- Under the guise of free speech, a leading
Danish newspaper published a dozen provocative anti-Islamic cartoons clearly
designed to offend Muslims. The predictable result has greatly increased
the possibility of violence and left Denmark in a costly and dangerous
predicament.
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- Four months after Jyllands-Posten (JP),
Denmark's most widely read morning paper, published 12 anti-Islamic cartoons,
Danes woke up to the fact that there is a very high price to be paid for
promoting the "clash of civilizations."
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- The fact that the editors behind the
anti-Islamic images claim to be exercising free speech while refusing to
address Europe's strict censorship laws regarding discussion of the Holocaust
and the ongoing imprisonment of historical revisionists reveals the existence
of a more sinister agenda behind the provocative cartoons.
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- "Agents of certain persuasion"
are behind the egregious affront to Islam in order to provoke Muslims,
Professor Mikael Rothstein of the University of Copenhagen told the BBC.
The key "agent" is Flemming Rose, the cultural editor of JP,
who commissioned cartoonists to produce the blasphemous images and then
published them in Denmark's leading morning paper last September.
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- The International Herald Tribune, which
reported on the offensive cartoons on January 1, noted that even the liberalism
of Rose had its limits when it came to criticism of Zionist leaders and
their crimes. Rose also has clear ties to the Zionist Neo-Cons behind the
"war on terror."
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- Rose told the international paper owned
by The New York Times that "he would not publish a cartoon of Israel's
Ariel Sharon strangling a Palestinian baby, since that could be construed
as 'racist.'"
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- Asked why he was protecting Sharon, a
known war criminal, while abusing Muslims and their Prophet in the name
of free speech, Rose told American Free Press that he had been "misquoted"
in the Times article.
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- Rose traveled to Philadelphia in October
2004 to visit Daniel Pipes, the Neo-Con ideologue who says the only path
to Middle East peace will come through a total Israeli military victory.
Rose then penned a positive article about Pipes, who compares "militant
Islam" with fascism and communism.
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- In April 2003, President George W. Bush
nominated the rabid anti-Muslim Pipes to the board of the United States
Institute of Peace, a congressionally sponsored think tank dedicated to
"the peaceful resolution of international conflicts."
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- Ministers from 17 Muslim nations condemned
the publication of the cartoons as an egregious "offence to Islam"
and called on the Danish government to ensure that it would not be repeated.
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- When the Danish government, which supports
the "war on terror" with more than 500 troops in Iraq, refused
to issue an apology for the offensive cartoons, Muslim consumers across
the Middle East began a boycott of Danish products.
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- Within days the boycott had severely
affected Danish exporters and the politicians in Copenhagen scrambled to
undo the damage. Arla Foods, a large Danish-Swedish dairy company, was
badly hit by the boycott. The company, which had annual sales of some $480
million in the Middle East, saw its sales in the region plummet to nil
as Muslim shopkeepers pulled Danish products off the shelves.
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- "We have taken 40 years to build
up a very big business in the Middle East, and we've seen it come to a
complete stop in five days," company spokeswoman Astrid Gade Niels
told the BBC.
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- "Our sales in the Middle East have
come to a complete stop - in all countries in the region," she said.
"We have found ourselves in the middle of a game that we have no part
in."
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- As the boycott damaged Danish business
and a bomb scare closed the office of his newspaper, Rose continued to
defend his decision to commission and publish the offensive cartoons. "We
stand by the publication of these 12 cartoons," he said.
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- Asked if he would have done it knowing
what the reaction would be, Rose said: "That is a hypothetical question.
I would say that I do not regret having commissioned those cartoons and
I think asking me that question is like asking a rape victim if she regrets
wearing a short skirt Friday night at the discotheque."
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- The dangerous "game" that was
started by the Danish editor has now been picked up by at least 7 newspapers
across Europe. Supposedly in support of the Danes, papers in France, Germany,
Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland simultaneously reprinted
the cartoons on February 1. The timing suggests that this response was
coordinated by a hidden hand.
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- In Paris, for example, Arnaud Levy, editor-in-chief
of the financially-strapped France-Soir, chose to print all 12 of the offensive
cartoons. Asked if there had been coordination between European editors
about the simultaneous publication of the cartoons, Levy said, "Absolutely
not."
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- The following day, Jacques Lefranc, managing
editor of France-Soir, was fired by the paper's owner Raymond Lakah, an
Egyptian magnate, according to employees. Chief editor Levy, however, remained
on the job.
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- Peter Mandelson, Trade Commissioner for
the European Union, strongly reprimanded the newspapers for pouring "oil
on the fire" by reprinting the offensive cartoons.
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- Robert Ménard, secretary general
of Reporters without Borders, a Paris-based media monitor, however, supported
the publication of the blasphemous cartoons saying, "All countries
in Europe should be behind the Danes and Danish authorities to defend the
principle that a newspaper can write what it wishes to, even if it offends
people.
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- "I understand that it may shock
Muslims, but being shocked is part of the price of being informed,"
he told The New York Times.
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- However, when it comes to discussion
of the Holocaust, media monitors like Ménard accept without question
the government-imposed censorship laws and imprisonment of historical revisionists.
At least 4 well known historians are currently in prison in Germany and
Austria for writing and speaking about the Holocaust.
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- There is clearly a more sinister reason
why the Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen refuses to issue a
formal apology as demanded by Arab and Muslim governments. The hard-line
position taken by Rasmussen, an ally in the "war on terror,"
has more to do with advancing the "clash of civilizations" than
defending free speech in Europe.
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- It is well known that Islam is an aniconic
religion which prohibits depictions of the Prophet in the same way that
the Second Commandment prohibits "graven images." The European
editors are certainly aware of the fact that Islam prohibits the use of
icons or visual images to depict living creatures and that it is blasphemous
to publish cartoons of the prophet Mohammed. Yet, they have recklessly
and intentionally insulted millions of Muslims and are unwilling to apologize.
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- "The Danish paper set out to offend
and provoke outrage in the Muslim community," a Muslim in Britain
wrote to the BBC. "Muslims are able to distinguish between those who
wish to debate and those who wish to insult. Trying to camouflage insults
under the guise of debate or free speech fools nobody."
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- There is a deeper reason behind the publication
of the offensive cartoons. Given the unapologetic position taken by the
Danish government and the editors it appears very likely that tension with
Islamic nations will increase and the international crisis will deepen.
This is, after all, exactly what the global planners behind the "clash
of civilizations" want.
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- The completely predictable reaction among
Muslims sets the stage for violence and "false-flag" terror attacks
as Europeans prepare to host the Olympics in Turin, Italy. The Turin-based
La Stampa irresponsibly published the cartoons on Feb. 1, two days after
Milan's Corriere della Sera.
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- The anti-Islamic cartoon scandal is no
laughing matter. If and when a terror attack does occur and the cartoons
and angry Muslims are blamed for being the cause, the reason they were
published will become clear. Europeans will become increasingly polarized
and hostility to Islam will grow.
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- A month ago, when I first became aware
of the provocative anti-Muslim cartoons published in JP, I immediately
contacted the editors and asked why they had allowed their newspaper to
be dragged into such a ridiculous and provocative situation.
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- With Europe already involved in two Middle
Eastern wars and with the political tension with Iran increasing daily,
I asked the editors, "Do you truly wish to antagonize Muslims?"
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- "I support freedom of speech and
am against self-censorship," Rose, who commissioned the cartoons,
wrote in response. It was, however, clearly not simply to exercise Denmark's
non-existent freedom of speech that Rose commissioned the anti-Muslim cartoons.
The more sinister motive of advancing the "clash of civilizations"
among Europeans was evidently behind the offensive images.
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- "If the issue is really one of free
speech, would you publish cartoons making fun of the Jewish Holocaust?"
I asked Rose and the editors. "If not, do you at least support the
right of newspapers and individuals to raise historical questions about
the Holocaust?"
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- Yet after a month of correspondence with
Rose and the editors, they have completely avoided answering my questions
about the Holocaust and the right of free speech for historical revisionists
in Europe.
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