (Anthony Browne and Stephen Farrell, The Times, 2006/02/03)Thursday, February 2, 2006
"Imams accused of doublespeak" (The Copenhagen Post, 2006/02/02)
"British Jihadists: 'Kill all those who insult Muhammad'" (Judith Apter Klinghoffer, History News Network, 2006/02/02)
"Cartoon jihad" (Melanie Phillips, melaniephillips.com, 2006/02/02)
"Iraqi churches bombed: Link with Danish cartoons?" (Barnabas Fund, 2006/02/02)
"Islam: les caricatures de la discorde" (Plantu, Le Monde, 2006/02/02)
"France's Le Monde publishes front-page cartoon of Mohammed" (AFP/TTC, 2006/02/02)
"Global reaction" (Fiona Symon and Alan Rappeport, Financial Times, 2006/02/02)
"More European papers defy Muslim protests" (Gwladys Fouché, The Guardian, 2006/02/02)
"Anger Over Drawings Spreads Among Muslims" (Ibrahim Barzak, AP/Yahoo! News, 2006/02/02)
"Cartoon Rage vs. Freedom of Speech" (Robert Spencer, FrontPageMagazine, 2006/02/02)
"Mohammed Cartoon Conflict Gets Even Hotter" (Deutsche Welle, 2006/02/02)
"Muhammad cartoon editor is sacked" (BBC News, 2006/02/02)Wednesday, February 1, 2006
"Yes, we have the right to caricature God" (France Soir/The Brussels Journal, 2006/02/01)
"'Integration might be impossible'" (Erik Ohlsson, Dagens Nyheter, 2006/02/01)
"Norwegian Muslims want blasphemy law" (Aftenposten, 2006/02/01)
"Denmark battles to contain fallout over Mohammed cartoons" (AFP/Yahoo! News, 2006/02/01)
"Denmark's Cartoon Jihad" (Anjana Shrivastava, Der Spiegel, 2006/02/01)
"Muhammad cartoon row intensifies" (BBC News, 2006/02/01)
"French paper reprints Danish Mohammad cartoons" (Jon Boyle, Reuters/Yahoo! News, 2006/02/01)January 2006
Tuesday, January 31, 2006
"This poster depicting Mohammed..." (zombietime)
"The first fatality of the Mohammed pictures" (Nuri Kino, Expressen, 2006/01/31)
"Businessman with balls" (Henrik, Viking Observer, 2006/01/31)
"Palestinian supporters of the Islamic Jihad..." (Mahmud Hams, AFP, 2006/01/31)
"Gazans burn Danish flags, demand cartoon apology" (Nidal al-Mughrabi, Reuters/Yahoo! News, 2006/01/31)
"Newspaper evacuated after threat" (The Advertiser, 2006/01/31)
"Militant group: Apology not accepted" (svt.se, 2006/01/31)
"Nordic firm hit by Arab boycott" (BBC News, 2006/01/31)Monday, January 30, 2006
"Members of the Palestinian militant group Popular Resistance Commitee..." (Emilio Morenatti, AP, 2006/01/30)
"Honourable Fellow Citizens of the Muslim World" (Carsten Juste, Jyllands-Posten, 2006/01/30)
"Iraqi group urges Danish attacks over cartoons" (Reuters, 2006/01/30)
"Protests Over Muhammad Cartoon Grow" (Donna Abu-Nasr, AP/Yahoo! News, 2006/01/30)
"Clinton warns of rising anti-Islamic feeling" (Robert Spencer, Dhimmi Watch, 2006/01/30)
"Palestinian militants bar Danes, Norwegians from Gaza" (AFP/Khaleej Times, 2006/01/30)
"Denmark subject of cyber-attacks" (Henrik, Viking Observer, 2006/01/30)
"Palestinians storm EU office in Gaza" (AP/The Jerusalem Post, 2006/01/30)Sunday, January 8, 2006 - Sunday, January 29, 2006
"Palestinian militants from the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades..." (Abed Omar Qusini, 2006/01/29)
"Palestinians want Danes out" (Ali Waked, Ynetnews, 2006/01/29)
"Libya Closes Denmark Embassy Over Drawings" (Khaled Al-Deeb, AP/Yahoo! News, 2006/01/29)
"Muslims seek UN resolution over Danish prophet cartoons" (AFP/Yahoo! News, 2006/01/29)
"Muslim World League calls for UN interventions against disdaining religions" (KUNA, 2006/01/28)
"Denmark should not apologise for Mohammed cartoons" (AFP/Yahoo! News, 2006/01/28)
"Denmark is next" (The Jawa Report, 2006/01/27)
"Warnings of Impending Suicide Attack in Denmark" (Rusty Shackleford, The Jawa Report, 2006/01/27)
"Norway Apologizes over Muhammad Cartoons" (Filip van Laenen, The Brussels Journal, 2006/01/27)
"Where is the anger?" (Verity, Albion's Seed, 2006/01/27)
"Saudis Recall Ambassador to Denmark" (Abdullah Al-Shihri, AP/My Way, 2006/01/26)
"Muhammed" (Arne Sörensen, Jyllands-Posten, 2005/10/30)
"Danish Imams Propose to End Cartoon Dispute" (Hjörtur Gudmundsson, The Brussels Journal, 2006/01/22)
"Scholars Threaten Boycott Over Anti-prophet Cartoons" (Adel Abdel Halim, Islam Online, 2006/01/21)
"Denmark: Moderate Muslims Oppose Imams" (Hjörtur Gudmundsson, The Brussels Journal, 2006/01/19)
"Scandinavian Update: Israeli Boycott, Muslim Cartoons" (Hjörtur Gudmundsson, The Brussels Journal, 2006/01/14)
"Danish Prime Minister Shocked at Lies" (Hjörtur Gudmundsson, The Brussels Journal, 2006/01/11)
"Denmark Is Unlikely Front in Islam-West Culture War" (Dan Bilefsky, The New York Times, 2006/01/08)December 2005
"Muslim organisation calls for boycott of Denmark" (The Copenhagen Post, 2005/12/28)
"EU commissioner lashes out at Mohammed drawings" (The Copenhagen Post, 2005/12/23)
"Demonstrations in Pakistan have escalated into death threats against Danish illustrators who drew pictures of the prophet Mohammed" (The Copenhagen Post, 2005/12/02)November 2005
"Muslims march over cartoons of the Prophet" (Kate Connolly, The Daily Telegraph, 2005/11/04)
"Prophet cartoons prompt Egypt to cut off Danish dialogue" (The Copenhagen Post, 2005/11/03)October 2005
"War in France, War in Denmark" (Henrik, Viking Observer, 2005/10/31)
"Selective Muslim Silence" (Judith Apter Klinghoffer, HNN, 2005/10/31)
"Denmark arrests 4 terror suspects" (AP/CNN.com, 2005/10/27)
"death will visit Denmark" (infovlad.net, 2005/10/15)
"Holy war against newspaper" (The Copenhagen Post, 2005/10/20)
"Muslim anger at Danish cartoons" (BBC News, 2005/10/20)
"Youth reported held in Denmark for death threats over Mohammed cartoons" (Middle East Times, 2005/10/17)
"Imam demands apology for Mohammed cartoons" (The Copenhagen Post, 2005/10/06)
"Image of Muhammad" (Kurt Westergaard, Fjordman, 2005/10/05)September 2005
"Fear Pervades Danish Art Community" (Patrick, Dhimmi Watch, 2005/09/18)
"Barbarians in the Gates" (Joshua Trevino, The Brussels Journal, 2006/02/12)
The Danish cartoon affair VIII. This has probably been the single worst week since the 1930's when it comes to the defence of Enlightenment values in Europe.
On Thursday, the European Union's Justice and Security Commissioner, Franco Frattini, promised that the EU is ready to self-regulate the right of free expression.
The same evening the Swedish government moved to shut down websites over the publication of one completely innocuous cartoon. Furthermore, though it was the first time since the Second World War the government has intervened directly against a publication, reactions have been very muted in Sweden.
On Friday, the editor of the Norwegian Magazinet, Vebjørn Selbekk, in fear for his and his family's life, was forced to prostrate before the leader of the Islamic Council Norway, offering a complete apology for republishing the cartoons.
And yesterday, as Danes fled for their lives from Indonesia, thousands rallied in Europe, in solidarity not with Denmark, but with the goals of the ones attacking it, albeit not with some of their methods.
All in all, it's been the most depressive week since I started this site back in September 2001. In fact, yesterday I seriously considered emigrating to America for the very first time in my life, as I really can't see how the situation in Europe could possibly be turned around. The detoriation will surely continue, slowly but steadily, day by day.
It's time to leave this sinking Continent. Offer me a job and I'll be on the next plane:"The barbarians have won. Let us be forthright about this. In what should be a clear case of right and wrong — free expression good, death and violence against it bad — the great powers of the West have failed in their most elementary duties of conscience and self-preservation. There is no moral difference between appeasing the sensitivities of violent Islam, and appeasing the sensibilities of Germans circa 1933 who yearned for the return of the Volksdeutsche. The aping of the rhetoric of a just demand (for sensitivity!) does not signify the existence of that just demand (for submission!). There is no point of satiation at which the killers of 9/11, Theo van Gogh, Atocha, Fallujah, or the rest will be satisfied. There is no supine posture to forever preclude the “cartoon rage” of today. There is no appeasing gesture to deflect the blow. There is no demonstration of goodwill that will engender the same. There is only weakness — and strength.
We are not among the strong. We have chosen not to be."They have won. That is the sad fact.
"I guess that during the next generation no one in Denmark will draw the Prophet Mohammed."Certainly not. The ultimate fault is not the murderous masses’, but our own. That is the truth. And that is our shame."
"We Are Being Pissed On" (Per Nyholm, Jyllands-Posten/The Brussels Journal, 2006/02/12)
The Danish cartoon affair VII. Translation of an editorial by Per Nyholm, a journalist on Jyllands-Posten:
"What is going on? I am not referring so much to the threats against Danish citizens and Danish commerce. Nor to the burnt down Embassies. I am thinking of a word that keeps popping up whenever the Mohammed cartoons are mentioned.
That word is BUT. A sneaky word. It is used to deny or qualify what one has just said.
How many times lately have we not heard people of power, the Opinion Makers and others say that of course we have freedom of speech, BUT.
They have said it, all of them, from Kofi Annan, the UN Secretary General, to our own Bendt Bendtsen [a Danish Politician]. Once we had to be sensitive to the easily hurt feelings of the Nazis, then came the Communists, now it is the Islamists. The reason I say ‘Islamists’ is that I do not for a moment believe all the world’s Muslims are pissing on us. I think we are dealing with thugs, fools and misled people. Those are the ones we have to deal with, and then the chickenshit politicians.
The cartoons are no longer something Jyllands-Posten can control. They have already been manipulated and misrepresented to the point that few know what is going on and fewer know how to stop it. This affair is artifically being kept buoyant in a sea of lies, suppressions of the truth, misconceptions, lunacy and hypocrisy, for which this newspaper bears no blame. The only thing Jyllands-Posten did was provide a pin-prick which has made a boil of nastiness erupt. This would have happened sooner or later. That it happened more than four months after the publication of the cartoons, raises a question of its own. Are we dealing with random events or with a staged clash of civilizations? One might hope for the former yet be prepared to expect the latter.
That is why I say: Freedom of Speech is Freedom of Speech is Freedom of Speech. There is no but.""Islamic Protestors in Paris Come Face to Face with an Unexpected Counter-Protest" (Eric, ¡No Pasarán!, 2006/02/12)
The Danish cartoon affair VI. Two counter-protesters at yesterday's anti-cartoon rally in Paris are almost lynched by a mob. The movie is a must-see:
"Voices start to ring out. "It's provocation!" "You tread on 1.5 million Muslims!" "Connards!" "Rat faces!"
"Ignore them, they are idiots!" reply others as a crowd starts to press around. A rhetorical question rings out: "Would they be carrying out the same provocations in other types of demonstrations?!" (Actually, Monsieur, yes we would and yes we have.)
The Danish American feels like replying that they have done the same to Chirac, to Mitterrand, to the civil servant salons, and to union demonstrations, but suddenly he and the French American start moving away. What has happened is that a short blonde Frenchwoman has tugged on their sleeves and gently but firmly started pulling them away.
"I will show you my ID 10 meters from here" says the plainclothes cop. "They are going to lynch you!" she adds, as she leads us into another street (in the movie taken by our valiant camera team, you can briefly see her wearing a brown coat, right after a bearded guy in white cap and tan jacket says "They are provoking us" and the camera turns).
"Sons of adultery!" "Hey, you two sons of the whore!" Uniformed policemen join us and start rushing us, more and more quickly down the street (I don't want to run, I tell them), with a growing crowd quickening their steps. A police van's door opens. "Go! Go!" shouts a policeman to the driver, "Foncez!" as sirens wail and the van rushes ahead.
"Are you out of your minds?!" ask the two officers. 'Do you know how many of them there were?!'" (See also footage from the demonstration in Antwerp: "Muslims Demonstrate in Brussels, Antwerp" (Paul Belien, The Brussels Journal, 2006/02/12))"Toon-deaf Europe is taking the wrong stand" (Mark Steyn, Chicago Sun-Times, 2006/02/12)
The Danish cartoon affair V: "The European Union's Justice and Security Commissioner, Franco Frattini, said on Thursday that the EU would set up a "media code" to encourage "prudence" in the way they cover, ah, certain sensitive subjects. As Signor Frattini explained it to the Daily Telegraph, "The press will give the Muslim world the message: We are aware of the consequences of exercising the right of free expression. . . . We can and we are ready to self-regulate that right."
"Prudence"? "Self-regulate our free expression"? No, I'm afraid that's just giving the Muslim world the message: You've won, I surrender, please stop kicking me.
But they never do. Because, to use the Arabic proverb with which Robert Ferrigno opens his new novel, Prayers for the Assassin, set in an Islamic Republic of America, "A falling camel attracts many knives." In Denmark and France and the Netherlands and Britain, Islam senses the camel is falling and this is no time to stop knifing him.
The issue is not "freedom of speech" or "the responsibilities of the press" or "sensitivity to certain cultures." The issue, as it has been in all these loony tune controversies going back to the Salman Rushdie fatwa, is the point at which a free society musters the will to stand up to thugs. ...
So when the EU and the BBC and the New York Times say that we too need to be more "sensitive" to those fellows with "Behead the enemies of Islam" banners, they should look in the mirror: They're turning into "moderate Muslims," and likely to wind up as cowed and silenced and invisible." (See also: "EU mulls media code after cartoon protests" (Reuters, 2006/02/09))"Muslims are trading respect for fear" (Minette Marrin, The Sunday Times, 2006/02/12)
The Danish cartoon affair IV: "Respect is not a right. Almost anything one can think of these days is, supposedly, a right, and judging from the angry demands on all sides for respect, one might easily be bamboozled into thinking respect is somehow a right as well. Not so, rightly not.
Yet all the terrifying Muslim uprisings across the world in response to the Danish cartoons have all been about a demand for respect, as of right. They are demanding respect for religion, or at any rate for their own religion and their own religious sensibilities. The same is true of the more moderate demonstrations in London yesterday. Worse, many westerners are penitentially admitting that Muslims do indeed have a right to respect for their faith, and that it is wrong to express disrespect for a religion. This is disastrous.
Yesterday’s demonstrations were organised by the new Muslim Action Committee, which claims to represent more than 1m Muslims. They may indeed be moderates, as they claim, yet what they say sounds anything but moderate. They demand changes in the law and a strengthening of the Press Complaints Commission code to outlaw any possible publication of the cartoons of the prophet Muhammad in the UK. “What is being called for,” said Faiz Siddiqi, the committee’s convenor, 'is a change of culture. In any civilised society, if someone says, ‘don’t insult me’, you do not, out of respect for them.'""Islamo-bullies get a free ride from the West" (Andrew Sullivan, The Sunday Times, 2006/02/12)
The Danish cartoon affair III: "You’d think, wouldn’t you, it might be helpful to view the actual cartoons so you can see what on earth this entire fuss is about. But the British and American media have decided that it is not their job to help you understand this story. In fact it is their job to prevent you from fully understanding this story. As of this writing no major newspaper in Britain has published the cartoons; the BBC has shown them only fleetingly and other networks have shied away. All have decided not to give you this critical information, without which no intelligent person can construct an informed and intelligent position on the matter. You’re on your own. ...
But the bad news is that the Islamists have just scored a huge victory.
Their hope has always been what can only be called creeping sharia. Bit by bit, free societies abandon small freedoms to accommodate the sensitivities of Muslims or Christian fundamentalists or the PC police or other touchy fanatics. Bit by bit, we cede our freedoms to fear and phoney civility — all in the name of getting along.
Yes, in this new war of freedom versus fundamentalism I always anticipated appeasement. I just didn’t expect the press to be among the first to wave the white flag.""We were brought up to hate - and we do" (Nonie Darwish, The Sunday Telegraph, 2006/02/12)
The Danish cartoon affair III: "Is it any surprise that after decades of indoctrination in a culture of hate, that people actually do hate? Arab society has created a system of relying on fear of a common enemy. It's a system that has brought them much-needed unity, cohesion and compliance in a region ravaged by tribal feuds, instability, violence, and selfish corruption. So Arab leaders blame Jews and Christians rather than provide good schools, roads, hospitals, housing, jobs, or hope to their people.
For 30 years I lived inside this war zone of oppressive dictatorships and police states. Citizens competed to appease and glorify their dictators, but they looked the other way when Muslims tortured and terrorised other Muslims. I witnessed honour killings of girls, oppression of women, female genital mutilation, polygamy and its devastating effect on family relations. All of this is destroying the Muslim faith from within. ...
Muslims need jobs - not jihad. Apologies about cartoons will not solve the problems. What is needed is hope and not hate. Unless we recognise that the culture of hate is the true root of the riots surrounding this cartoon controversy, this violent overreaction will only be the start of a clash of civilisations that the world cannot bear.""Public anger at Muslim protesters" (David Smith, The Sunday Times, 2006/02/12)
The Danish cartoon affair II: "People in Britain take a hard line against Muslims protesting violently against supposed insults to their religion, and are gloomy about future relations between Muslims and the rest of the population. ...
The poll shows that 86% of people think the protests were “a gross overreaction”. By 56% to 29% respondents said it was right to publish the cartoons in Denmark and republish them elsewhere. ...
Where foreigners stir up racial and religious hatred, 81% of people think they should be sent back to their own countries, even if to do so would endanger their lives.
There is widespread gloom about the future, with 87% expecting further attacks in Britain by Islamic groups on the scale of the July 7 bombings; and only 17% seeing a future in which there is peaceful coexistence between Muslims and others in Britain, while 67% think there will be a worsening of tensions. This is also true internationally. While 34% say western nations can coexist peacefully with mainly Muslim countries, 45% disagree.""Leader of cartoon rally warns of 'fire throughout the world'" (Ben Leapman, Nina Goswami and Charlotte McDonald-Gibson, The Sunday Telegraph, 2006/02/12)
The Danish cartoon affair I. Flowery words from a "moderate" Muslim:
"A Muslim leader behind a mass rally in London yesterday gave a warning of "fire throughout the world" if the West continues to publish cartoons of Mohammed.
At the protest in Trafalgar Square, attended by 5,000 Muslims, there were no arrests and none of the inflammatory placards or costumes seen at last weekend's demonstrations.
However, a row erupted over comments by Dr Azam Tamimi, a senior figure in the Muslim Association of Britain, which staged the event. He told Sky News: "The publication of these cartoons will cause the world to tremble. Fire will be throughout the world if they don't stop."
Last night Louise Ellman, the Labour MP and vice-chairman of Labour Friends of Israel, said: "It is inciting confrontation when he should be calming the situation." A Muslim Labour MP at the protest distanced himself from Dr Tamimi's comments. Sadiq Khan, the MP for Tooting, said: 'Speakers can get carried away, but they are just flowery words. I don't take them on board and others shouldn't.'" (See also: "'We are for peace … but if you insult us it is not peace you get'" (Nick Rutherford, Sunday Herald, 2006/02/12): "The speaker who drew possibly the loudest cheers of the day was Dr Tamimi. He said: 'We are for peace, if you give us peace. But if you insult us it is not peace you get. Don’t mess with our Prophet.'")"The Adversary Culture: The perverse anti-Westernism of the cultural elite" (Keith Windschuttle, The Sydney Line, 2006/02/11)
The Danish cartoon affair VIII: "The real problem here was not the Western newspapers who published the cartoons but the Islamic response to them. Our political leaders did not blame the latter but turned the responsibility onto ourselves. Enclosed by a mindset of cultural relativism, most Westerners are loath to censure Muslims who go on violent rampages, burn down embassies and threaten death to their fellow citizens. Many of us regard this as somehow understandable, even acceptable, since we have no right to judge another religion and culture. ...
Muslim rage over the cartoons is not an isolated issue that would have been confined to Denmark and would have gone away if nobody had republished them. It is simply one more step in a campaign that has already included assassination, death threats and the curtailment of criticism. And our response, yet again, has been one more white flag in the surrender of Western cultural values that we have been making since Khomeini's fatwa against Rushdie in 1989. ...
Today, we live in an age of barbarism and decadence. There are barbarians outside the walls who want to destroy us and there is a decadent culture within. We are only getting what we deserve. The relentless critique of the West which has engaged our academic left and cultural elite since the 1960s has emboldened our adversaries and at the same time sapped our will to resist.
The consequences of this adversary culture are all around us. The way to oppose it, however, is less clear. The survival of the Western principles of free inquiry and free expression now depend entirely on whether we have the intelligence to understand their true value and the will to face down their enemies."
"PROPERTY OF ISLAM"
(Andrew Stuart, AFP, 2006/02/11)
"A demonstrator joins the "United Against Incitement and Islamaphobia" rally in Trafalgar Square in London 11 February 2006.""Thousands join pro-Islam protest" (BBC News, 2006/02/11)
The Danish cartoon affair VII. As Danes are fleeing for their lives from Indonesia in a continuing frenzied global intifada against their country, it would be nice to report that their fellow Europeans were staging huge peaceful rallies in solidarity with Denmark all over the continent. But of course not.
Actually, there was a small demonstration in support of freedom of speech and the right to publish the cartoons, which was held in Stockholm on Monday, arranged by the Iranian Refugees National Organization, among others. From an article in City:"Rana Karimzadeh fled from oppression in Iran a year ago. On Monday she was demonstrating on Sergels torg.
"I never thought I would have to defend freedom of speech here," she says. ...
"I don't understand how Swedes can be so passive. I see how freedom is shrinking," she says."Indeed. I wonder how she feels today, watching how thousands of Europeans are rallying against the cartoons:
"More than 4,000 UK mainstream Muslims joined a protest against controversial cartoons satirising their Prophet Muhammad in London's Trafalgar Square. ...
Liberal Democrat MP Sarah Teather described the cartoons as "a juvenile posturing exercise".
"Nothing was done to further the cause of liberal values or the freedom of speech - the publication of the cartoons was just plain racist," she added. ...
Respect MP George Galloway received a rather frostier reception however, as he took to the stage to boos and cries of 'Big Brother, Big Brother.'"(See also: "100,000 Muslims to vent anger in London at cartoon protest" (Nick Britten, The Daily Telegraph, 2006/02/09))
"Iran: U.S., Europe Should Pay for Drawings" (Nasser Karimi, AP/Yahoo! News, 2006/02/11)
The Danish cartoon affair VI: "Iran's hard-line president on Saturday accused the United States and Europe of being "hostages of Zionism" and said they should pay a heavy price for the publication of caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad that have triggered worldwide protests. ...
In a speech marking the 27th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution Saturday, Ahmadinejad linked his public rage with
Israel and the cartoons satirizing Islam's most revered figure.
"I ask everybody in the world not to let a group of Zionists who failed in Palestine (referring to the recent Hamas victory in Palestinian elections) to insult the prophet," he said.
"Now in the West insulting the prophet is allowed, but questioning the Holocaust is considered a crime," he said. "We ask, why do you insult the prophet? The response is that it is a matter of freedom, while in fact they (who insult the founder of Islam) are hostages of the Zionists. And the people of the U.S. and Europe should pay a heavy price for becoming hostages to Zionists." ...
Saudi Sheik Abdul Rahman al-Seedes, the imam of the Grand Mosque in Mecca, called on Muslims to reject apologies for the "slanderous" caricatures.
"Is there only freedom of expression when it involves insults to Muslims? With one voice ... we will reject the apology and demand a trial," he said in his sermon, which was published Saturday in the Al Riyad daily.""Denmark asks citizens to leave Indonesia after threats" (Ireland Online, 2006/02/11)
The Danish cartoon affair V: "Denmark’s Foreign Ministry today urged all Danes to leave Indonesia, saying they were under threat from an extremist group over the prophet cartoons.
The ministry said it had received reliable information indicating “a significant and imminent threat to Danes and Danish interests in Indonesia”.
“There is concrete information that indicates that an extremist group actively will seek out Danes in protest of the publication of the Mohammed drawings,” the ministry said in a statement. It did not name the group.
The ministry said the threat was focused on the eastern part of Java, but that it could spread to other parts of the country, including Bali.""Denmark Pulls Envoys From Syria, Iran" (Karl Ritter, AP/Yahoo! News, 2006/02/11)
The Danish cartoon affair IV: "Denmark has temporarily withdrawn its ambassadors from Syria, Iran and Indonesia because their safety was at risk in the wake of a Danish newspaper's publication of drawings of the Prophet Muhammad, the Foreign Ministry said Saturday.
Danish embassy buildings in all three countries had been targeted by angry mobs protesting the publication of the caricatures in September. European and American newspapers subsequently reprinted the drawings.
The Foreign Ministry said it withdrew all Danish staff from its embassy in Tehran, Iran, because of "serious and concrete threats" against the ambassador.
Threats also were directed at the embassy personnel in Indonesia, the ministry said, without giving details. Indonesia is the world's most populous Muslim country.""The Cartoon Jihad: The Muslim Brotherhood's project for dominating the West" (Olivier Guitta, The Weekly Standard, 2006/02/20)
The Danish cartoon affair III: "Abu-Laban's labors were not in vain, and everywhere the loudest protests have come from the Muslim Brotherhood. ...
That the Muslim Brotherhood would seek to inflame this controversy makes perfect sense, given the organization's Islamist philosophy and past links to al Qaeda. What may not be sufficiently appreciated, however, is the extent of the Brotherhood's deliberate planning for an Islamist takeover of the West -- and how neatly the cartoon jihad conforms to its strategy. ...
By inflaming a controversy such as the current one, the Muslim Brotherhood attempts to widen the rift between the West and Islam. It specifically targets Muslim communities living in the West, aiming to radicalize their moderate elements by continually pointing out the supposed "Islamophobia" all around them. Right on cue, the Saudi daily Al Watan reports that the Council of Islamic Countries decided in December to create a worldwide Islamophobia watchdog organization that will lobby for the adoption of "anti-Islamophobia" laws, as well as promoting a common position against states or organizations it sees as attacking Islam.
Under the scheme outlined in "The Project," the Muslim Brotherhood would seek to become the indispensable interlocutor of Western governments on issues relating not only to Islam but also to international issues touching the Islamic world, notably the Israeli-Arab conflict, the war in Iraq, and even the war on terror.""Selling Out Moderate Islam" (Reuel Marc Gerecht, The Weekly Standard, 2006/02/20)
The Danish cartoon affair II. The Weekly Standard is the first nationwide publication in the US to publish all 12 cartoons from Jyllands-Posten:
"If Westerners appease Muslims who countenance violent intimidation, we are doing a terrible injustice to the liberal and progressive Muslims among us, who really would like to live in lands where people can say about the Prophet Muhammad what they have said about Jesus, Mary, and Moses. Among the Muslims of the United States and Europe, if not in the Middle East, there are many who have Western cultural sentiments and wit. The irreverent, religiously skeptical Western elite has Muslim members and Middle Eastern counterparts of equal intelligence and similar tastes. Islamic civilization may yet produce its Edward Gibbon, a sincere religious voyager who ends up scrutinizing the foundations of his civilization with a skeptical, cynical, and, at times, profoundly unfair irreligious eye. It would appear that if President Clinton had his way, a Muslim Gibbon would not be welcome in the United States.""Reborn extremist sect had key role in London protest" (Ian Cobain, Nick Fielding and Rosie Cowan, The Guardian, 2006/02/11)
The Danish cartoon affair I: "When worldwide Muslim fury over cartoons of the Prophet spread to Britain, the flag-burning protests outside the Danish embassy in London appeared to be an entirely spontaneous outpouring of anger.
Inquiries by the Guardian have shown, however, that a key role in organising the demonstration was played by an Islamist sect whose supporters have repeatedly been linked to violence and terrorism.
Al-Ghurabaa, the organisation which takes credit for the protest, is essentially the same organisation as al-Muhajiroun, a sect which claims to have disbanded more than a year ago and whose founder, Omar Bakri Mohammed, was excluded from the UK last summer, shortly after he fled to Beirut. ...
The leading figures of al-Muhajiroun are now at the forefront of al-Ghurabaa and al-Firqat un-Naajiyah. They include Choudary, 38, a lawyer from Ilford, east London, Abu Izadeen, 30, a convert from the East End previously known as Trevor Brooks, and Abu Uzair, 37, formerly known as Sajid Sharif. Izadeen has described the 7/7 suicide bombers as "completely praiseworthy", while Uzair has declared that it is "OK" for bombers to attack Britain, because "the banner has been risen for jihad inside the UK". Several leading members of al-Ghurabaa were expelled from Lebanon after visiting Bakri last year."
"Muhammedan self-censorship"
(SD-Kuriren, 2006/02/02 [?])
The cartoon of Muhammed which made the Swedish government move to shut down the websites of the Sweden Democrats and SD-Kuriren yesterday. (See also: "Sweden shuts website over cartoon" (BBC News, 2006/02/10))"The Right to Offend" (Ayaan Hirsi Ali, ayaanhirsiali.web-log.nl, 2006/02/10)
The Danish cartoon affair XI. Ayaan Hirsi Ali's speech in Berlin yesterday:
"Shame on those papers and TV channels who lacked the courage to show their readers the caricatures in The Cartoon Affair. These intellectuals live off free speech but they accept censorship. They hide their mediocrity of mind behind noble-sounding terms such as ‘responsibility’ and ‘sensitivity’.
Shame on those politicians who stated that publishing and re-publishing the drawings was ‘unnecessary’, ‘insensitive’, ‘disrespectful’ and ‘wrong’. I am of the opinion that Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen of Denmark acted correctly when he refused to meet with representatives of tyrannical regimes who demanded from him that he limit the powers of the press. Today we should stand by him morally and materially. He is an example to all other European leaders. I wish my prime minister had Rasmussen’s guts.
Shame on those European companies in the Middle East that advertised “we are not Danish” or “we don’t sell Danish products”. This is cowardice. Nestle chocolates will never taste the same after this, will they? The EU member states should compensate Danish companies for the damage they have suffered from boycotts. ...
I do not seek to offend religious sentiment, but I will not submit to tyranny. Demanding that people who do not accept Muhammad’s teachings should refrain from drawing him is not a request for respect but a demand for submission." (See also: "'Everyone Is Afraid to Criticize Islam'" (Der Spiegel, 2006/02/06))"Editor apologizes for caricatures" (Aftenposten, 2006/02/10)
The Danish cartoon affair X. It's Nordic Dhimmitude Day, with the Swedish government leading the way and the editor of the Norwegian Magazinet, Vebjørn Selbekk, being forced to show public remorse in a scene reminiscent of Stalinist show trials:
"Editor Vebjørn Selbekk of the Christian weekly Magazinet issued Friday a complete apology for his decision to reprint the controversial caricatures of the prophet Mohammed originally run in Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten.
At a joint press conference with the Islamic Council Norway at the Ministry of Labor and Social Inclusion, Selbekk expressed his regrets.
"I personally address the Muslim community to say that I am sorry that your religious feelings are offended by what we did on Jan. 10 when Magazinet published a facsimile of the Danish drawings from Jyllands-Posten. It was never our intention to hurt anyone," Selbekk said. ...
"The Muslim community in Norway has tackled this in a dignified and restrained way. You deserve respect and credit for this," Selbekk said, and the editor pointed to the press conference as an example of the strength of Norway's multi-cultural society. ...
Mohammed Hamdan, leader of the Islamic Council Norway, emphasized that the Koran preached forgiveness.
"Selbekk has children the same age as mine. I want my children and his to grow up together, live together in peace and to be friends," Hamdan said."
"DESSIN SATANIQUE"
(Le Canard Enchaîné, 2006/02/08)"Viva Voltaire" (Theodore Dalrymple, City Journal, 2006/02/10)
The Danish cartoon affair IX: "Two French satirical weeklies with Voltairean aplomb, Le Canard Enchaîné and Charlie Hebdo, have published a series of cartoons mocking the Islamists and their beliefs as they deserve, with a courage and frankness almost entirely missing from the British and American media. ...
Muhammad appears on the top left-hand corner of the first page of Le Canard Enchaîné with a rubber stamp, which he uses to certify several cartoons throughout the paper as Satanic. One of these cartoons has Muhammad under the caption “The Pencil: Weapon of Mass Destruction?” sitting at a desk, trying to draw a human figure, but managing only a childish stick man. “If only I knew how to draw,” he says.
On the inside pages, other Satanic cartoons have Hamlet declaiming, “There is something rotten in the state of Denmark” with the caption “Hamlet to enter Islamist repertoire?” and a picture of the Little Mermaid of Copenhagen, draped in a black Islamic costume with only the eyes showing, with the caption “The Islamists give a new look to the Little Mermaid.” (The verb in the caption, relouquer, brings to mind reluquer, which means to ogle — doubtless a deliberate play on words.)"
"THEY MAY GET ME FROM MY BAD SIDE...
...BUT THEY SHOW ME FROM MY WORST"
(The Daily Tar Heel, 2006/02/10)"Cartoon Controversy in Chapel Hill" (Amber Rupinta, abc11tv.com, 2006/02/10)
The Danish cartoon affair VIII: "A political cartoon in a student newspaper is triggering protests on campus.
UNC-Chapel Hill's Muslim Students Association is demanding an apology after a cartoon of the prophet Mohammed appeared in the Daily Tar Heel newspaper.
"It's very disrespectful, and I find it racist," said student Rafsan Khan, a Muslim. "I find it discrimination, too."
Similar cartoons have incited violent riots for the last week around the world. Muslims held protests around the world Friday, denouncing cartoons they say defame Mohammed. Muslims believe it is forbidden to portray any images of the prophet. Many news organizations will not show the cartoon.
The Muslim Students Association's response to the cartoon was published in today's Daily Tar Heel. It says the paper was insensitive for running the depiction of Mohammad, but newspaper editor Ryan Tuck says he had a reason for printing the cartoon. He issued a statement on his blog, explaining his decision to run the cartoon, but offered no apology. ...
Tuck defends the cartoon and the freedom of expression, saying it is a newspaper's job to spark dialogue, to provoke, and to challenge. But Muslim students on campus like Aisha Saad feel that job could have been done without using such a controversial cartoon."
"FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION IS WESTERN TERRORISM"
(Sayyid Azim, AP, 2006/02/10)
"An unidentified Kenyan Muslim woman demonstrates in Nairobi, Kenya Friday, Feb. 10, 2006. Police shot and wounded one person Friday as they sought to keep hundreds of demonstrators from marching to the residence of Denmark's ambassador to protest against publication of cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad first published in a Danish newspaper.""Seething protests around world over Mohammed cartoons" (AFP/Yahoo! News, 2006/02/10)
The Danish cartoon affair VII [emphasis added]: "Tens of thousands of Muslims around the world vented their anger in a seething wave of protests over satirical images of the Prophet Mohammed, torching flags and clashing with police.
From Cairo, Istanbul and Nairobi to Kuala Lumpur and Islamabad, protesters took to the streets after traditional Friday prayers as politicians scrambled for answers to a crisis that has exposed cultural and religious divisions. ...
Thousands of people also demonstrated across Turkey, burning European flags and effigies of Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen.
"The army of Mohammed is the fear of infidels! We will kill the bastards of the crusaders," a crowd outside Istanbul's historic Beyazit mosque chanted.
In the Middle East, the radical group Islamic Jihad threatened to "burn the ground beneath the feet" of anyone who caricatured the prophet.
"Apologies from European governments will do, but if they persist in their attack on the prophet we will burn the ground beneath their feet," said Jihad leader Khader Habib during a Gaza City rally attended by thousands.""Losing Civilization" (Victor Davis Hanson, National Review, 2006/02/10)
The Danish cartoon affair VI: "In the post-Osama bin Laden and suicide-belt world of our own, we shudder at these fanatical riots, convincing ourselves that perhaps the Salman Rushdies, Theo Van Goghs, and Danish cartoonists of the world had it coming. All the while, we think to ourselves about the fact that we do not threaten to kill Muslims when they promulgate daily streams of hate and racism in sermons and papers, and much less would we go about promising death to the creator of "Piss Christ" or the Da Vinci Code. How ironic that we now find politically-correct Westerners — those who formerly claimed they would defend to the last the right of an Andres Serrano or Dan Brown to offend Christians — turning on the far milder artists who rile Muslims.
The radical Islamists are our generation's book burners who search for secular Galileos and Newtons. They are the new Nazi censors who sniff out anything favorable to the Jews. These fundamentalists are akin to the Soviet commissars who once decreed all art must serve political struggle — or else.
If we give in to these 8th-century clerics, shortly we will be living in an 8th century ourselves, where we may say, hear, and do nothing that might offend a fundamentalist Muslim — and, to assuage our treachery to freedom and liberalism, we'll always be equipped with the new rationale of multiculturalism and cultural equivalence which so poorly cloaks our abject fear.""Curse of the Moderates" (Charles Krauthammer, The Washington Post, 2006/02/10)
The Danish cartoon affair V: "As much of the Islamic world erupts in a studied frenzy over the Danish Muhammad cartoons, there are voices of reason being heard on both sides. Some Islamic leaders and organizations, while endorsing the demonstrators' sense of grievance and sharing their outrage, speak out against using violence as a vehicle of expression. Their Western counterparts -- intellectuals, including most of the major newspapers in the United States -- are similarly balanced: While, of course, endorsing the principle of free expression, they criticize the Danish newspaper for abusing that right by publishing offensive cartoons, and they declare themselves opposed, in the name of religious sensitivity, to doing the same.
God save us from the voices of reason. ...
A true Muslim moderate is one who protests desecrations of all faiths. Those who don't are not moderates but hypocrites, opportunists and agents for the rioters, merely using different means to advance the same goal: to impose upon the West, with its traditions of freedom of speech, a set of taboos that is exclusive to the Islamic faith. These are not defenders of religion but Muslim supremacists trying to force their dictates upon the liberal West.
And these "moderates" are aided and abetted by Western "moderates" who publish pictures of the Virgin Mary covered with elephant dung and celebrate the "Piss Christ" (a crucifix sitting in a jar of urine) as art deserving public subsidy, but who are seized with a sudden religious sensitivity when the subject is Muhammad. ...
What is at issue is fear. The unspoken reason many newspapers do not want to republish is not sensitivity but simple fear. They know what happened to Theo van Gogh, who made a film about the Islamic treatment of women and got a knife through the chest with an Islamist manifesto attached.
The worldwide riots and burnings are instruments of intimidation, reminders of van Gogh's fate. The Islamic "moderates" are the mob's agents and interpreters, warning us not to do this again. And the Western "moderates" are their terrified collaborators who say: Don't worry, we won't. It's those Danes. We're clean. Spare us. Please.""Cartoon rage" (Diana West, The Washington Times, 2006/02/10)
The Danish cartoon affair IV: "We have watched the Muslim meltdown with shocked attention, but there is little recognition that its poisonous fallout is fear. Fear in the State Department, which, like Islam, called the cartoons unacceptable. Fear in Whitehall, which did the same. Fear in the Vatican, which did the same. And fear in the media, which have failed, with few, few exceptions, to reprint or show the images. With only a small roll of brave journals, mainly in Europe, to salute, we have seen the proud Western tradition of a free press bow its head and submit to an Islamic law against depictions of Muhammad. That's dhimmitude.
Not that we admit it: We dress up our capitulation in fancy talk of "tolerance," "responsibility" and "sensitivity." We even congratulate ourselves for having the "editorial judgment" to make "pluralism" possible. "Readers were well served... without publishing the cartoons," said a Wall Street Journal spokesman. "CNN has chosen to not show the cartoons in respect for Islam," reported the cable network. On behalf of the BBC, which did show some of the cartoons on the air, a news editor subsequently apologized, adding: "We've taken a decision not to go further... in order not to gratuitously offend the significant number" of Muslim viewers worldwide. Left unmentioned is the understanding (editorial judgement?) that "gratuitous offense" leads to gratuitous violence. Hence, fear — not the inspiration of tolerance but of capitulation — and a condition of dhimmitude.""The Ayatollah Joke Book" (Michael Kinsley, The Washington Post, 2006/02/10)
The Danish cartoon affair III: "The shameful American position on all this is boilerplate endorsement of free expression combined with denunciation of the cartoons as an "unacceptable" insult. When three protesters died this week in a confrontation at a U.S. military base in Afghanistan, an American spokesman there said that Afghans "should judge us on what we're doing here, not on what some cartoonist is doing somewhere else." But the limits of free expression cannot be set by the sensitivities of people who don't believe in it. How can President Bush continue to ask young Americans to sacrifice their lives for freedom in the Muslim world, if he won't even defend freedom verbally when forces from that world are suppressing it in our own?""Sweden shuts website over cartoon" (BBC News, 2006/02/10)
The Danish cartoon affair II. SVT Text: "Imam Haitham Rahmah thanked the Swedish Government during the Friday prayer in the Stockholm Mosque for their actions regarding the Muhammed cartoons. The Imam also said that the boycott of Danish goods will continue until an apology is given. Mustafa Kharraki, vice chairman of Sveriges Muslimska Råd [The Swedish Muslim Council] is pleased that the Swedish Democrats' website was shut down over the publishing of one cartoon depicting the Prophet Muhammad.":
"The Swedish government has moved to shut down the website of a far-right political party's newspaper over cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad.
The site's host, Levonline, pulled the plug on the website of the Swedish Democrats' SD-Kuriren newspaper after consulting with the government.
It is believed to be the first time a Western government has intervened to block a publication in the growing row.
Kuriren editor Richard Jomshof said the government was breaking the law.
"We have to do something about it. This is illegal. They can't do this just because we are a small magazine," he told the BBC News website. ...
He had asked readers to send in their own Muhammad cartoons, but he denies intending to offend Muslims.
His website briefly posted a picture showing Muhammad from the rear, looking into a mirror, with his eyes blacked out - an image he said was about self-censorship. ...
Swedish Foreign Minister Laila Freivalds described Kuriren's move as "a provocation" by "a small group of extremists".
"I will defend freedom of the press no matter what the circumstances, but I strongly condemn the provocation by SD-Kuriren." (See also: "Säpo stops Muhammad cartoon site" (The Local, 2006/02/10) and "Sweden dragged into cartoon row" (The Local, 2006/02/09))"Säpo stops Muhammad cartoon site" (The Local, 2006/02/10)
The Danish cartoon affair I. According to Dagens Nyheter, the Sweden Democrat's newspaper SD-Kuriren had posted one drawing, "which had been sent in by a reader and depicted the prophet Muhammed looking into a mirror."
The drawing was presumably posted in conjunction with SD-kuriren's "Draw Mohammed" contest.
I haven't seen it though, as the site was shut down yesterday and the picture is removed now when it has reopened.
Svenska Dagbladet has more: "I think it is tremendously remarkable. It seems as if freedom of speech had to yield before foreign policy and the main thing now is to protect Swedish interests in the Middle East," says Stig Fredriksson, the chairman of Publicistklubben." Publicistklubben was founded 1874 and its "foremost task is to protect freedom of the press and freedom of speech."
UPDATE: The cartoon is now posted above:"The website of the Sweden Democrats (Sverigedemokraterna) reopened on Friday morning, after the far-right party removed drawings of the prophet Muhammad. The site had been taken down by its hosting company after requests from Sweden’s foreign ministry and security service, Säpo.
The hosting company, Levonline, says its block on the Sweden Democrats’ site and that of its newspaper SD-Kuriren remains in place. The party’s secretary, Björn Söder, says the site has been reopened by moving it to another server, although the pictures of Muhammad have been removed.
"We have done this with the safety of Swedish citizens abroad in mind," Söder said.
At the time of writing, however, the site was not loading.
Söder had been contacted on Thursday afternoon by Levonline’s deputy CEO Anna Larsson, who told him that threats had been received against her company and its staff and she therefore wanted him to move his party’s website.
"It didn’t sound plausible that threats would have been made against a website hosting company and its staff – the threats should really have been made against us, who published the pictures," said Söder.
“I was later told by a journalist at Dagens Nyheter that [Larsson] had changed her story, and more or less admitted that the foreign ministry and Säpo had been applying pressure.”
The Sweden Democrats are instructing lawyers who will investigate Levonline’s actions, he said.
“We have followed the rules, and not broken any Swedish laws, and yet they close us down without notice. This is a clear case of breach of contract.”
“I also think it’s very peculiar that we weren’t contacted by the security services, and been informed about the threat.”
The Sweden Democrats and SD-Kuriren have received threats following the publication of the pictures."(See also: "Sweden dragged into cartoon row" (The Local, 2006/02/09))
"Sweden dragged into cartoon row" (The Local, 2006/02/09)
The Danish cartoon affair XIV. Liberal Party leader Lars Leijonborg's lauding of Sweden's "clear position on freedom of speech" earlier today seems pretty ironic, as the Sweden Democrat's websites were shut down late this afternoon by the internet provider, after having been contacted by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and the Swedish Security Police.
!["Muhammedan self-censorship" (SD-Kuriren, 2006/02/02 [?])](pics/2006/060202muhammed400.jpg)
