Free Republic

The UN Copenhagen climate talks are in disarray today after developing countries reacted furiously to leaked documents that show world leaders will next week be asked to sign an agreement that hands more power to rich countries and sidelines the UN's role in all future climate change negotiations.

Muslims need to develop a sense of humor and an appreciation of satire — and they need to understand that they are not "free of being mocked or being offended," says the Danish caricaturist whose cartoon depicting the Prophet Muhammad incited rage throughout the Muslim world four years ago. Kurt Westergaard told roughly a dozen listeners Wednesday night that he will "always" be ready to defend an individual's right to religious freedom. "As the Danish tradition is for satire, we say you can speak freely, you can vote, you can speak out anytime, but there's only one thing you can't...

Scandinavians are known for their emphasis on safety. They invented the seat belt, the safety match, the paper clip, and the Nobel Peace Prize. Actually, though all of those are Scandinavian inventions, none are Danish. Danes are not going to be any less than their neighbors when it comes to safety, however. According to Copenhagenize.com, the council for increased traffic safety in Denmark and Trygfonden, a Danish insurance company, has started a new campaign under the catchy slogan “A walking helmet is a good helmet” (it’s catchy in Danish: En gå hjelm er en go-hjelm).

In 2006, Thailand announced it was blocking access to YouTube for anyone with a Thai I.P address, and then identified 20 offensive videos for Google to remove as a condition of unblocking the site. ‘If your whole game is to increase market share,’ says Lawrence Lessig, speaking of Google, ‘it’s hard to . . . gather data in ways that don’t raise privacy concerns or in ways that might help repressive governments to block controversial content.’ In March of last year, Nicole Wong, the deputy general counsel of Google, was notified that there had been a precipitous drop in activity...

Text of report by private Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press news agency Kandahar, 17 March: Two Danish soldiers have been killed and another wounded in a suicide attack [in southern Afghanistan]. The Danish Central Command in Copenhagen announced today that two Danish soldiers had been killed and another wounded in a suicide attack in Helmand's Greshk District. The Military Command also said the soldiers were working in the Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) in Greshk and fell prey to the suicide attack today. Earlier, Helmand Police Chief Col Mohammad Hosayn Andiwal reported the incident to Afghan Islamic Press [AIP] and said three...

The Danish cartoonist who drew Mohammed with a bomb in his turban has been on the move since an alleged plot to kill him was uncovered last year. Kurt Westergaard told the German magazine Der Spiegel that the arrest of three alleged assassins was a "great shock." Since then, he and his wife have changed locations at irregular intervals, staying with children, in vacation homes and for three weeks at a luxury hotel in Arhus. They were evicted after the management decided the couple was putting other guests at risk. The original drawing of the cartoon is in a safe...

AMMAN (Reuters) - Vowing "Revenge against Crusaders who attack the symbol of Islam," dozens of Jordanian Islamists burned the Danish flag on Monday to protest the reprinting of cartoons lampooning the Prophet Mohammad in Danish newspapers. The Islamic Action Front, Jordan's main licensed opposition party and the political offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, demanded the government expel the Danish envoy until his government offered an official apology. "Oh government, expel the Danish ambassador: Oh Dane... listen the Prophet is the symbol of our Islam. We will die for his sake and eradicate anyone who humiliates him," chanted angry protesters in...

Danish library to exhibit Mohammed cartoons By our foreign staff Last Updated: 12:44pm GMT 30/01/2008 Denmark's Royal Library is risking the wrath of Muslims with plans to display controversial cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed that sparked violent protest throughout the Islamic world two years ago. The 12 caricatures of Islam's founder were published in Danish newspapers in September 2005 triggering riots and violence which claimed the lives of over 50 people. Copenhagen's Royal Library – founded by King Frederik III in 17th century – is courting a new controversy by classifying the cartoons as “historic” objects alongside other Danish treasures,...

RAF.AL QURNAH — British and Danish troops successfully detained a number of suspected rogue militants in Al Qurnah, 70 km north of Basrah, Iraq, on March 23. The search and arrest operation, known as Operation Python 2 involved 450 British and Danish troops. The operation was based on information which suggested that a number of senior figures and members of a rogue militia, involved in attacks against coalition troops, could be found in that location. The number of suspected rogue militants detained included one individual suspected of involvement in coordinating attacks across Iraq. At least one member of the rogue...

Danish Island Is Energy Self-Sufficient (March 9) - It's a two-hour ferry ride to the Danish island of Samso — and it can seem like a trip back through time... Samso is an area about 40 square miles long with a permanent population of about 4,000 — all of them living a green dream. Take farmer Erik Andersen. His tractor runs on oil from rape seed, which he grows. His hot water and power come from his solar panels or wind turbines. There's not a fossil fuel in site. --snip-- To harness the wind, of which they have plenty, they...

Activists clashed with police for a second night in Copenhagen The street protests Police in Denmark have arrested about 100 people during a second night of protests over the eviction of squatters from a youth centre in the capital.Officers in riot gear used tear gas to disperse demonstrators, as cars were set alight and petrol bombs thrown. The clashes have centred on the Youth House (Ungdomshuset) building in the Noerrebro district of Copenhagen. Left-wing activists have occupied the building since 1982 but it was sold by the city in 2000 to a Christian group. The fundamentalist group, called Faderhuset,...

1/4/2007 - FIGHTER WING SKRYDSTRUP, Denmark (AFPN) -- It's not often an American four-star general has the opportunity to present prestigious war medals to coalition partners, but Jan. 2 was a special occasion. Gen. William T. Hobbins, U.S. Air Forces in Europe commander, flew to Fighter Wing Skrydstrup, Denmark, to present U.S. Air Medals to 35 Danish F-16 pilots who flew in support of Operation Enduring Freedom from October 2002 to October 2003. "I am truly honored to present these 35 medals to the heroes standing before us," General Hobbins said in the awards speech. "Denmark continues to be an...

Danish police arrest hundreds Protesters set up blazing barricades in central Copenhagen Police in Denmark have arrested some 300 demonstrators in the capital, after a protest against the closure of a youth centre turned violent. About 1,000 protesters in Copenhagen threw cobblestones, bottles and fireworks and erected barricades. Police used tear gas to try to break up the protests, comparing the scene on the streets to that of a "war zone". The protesters are angry about orders for young squatters to leave a building occupied since 1982. Local government sold the centre in 2000 and tension has been building since...

ODENSE, Denmark (Reuters) - Just as Danes were breathing sighs of relief that the wounds caused by cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad were healing, they were re-opened with the arrest of seven Muslims accused of plotting bomb attacks. Muslims say the arrests two months ago have set back their efforts to integrate into Danish society and they find themselves again forced to defend their allegiance to their adoptive country. "We have worked in this city for a long time for integration," said Maher El Badawi, a social worker in Odense, the suspects' home town in central Denmark. "But people are...

RIYADH (Reuters) - The 57-nation Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) on Monday condemned a new round of Danish cartoons ridiculing the Prophet Mohammad, saying the values of tolerance were shrinking in Europe. Danish state TV on Friday broadcast amateur video footage showing members of the anti-immigrant Danish Peoples' Party (DPP) at a summer camp in August, drinking, singing and taking part in a competition to draw images mocking the Prophet. "Muslims have noted with concern that the values of tolerance are eroding and there is now shrinking space for others' religious, social and cultural values in the West," said...

" While Danish milk products were dumped in the Middle East, fervent rightwing Americans started buying Bang & Olufsen stereos and Lego. In the first quarter of this year Denmark’s exports to the US soared 17%. The British writer Christopher Hitchens organised a buy-Danish campaign. Among the thousands of emails sent to Rose was one from an American soldier serving in Iraq. “He told me he was sitting in Iraq, watching a game of football and drinking a can of Carlsberg,” Rose said. Rose is not the only person to have prospered from the crisis. Re-elected last year, Mr Rasmussen...

Denmark bore the brunt of Muslim anger over the cartoons Danish exports to Muslim countries have been hit hard by a row over cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad, officials in Denmark say. A Muslim boycott of Danish goods led to a 15.5% drop in total exports between February and June. Trade to the Middle East fell by half, statistics show. An industry chief said there was little doubt the cartoons row was to blame....

The West once again has been forced to confront the clash of cultures. Muslims worldwide rage and riot over Danish newspaper cartoons that, in their eyes, commit the double sin of depicting Mohammad and satirizing him disrespectfully. Many Muslims consider any illustration of their prophet to be an insult to their religion. Of course, other religions often find their ideas and icons satirized or criticized. Yet rarely do they respond with death threats, riots, arson, and murder. There’s a noteworthy irony in the violent Islamic reaction to the publication of the cartoons. The editors of the Danish paper Jyllands-Posten printed...

The Muslim reaction to three blasphemous cartoons in an obscure Danish newspaper was more violent than the American reaction to terrorists flying planes into our buildings and killing 3,000 people. This statement, in itself, is absolutely unbelievable. After 9/11 no embassies were firebombed, no people were kidnapped, no mobs chanting “Death” were formed...just a random report or two of some ignorant redneck somewhere who spray-painted a mosque or threatened a Muslim, and who was quickly dealt with by authorities. Now after a daily drumbeat of suicide bombings, beheadings, riots, death-videos, kidnappings, murders, my belief that Islam is a religion...

Behind the cartoon crisis lies a small country’s fight for its national identity. Denmark is one of Europe’s smallest countries; it has only 5.5 million inhabitants. Until the beginning of this year it was known mainly for dairy products, butter cookies, Legos, and Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tales. However, conservative Europeans had been watching Denmark for some time. Since Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen’s center-right coalition came to power in 2001, Copenhagen has introduced the most sensible immigration policies in Europe. Today, Denmark is at the center of a controversy over 12 drawings, the infamous Danish cartoons. Syria and...

Photo essay with audio of muslims in China, and their disconnect with the muslim world. Mentioned how the Chinese muslims were silent during the Danish cartoon controversy. "In a corner of China, Islam thrives but remains isolated from the Muslim world." Link: http://www.nytimes.com/packages/khtml/2006/02/19/weekinreview/20060219_yardley_feature.html

Brouhaha ContextBy John Hammer Despite what Americans have been led to believe by the mainstream media, the protests about the Danish cartoons are about as spontaneous as the canned laughter on an old network sitcom. Imagine for a moment that you are so outraged by the riots in Pakistan that you and 10,000 of your closest friends and family decide to protest. So you go to your flag locker and pull out your Pakistani flag to burn. What? You don’t have a flag locker with flags of every nation in the world? Wow, if one is to believe the tripe...

"When a thinking person sees or reads something that offends them in a newspaper, they write a letter to the editor; they don't torch KFC. Clearly, there is more than a touch of irony in the violent reactions of Muslims around the world as a result of these cartoons."

My parents were born in Denmark — Jutland, to be exact, the peninsula of that tiny kingdom that links Denmark to Germany. The Danish name is Jylland, and Jylland Posten is the newspaper that published the offensive cartoons last September. It’s a national newspaper with its home base in Denmark’s more rural countryside. Having lived in Denmark for a number of years prior to retiring to Sierra Vista, I came to know my heritage fairly well and what to expect in Danish newspapers. I’m exceedingly proud to be an American, but I am equally proud of my Danish background. Yes,...

KARACHI, Pakistan (AP) - About 5,000 children chanting "Hang those who insulted the prophet" rallied in Pakistan's largest city on Tuesday in the latest protest in the Islamic nation against the publication of cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad. The children, ages 8 to 12, burned a coffin draped in U.S., Israeli and Danish flags at a traffic intersection in the port city of Karachi as police in riot gear looked on. The rally was organized by Jamaat-e-Islami, Pakistan's largest Islamic group. The children, some wearing school uniforms and headbands emblazoned with "God is great," were released from schools to take...

Judith Apter Klinghoffer at the History News Network reports that Nigerian Christians are being macheted by Muslims "outraged at the Danish cartoon nonsense. Gateway Pundit is reporting that 35 persons have been killed, 30 churches burned, and 5 hotels set ablaze. Rantings of a Sandmonkey is reporting injuries, but no deaths yet, in Egypt. In an update, Klinghoffer reports that Nigerian Christians are retaliating: Finally, MSM has the story it has been waiting for, a story about Christians and Muslims killing each other. As I have noted bellow, the Christians have concluded that they can either continue to die or retaliate....

As Rush just noted, one of the large global seaport opertions companies is Mersk (18% of world market), from Denmark. So, let's give our port contracts to the Danish, and stick it to the Mullahs over the cartoons at the same time.

After weeks of protests worldwide sparked by cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad, Cornell students and staff are struggling to understand the controversy's implications. "...there has been a lot of coverage about all the violence in response to these cartoons, and it concerns me," said Aneesa Mitchell '06, president of the Muslim Educational and Cultural Organization (MECA). "I don't think that's the proper reaction according to the teachings we have from Muhammad. The violent reaction is not going to get the response that we want." "It's dismaying if newspapers are frightened [to publish]," he said. Some professors, however, placed the primary...

Question: MSM hypocrisy: showing Abu Ghirab photos (again!) but not Danish cartoons Is sky blue? Classic media double standard No, media just being respectful of Islam You kidding? media afraid of Islam Media goal: embarrass Bush even if it kills soldiers

The uproar over the Danish cartoons satirizing the "Prophet" is a perfect illustration of the futility of public discourse in the postmodern world. In one corner are the pointy-headed leftists - self-hating Westerners who blame the victims (Danes et al.) for permitting such blasphemies to be published. In the other are the ditto-headed "conservatives" who declare that mockery of all things holy is our "tradition," and anyone who doesn’t like it, had better go back to Mullah-land. It does no good to explain to the "conservatives" that mockery and skepticism have been the weapons of Anti-Christianity since Montaigne and...

In the wake of a Danish newspaper’s decision to publish cartoons depicting the prophet Muhammad, Danish flags and embassies are beset by violent protesters in heavily Muslim countries. But a chocolate store in the windmill-filled, Danish American tourist village of Solvang has enjoyed a small spike in its mail-order business. And it’s not just because of Valentine’s Day, though that always helps, said chocolatemaker Bent Pedersen. “One comment was that they were buying in support of Denmark,” said Pedersen, who owns Ingeborg’s World Famous Danish Chocolates, which does a brisk business online from its Copenhagen Drive store. Pedersen said that...

Comments in Middle East border on bizarre... Bill Clinton (in Qatar) called the cartoon depictions of Muhammad published by the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten last fall "totally outrageous cartoons against Islam," ... In fact, the cartoons are pretty tame stuff -- the Islamic prophet is not shown as dirty, drooling, shaped like an animal or engaged in any unsavory acts, all standard for cartoon depictions of Jews in the modern Arab press. Mr. Clinton is entitled to his opinion, of course, though one wonders why he would want to gin up more hostility toward the West with an inflammatory characterization of...

The "FRIENDSHIP (LAPEL) PIN" While commenting on another FR thread this past night/morning, I did a basic search for lapel pins that would show support when worn by us Americans for Denmark, and this is the most interesting result I found, the "Friendship Pin" from a U.S. company ("flagline.com")-- who also sells very well done American flags and many other interesting things. But, as to Denmark items, they offer the Danish flag on cloth, nylon and on dedicated lapel pins, too. I happen to really like this "Friendship Pin," however, and think it really makes the right message.

Iranians love Danish pastries, but when they look for the flaky dessert at the bakery they now have to ask for "Roses of the Prophet Muhammad." Bakeries across the capital were covering up their ads for Danish pastries Thursday after the confectioners' union ordered the name change in retaliation for caricatures of the Muslim prophet published in a Danish newspaper. "Given the insults by Danish newspapers against the prophet, as of now the name of Danish pastries will give way to 'Rose of Muhammad' pastries," the union said in its order. "This is a punishment for those who started misusing...

Is Google censoring the blogs? First do no evil right? Thinking and communicating thoughts is the essence of humanity. Example #1---here is a posting on JihadWatch today Egyptian editor who printed cartoons has left the country Egyptian Sandmonkey, who has done such important work during the entire cartoon rage episode, and was the first to reveal that the Egyptian paper Al Fagr printed the cartoons in October, now tells us that the editor responsible has left Egypt -- not surprising, since editors who printed the cartoons in Jordan and Algeria have been arrested. 1. Search Google with the phrase “...

Mohammad cartoon protests aren't unique to Islam By Michael Conlon 2 hours, 2 minutes ago The violence linked to cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad is not unique to Islam, experts say, and the protests reflect political and cultural passions more than the faith's core values. Looking for distinct features that would make Islam liable for the cartoon-related violence around the world does little to explain it, said the Rev. Patrick Gaffney, an anthropologist and expert on Islam at the University of Notre Dame. "There are parallel behaviors in every tradition," he said. "Buddhism has a violent strain despite its pacifism...

Controversy intrudes on Danish curlers 2/11/2006, 1:34 p.m. ET By CHARLES HUTZLER The Associated Press PINEROLO, Italy (AP) — After women curlers won Denmark's first ever Winter Olympics medal at Nagano in 1998, Danes would stop team member Dorthe Holm in the streets and interest in the sport soared. Now, as Holm and four other women try for a medal at the Turin Games, they face a grimmer public spotlight. Angry protests across the Muslim world set off by cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in a Danish publication have made them a potential target. Italian police have beefed up security...

Ann Coulter...was definitely Friday’s biggest draw at CPAC 2006. From the get-go the conservative columnist had the crowd cheering and was frequently interrupted by applause. Many of Coulter’s talking points came from recent news events -- such as “the great Danish cartoon caper” and President Bush’s Supreme Court nominees. “Muslims are the only group who kill because people call them violent,” she said of Islam’s rage over the printing of Muhammad cartoons. Speaking about the nation's highest court, Coulter not only expressed elation at Justice Samuel Alito’s confirmation, she also shared her feelings on Chief Justice John Roberts ... She...

TEHRAN -- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad marked the 27th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution by slamming the West for slandering Prophet Mohammad. Iranian President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, delivers his speech in front of tens of thousands of Iranians during a ceremony marking 27th anniversary of Iran's Islamic Revolution at the Azadi (Freedom) Sq. in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, Feb. 11th, 2006. The Iranian president on Saturday rejected Western pressure to freeze the country's nuclear program and issued a veiled threat to walk away from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi) "When we protest, they object saying they have freedom. But they...

Copenhagen, Denmark: Denmark has temporarily withdrawn its ambassador and other Danish staff from Syria because they were not getting enough protection from authorities, the Foreign Ministry said Saturday. The building housing the embassy in Damascus was burned last week by an angry mob protesting the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) cartoons first published in a Danish newspaper. The Foreign Ministry said it has been pulling out Danish staff since then, and the ambassador left on Friday. "The de-escalation of the protection of the ambassador and his staff to an inadequate level is the reason for the departure," the ministry said in a...

February 10, 2006 Islamabad, Pakistan With the understandable outrage over the blasphemous cartoons tearing apart the Middle East, I felt I had to lend my support to my Islamic brothers and sisters. I chose my friend Scooter to accompany me on a trip to Islamabad, Pakistan, where we were to join the locals in protesting western infidels who make a mockery of the religion of peace. Since Scooter has an art degree, I put him in charge of creating our signs while I contacted a friend with connections to the protest leaders. I also tried to get hold of Peace...

Abdullah Badawi, Malaysia's prime minister, "says a huge chasm has opened between the West and Islam, fuelled by Muslim frustrations over Western foreign policy," according to the BBC, in a story about the Mohammed caricatures. The Beeb claims that Abdullah is "promoting a moderate form of Islam," but his anti-democratic actions prove otherwise. Au contraire, Mr. Abdullah, it is your seething, Muslim masses that are the cause of this "chasm." Again, the BBC: As he spoke at a conference in Kuala Lumpur, thousands protested outside at Western cartoons of Prophet Muhammad. ... "Long live Islam. Destroy Denmark. Destroy Israel. Destroy...

Mike Fowler is the publisher of Hometown Newspaper Publishing. Pages 4 and 5 of his three local papers, are causing controversy. "People want to know what all the fuss is all about,” said Fowler. Fowler decided to publish the caricatures of the prophet Mohammed that have led to demonstrations and even incited violence around the world. Fowler said he's showing them to inform his readers. "Our intent wasn't to disrespect the religious beliefs of any of our readers. It was not to titillate. It wasn't to do any of that stuff. It was basically to inform our readers knowing that...

...it is hard not to see that insidious forces have brought these drawings to the attention of the Muslim masses... this calculated offense (calculated, mind you, by the organizers of the distribution of the cartoons), it is hard not to link this blasphemy to a new planetary configuration, itself determined by three recent and major events. The diversionary tactic of a Syria which we never saw so concerned over religious matters... 'snip' The hardening of Iran's Islamic Republic, ready to make all kinds of theological concessions (including a grand historic alliance of Shiites and Sunnis, which experts have been telling...

The Danish Islamic scholar who brought cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad to the attention of Muslim leaders around the world says he was only trying to boost his campaign to get an apology from the Danish newspaper that first published them. INDEPTH: Muhammad cartoons: A timeline Danish Islamic scholar Ahmed Akkari, right, and Carsten Juste, editor in chief of the Danish daily Jyllands-Posten, which published cartoons depicting the Prophet, before a debate on Danish television, Sunday, Feb. 5. (AP Photo/POLFOTO, Carsten Snejbjerg) "I guess we took the illustrations to influential people so they could help," Ahmed Akkari told CBC News...

Danish ed.: I'd print Holocaust cartoons Associated Press, THE JERUSALEM POST Feb. 8, 2006 The Danish editor behind the publication of caricatures of the Prophet Mohammad that ignited deadly riots in the Muslim world said Wednesday that he was trying to coordinate with an Iranian paper soliciting cartoons on the Holocaust. "My newspaper is trying to establish a contact with the Iranian newspaper, and we would run the cartoons the same day as they publish them," Flemming Rose said Wednesday in an interview on CNN's "American Morning." The Iranian newspaper Hamshahri said Tuesday that it would hold the competition to...

MOSCOW (AP) - An aid group that provides food to tens of thousands of people in war-ravaged Chechnya suspended its operations on Tuesday after Chechen officials banned all Danish organizations because of the publication of Prophet Muhammad cartoons. The Danish Refugee Council's country director for Russia, Per Ilsaas, said the group had temporarily halted operations in the southern Russian region for security reasons but hoped it would be able to resume its work soon. "We hope we will be able to enter a dialogue to see if there is a way forward," Ilsaas told The Associated Press. Ramzan Kadyrov, a...

Danish soldiers on patrol in southern Iraq came under attack but escaped unharmed, the Danish military headquarters said. Iraqis shot at the patrol on Sunday as the Danish soldiers gave first aid to a group of children injured in a traffic accident south of Al-Qurnah, it said. "They were shot at as they tried to help the children," Colonel Henrik Sommer said. The soldiers shot back, withdrew from the area and took several of the children to hospital, he said. Around 530 Danish soldiers are stationed in Iraq as part of a multinational force there, operating under British command in...

Some of my leftist friends have one thing in common with the Muslims now sacking foreign embassies: a fundamental lack of understanding as to how democracy works, and how precious it is. The leftists have grown up knowing nothing but freedom and opulence, and take things like the Bill of Rights, Federalist Papers, and Constitution for granted (if they have even read these hallowed documents). The Muslim radicals (Islamists) are throwing lit jugs full of gasoline at Danish embassies because they have known nothing except Big Brother (One Newspaper, One Nation, One Religion, One World), and do not even know...

Various sources have indicated that the cartoons published in the Danish papers are not the same ones that are being used to incite the mobs. The various sources say that the cartoons being circulated were deliberately altered by a radical Danish Muslim imam to make them more offensive. I've seen the cartoons as originally published but none of the news sources have shown pictures of the altered ones being circulated to inflame the mobs. Are there any side by side comparisons? If true it would seem to me to be important for the news media to show what the Danish...