[sykanaxer]

This seems more like a direct and purposeful provocation. Perhaps in response the the election of Hamas in Palestine?

The cartoons were first published in the Danish newspaper months before the Palestinian elections. Many groups, even the Anti Defamation League, characterized them as distasteful and offensive.

The issue was resurrected when the Islamic Society of Denmark distributed the photos, along with three fakes, giving as an explanation:
to "give an insight in how hateful the atmosphere in Denmark is towards Muslims."

[Wgnhqhlg]

[hLabXZlK]

jasonik, aren't you afraid someone will issue a fatwah on your head?

[lorryuncori]

More events to blame on "the most violence pronce country on earth in this century":


Four die in fresh cartoon protests

By Robert Birsel

KABUL (Reuters) - Afghan police shot dead four people protesting on Tuesday against cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad that have unleashed waves of rage and soul-searching across the Muslim world and Europe.

Tens of thousands of Muslims demonstrated in the Middle East, Asia and Africa over the drawings, first published in Denmark, then Norway and then several other European countries. Some Muslim leaders urged restraint.

In Iran, locked in a nuclear stand-off with the West, a crowd pelted the Danish embassy with petrol bombs and stones for a second day. Protesters hurled a petrol bomb and broke windows at Norway's mission.

The 12 cartoonists whose work touched off the firestorm were reported to be in hiding, frightened, and under police guard. Iran's best-selling newspaper launched a competition to find the best Holocaust cartoon.

Danish Foreign Minister Per Stig Moeller called his Iranian counterpart "and demanded in clear terms that Iran does all it can to protect the embassy and Danish lives," a spokesman said. Tehran has cut trade ties with Denmark.

Afghan crowds attacked a base of NATO Norwegian troops with guns and grenades and police opened fire, bringing the death toll in protests against the cartoons to nine.

F-16 warplanes flew overhead in a show of force while the Norwegians fired tear gas, rubber bullets and warning shots, managing to restore order by early evening.

After rioters set Danish missions ablaze in Syria and Lebanon at the weekend, the

European Union presidency issued a strongly-worded warning to 19 countries across the Middle East that they were obliged to protect EU missions.

Iran's ambassador to Vienna said an attack on Austria's embassy in Tehran on Monday was directed at "the EU presidency" rather than Austria itself, current holder of the presidency.

FANNING FLAMES

Accusing "radicals, extremists and fanatics" of fanning the flames of Muslim wrath to "push forward their own agenda," Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen repeated a call for dialogue with offended Muslims.

U.S. President George W. Bush called him to express support and solidarity, Rasmussen said. The White House said both leaders "reiterated the importance of tolerance and respect for religions of all faith and freedom of the press."

Depicting the Prophet is prohibited by Islam. Moderate Muslims, while condemning the cartoons, have expressed fears radicals are hijacking debate over the boundary between media freedom and religious respect.

Militants in Iraq have called for the seizure and killing of Danes and the boycott of Danish goods over the cartoons, one of which depicts Mohammad wearing a turban resembling a bomb with a burning fuse.

In London, protesters have brandished placards demanding the beheading of those who insulted Islam. One dressed as a suicide bomber but later apologized.

Copies of a British student paper which reproduced one of the cartoons were hastily shredded and the editor suspended from a student union. A French court however refused to order the confiscation of a magazine which planned to print the images.

"ALLIANCE OF CIVILISATIONS"

Echoing calls for calm by leaders, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said: "I urge all who have authority or influence in different communities ... to engage in dialogue and build a true alliance of civilizations, founded on mutual respect."

Further protests erupted on Tuesday in Pakistan, Egypt, Yemen, Djibouti, Gaza and Azerbaijan.

At least 10,000 people marched in the Bangladeshi capital and tens of thousands turned out in Niger's capital Niamey to vent their anger. State assembly members in mostly Muslim Kano, northern Nigeria, burned Danish flags.

Croatia became the latest country where a newspaper printed the drawings. The cartoons have appeared in Australia, Bulgaria, Denmark, France, Fiji, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Malaysia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, United States, Ukraine and Yemen.

Iran, which has withdrawn its ambassador from Denmark, said the cartoons "launched an anti-Islamic and Islamophobic current which will be answered."

A radical Muslim group in Belgium put on its Web site a cartoon of Adolf Hitler in bed with Anne Frank, a Jewish girl who wrote a wartime diary of hiding from Nazi persecution.

Saudi Arabia's Okaz newspaper rejected violence:
"Violence, spreading chaos and destroying facilities ... only distorts Islam's image, especially after our enemies have tried to label us with so many accusations," it said.

Some Danish Muslims agreed. "Fire and stones are taking things too far," said Copenhagen barber Farzan Khatami.

Denmark's Jyllands-Posten daily has apologized for the cartoons, first published last September. The Danish government has refused to do so, saying it is the paper's responsibility.

[Jesslovers]

jasonik, aren't you afraid someone will issue a fatwah on your head?

No, it's clearly labled.

"If the spectator finds that my paintings are a kind of defiance of 'common sense', he realises something obvious. I want nevertheless to add that for me the world is a defiance of common sense." René Magritte.

[KellyLynchIV]

...Afghan crowds attacked a base of NATO Norwegian troops with guns and grenades and police opened fire, bringing the death toll in protests against the cartoons to nine.

F-16 warplanes flew overhead in a show of force while the Norwegians fired tear gas, rubber bullets and warning shots, managing to restore order by early evening....

If I recall correctly, George W. Bush declared democracy restored, alive and well in Afghanistan and said the elections last year were a great success. Harmid Karzai is their new president. So, what exactly are troops of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization doing in this landlocked mountainous country in Asia? For a bunch of guys on camels who were "bombed back to the stone age" they appear to be some sort of threat. Or, are these troops protecting the planned Unocal pipeline route through the country and protecting Halliburton contractors building permanent American air bases? It is very interesting that in Afghanistan, a foreign and sovreign country, "F-16 warplanes flew overhead in a show of force". The F-16s were not Afghanistani and the show of force against these crazy people rioting for no reason were of an occupation force that has shown now sign of leaving.

It is very convenient for the whole ordeal to portrayed as riot over a cartoon. Our troops are in Muslim Afghanistan. Our troops are in Muslim Iraq. Our troops are in Muslim Pakistan. We are threatening Muslim Iran. American oil companies are exploiting people in Muslim Indonesia. We repeatedly side with Israel over Muslim Palestinians. We are beating and humiliating Muslims in foreign prisons. We are holding Muslims indefinitely at Guantanamo Bay.

Yes, yes, it is ALL about a cartoon.

Maybe is we sent relief to these countries instead of bombs there'd be a different reaction.

Do you really believe everything you see and read? Think there's no deception and alterior motives?

*Media outlets ignored dispute over Specter's refusal to swear in Gonzales
*Media largely ignored Fitzgerald revelation that White House may have destroyed emails
*Chris Matthews falsely claimed that Bush's 2004 comment denying warrantless wiretaps was "pre-9-11"
*NY Times reprinted defense of Bush wiretapping, ignored evidence that program monitored Americans with no terror ties
*O'Reilly falsely claimed that FISA does not address "military matters," only criminal
*Failing to note Rockefeller's letter to Cheney, Herald Tribune, NY Times website reported only that Democrats "say" they expressed concerns over domestic spying
*Woodward's definition of "journalism"? Reporting Bush administration falsehoods as "their point of view"
*Tim Russert selectively cited new NBC poll to back up assertion that Americans, despite concerns, agree with Bush on domestic spying

I'm no apologist for violence, but, to think that this just came out of the blue, with no provocation or reason is silly. In my opinion, the reaction that calls these people "animals" is precisely what the western world wants to see as they beat the drums of war for Iran. If these people are crazed and inhuman, no one will object when we bomb the hell out of them.

[rbVmVlQ2]

This proves a couple of things to me.

1. Islamic extremists will go to any length to find something to be angry about. Anything but the real reason for their anger which is their own cultural failure, the stifling oppressiveness of their religion and the rigidity of their thought process.

2. There is simply so dealing with islamic extremists. The will find any excuse for a fight. Although I am sure we all wish it were different and we have all been brought up since birth to believe there is always a peaceful solution to conflict, I don't believe it is going to be possible with islamic extremism.

Ultimately these idiots will fail. Their religious ideology offers nothing to anyone but anger and false victimhood. Its going nowhere but sadly we are all going to have to deal with the carnage of them involving the world in there spiral down the toilet.

I agree.

[Adimos]

If I recall correctly, George W. Bush declared democracy restored, alive and well in Afghanistan and said the elections last year were a great success. Harmid Karzai is their new president. So, what exactly are troops of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization doing in this landlocked mountainous country in Asia? For a bunch of guys on camels who were "bombed back to the stone age" they appear to be some sort of threat. Or, are these troops protecting the planned Unocal pipeline route through the country and protecting Halliburton contractors building permanent American air bases? It is very interesting that in Afghanistan, a foreign and sovreign country, "F-16 warplanes flew overhead in a show of force". The F-16s were not Afghanistani and the show of force against these crazy people rioting for no reason were of an occupation force that has shown now sign of leaving.

It is very convenient for the whole ordeal to portrayed as riot over a cartoon. Our troops are in Muslim Afghanistan. Our troops are in Muslim Iraq. Our troops are in Muslim Pakistan. We are threatening Muslim Iran. American oil companies are exploiting people in Muslim Indonesia. We repeatedly side with Israel over Muslim Palestinians. We are beating and humiliating Muslims in foreign prisons. We are holding Muslims indefinitely at Guantanamo Bay.

Yes, yes, it is ALL about a cartoon.

Maybe is we sent relief to these countries instead of bombs there'd be a different reaction.

Do you really believe everything you see and read? Think there's no deception and alterior motives?

*Media outlets ignored dispute over Specter's refusal to swear in Gonzales
*Media largely ignored Fitzgerald revelation that White House may have destroyed emails
*Chris Matthews falsely claimed that Bush's 2004 comment denying warrantless wiretaps was "pre-9-11"
*NY Times reprinted defense of Bush wiretapping, ignored evidence that program monitored Americans with no terror ties
*O'Reilly falsely claimed that FISA does not address "military matters," only criminal
*Failing to note Rockefeller's letter to Cheney, Herald Tribune, NY Times website reported only that Democrats "say" they expressed concerns over domestic spying
*Woodward's definition of "journalism"? Reporting Bush administration falsehoods as "their point of view"
*Tim Russert selectively cited new NBC poll to back up assertion that Americans, despite concerns, agree with Bush on domestic spying

I'm no apologist for violence, but, to think that this just came out of the blue, with no provocation or reason is silly. In my opinion, the reaction that calls these people "animals" is precisely what the western world wants to see as they beat the drums of war for Iran. If these people are crazed and inhuman, no one will object when we bomb the hell out of them.

I can't talk about your domestic points as I'm so far away but the anti-Islamic world seem valid and would find much sympathy here in the UK. It ought to be borne in mind that none of the "exploitation" by the west could occur without the co-operation of what passes for the idigenous governments in these countries. In short, they have let themselves down to some extent by allowing themselves to be ruled by such people; the solution is in their own hands.

This week, here inthe NW UK a group of Afghan farmers who grow opium were brought over to meet a bunch of heroin addicts to see the effects of what they grow actually are on people. It was clear the the farmers and addicts situataions were equally desperate. It served as a good analogy for "ordinary" western people and their "eastern" muslim equivalents.

Having said that, the doctrine of the radical Islamist organisations seems to be to impose an undemocratic, radical theocracy. As this thread has made plain, the cartoons were used as a tool to create conflict for nefarious purposes. Perhaps they were a catalyst but I think its unfiar to blame the "west" for the failings of the "east" in all instances. They must look to themselves and their wn failings as must we.

As for Afghanistan,it has always been the subject/victim of global politics. It is called "The Great Game" and historically goes back to the days when Imperial Russia threatened to annex India using Afghanistan as a corridor to the sub continent. The British Army were one af many who were routed several times from that country and no doubt will be again. The lessons of history are never learned by our "leaders".

[dayclaccikere]

Us British have been at this far longer than you Americans. Consequently there is a wealth of great literature which express the relationship, non perhaps more widely know than Kiplings "The Ballad of East & West".

Many use the first line,taken out of context to justify their own devisive position when in fact, the poem says just the opposite.

Anyway, the popem was written by Kipling in the mid 19'th century when stationed on the north west frontier between India and Afghanistan. One may say "plus ca change" but for me I find it enlightening. Read it all and take from it what you wish:-

The Ballad of East and West
1889
Rudyard Kipling

OH, EAST is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet,
Till Earth and Sky stand presently at God’s great Judgment Seat;
But there is neither East nor West, Border, nor Breed, nor Birth,
When two strong men stand face to face, tho’ they come from the ends of the earth!

Kamal is out with twenty men to raise the Border-side,
And he has lifted the Colonel’s mare that is the Colonel’s pride:
He has lifted her out of the stable-door between the dawn and the day,
And turned the calkins upon her feet, and ridden her far away.
Then up and spoke the Colonel’s son that led a troop of the Guides:
“Is there never a man of all my men can say where Kamal hides?”
Then up and spoke Mahommed Khan, the son of the Ressaldar:
“If ye know the track of the morning-mist, ye know where his pickets are.
At dusk he harries the Abazai—at dawn he is into Bonair,
But he must go by Fort Bukloh to his own place to fare,
So if ye gallop to Fort Bukloh as fast as a bird can fly,
By the favour of God ye may cut him off ere he win to the Tongue of Jagai.
But if he be past the Tongue of Jagai, right swiftly turn ye then,
For the length and the breadth of that grisly plain is sown with Kamal’s men.
There is rock to the left, and rock to the right, and low lean thorn between,
And ye may hear a breech-bolt snick where never a man is seen.”
The Colonel’s son has taken a horse, and a raw rough dun was he,
With the mouth of a bell and the heart of Hell and the head of the gallows-tree.
The Colonel’s son to the Fort has won, they bid him stay to eat—
Who rides at the tail of a Border thief, he sits not long at his meat.
He’s up and away from Fort Bukloh as fast as he can fly,
Till he was aware of his father’s mare in the gut of the Tongue of Jagai,
Till he was aware of his father’s mare with Kamal upon her back,
And when he could spy the white of her eye, he made the pistol crack.
He has fired once, he has fired twice, but the whistling ball went wide.
“Ye shoot like a soldier,” Kamal said. “Show now if ye can ride.”
It’s up and over the Tongue of Jagai, as blown dustdevils go,
The dun he fled like a stag of ten, but the mare like a barren doe.
The dun he leaned against the bit and slugged his head above,
But the red mare played with the snaffle-bars, as a maiden plays with a glove.
There was rock to the left and rock to the right, and low lean thorn between,
And thrice he heard a breech-bolt snick tho’ never a man was seen.
They have ridden the low moon out of the sky, their hoofs drum up the dawn,
The dun he went like a wounded bull, but the mare like a new-roused fawn.
The dun he fell at a water-course—in a woful heap fell he,
And Kamal has turned the red mare back, and pulled the rider free.
He has knocked the pistol out of his hand—small room was there to strive,
“’Twas only by favour of mine,” quoth he, “ye rode so long alive:
There was not a rock for twenty mile, there was not a clump of tree,
But covered a man of my own men with his rifle cocked on his knee.
If I had raised my bridle-hand, as I have held it low,
The little jackals that flee so fast were feasting all in a row:
If I had bowed my head on my breast, as I have held it high,
The kite that whistles above us now were gorged till she could not fly.”
Lightly answered the Colonel’s son: “Do good to bird and beast,
But count who come for the broken meats before thou makest a feast.
If there should follow a thousand swords to carry my bones away,
Belike the price of a jackal’s meal were more than a thief could pay.
They will feed their horse on the standing crop, their men on the garnered grain,
The thatch of the byres will serve their fires when all the cattle are slain.
But if thou thinkest the price be fair,—thy brethren wait to sup,
The hound is kin to the jackal-spawn,—howl, dog, and call them up!
And if thou thinkest the price be high, in steer and gear and stack,
Give me my father’s mare again, and I’ll fight my own way back!”
Kamal has gripped him by the hand and set him upon his feet.
“No talk shall be of dogs,” said he, “when wolf and gray wolf meet.
May I eat dirt if thou hast hurt of me in deed or breath;
What dam of lances brought thee forth to jest at the dawn with Death?”
Lightly answered the Colonel’s son: “I hold by the blood of my clan:
Take up the mare for my father’s gift—by God, she has carried a man!”
The red mare ran to the Colonel’s son, and nuzzled against his breast;
“We be two strong men,” said Kamal then, “but she loveth the younger best.
So she shall go with a lifter’s dower, my turquoise-studded rein,
My broidered saddle and saddle-cloth, and silver stirrups twain.”
The Colonel’s son a pistol drew and held it muzzle-end,
“Ye have taken the one from a foe,” said he; “will ye take the mate from a friend?”
“A gift for a gift,” said Kamal straight; “a limb for the risk of a limb.
Thy father has sent his son to me, I’ll send my son to him!”
With that he whistled his only son, that dropped from a mountain-crest—
He trod the ling like a buck in spring, and he looked like a lance in rest.
“Now here is thy master,” Kamal said, “who leads a troop of the Guides,
And thou must ride at his left side as shield on shoulder rides.
Till Death or I cut loose the tie, at camp and board and bed,
Thy life is his—thy fate it is to guard him with thy head.
So, thou must eat the White Queen’s meat, and all her foes are thine,
And thou must harry thy father’s hold for the peace of the Border-line,
And thou must make a trooper tough and hack thy way to power—
Belike they will raise thee to Ressaldar when I am hanged in Peshawur.”

They have looked each other between the eyes, and there they found no fault,
They have taken the Oath of the Brother-in-Blood on leavened bread and salt:
They have taken the Oath of the Brother-in-Blood on fire and fresh-cut sod,
On the hilt and the haft of the Khyber knife, and the Wondrous Names of God.
The Colonel’s son he rides the mare and Kamal’s boy the dun,
And two have come back to Fort Bukloh where there went forth but one.
And when they drew to the Quarter-Guard, full twenty swords flew clear—
There was not a man but carried his feud with the blood of the mountaineer.
“Ha’ done! ha’ done!” said the Colonel’s son. “Put up the steel at your sides!
Last night ye had struck at a Border thief—to-night ’Tis a man of the Guides!”

Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet,
Till Earth and Sky stand presently at God’s great Judgment Seat;
But there is neither East nor West, Border, nor Breed, nor Birth,
When two strong men stand face to face, tho’ they come from the ends of the earth!

[SusanSazzios]

Capitalism at it's best: supply + demand ...

Gaza shopkeeper stocks up on Danish flags to burn

By Nidal al-Mughrabi
06 Feb 2006
Source: Reuters

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L06153755.htm

GAZA, Feb 6 (Reuters) - When entrepreneur Ahmed Abu Dayya first heard that Danish caricatures of the Prophet Mohammad were being reprinted across Europe, he knew exactly what his customers in Gaza would want: flags to burn.

Abu Dayya ordered 100 hard-to-find Danish and Norwegian flags for his Gaza City shop and has been doing a swift trade.

"I do not take political stands. It is all business," he said in an interview. "But this time I was offended by the assault on the Prophet Mohammad."

A wave of anger has swept the Muslim world over the publication of the cartoons, one of which shows the Prophet wearing a turban shaped like a bomb.

First printed in Denmark, the cartoons have appeared in newspapers across Europe, as well as in the United States.

While normally hard to come by in isolated Gaza, Danish and Norwegian flags are now popping up at daily protests, increasingly replacing Israel's Star of David.

It's not clear how many merchants apart from Abu Dayya are offering the flags, but they appear to be readily available. Angry Muslims set the flags ablaze or tear them to pieces.

At a protest on Monday outside European Union offices in Gaza, dozens of Palestinian students chanted: "Down with Denmark. Down with Norway. With our blood and with our souls, we will sacrifice for our Prophet."

In Beirut and Damascus, mobs set Danish and Norwegian embassies on fire.

"I knew there would be a demand for the flags because of the angry reaction of people over the offence to Prophet Mohammad," said Abu Dayya, whose PLO Flag Shop also sells souvenirs and presents.

He sells his Danish and Norwegian flags for $11 a piece -- a price he acknowledged might be dampening sales. Many protesters prefer to save money and make the flags themselves from scraps of fabric, he said.

Abu Dayya sources some of his flags from suppliers in Taiwan, but he buys Israeli flags from a merchant in Israel, even though he sells them to be burnt at anti-Israeli rallies.

Flag-making has been a growth business for Abu Dayya for years, thanks to orders by Palestinian militant groups for national flags and banners bearing the symbols of armed factions.

Last year, he said the Palestinian Authority ordered 60,000 flags ahead of Israel's withdrawal from Gaza. Workers at one factory stitched some 3,000 pennants a day.

While the flag merchant said the Danish cartoons upset him, he urged fellow Gazans not to punish Danish citizens collectively, citing their humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people.