This article seems to make more appeasement arguments than anything else. What greater good was served by publishing the cartoons, it asks? The implication is that this was a needless provocation.
The truth is, this has been the wakeup call that the Europeans desperately needed. That such a small thing could cause such mayhem has made clear that the muslim sword is at the throat of Europe.
Europeans are aligning themselves to fight back. It may have come in time to prevent a complete muslim takeover. Except for France, of course.
"What greater good was served by publishing the cartoons, it asks?….impossible to see how the cartoon wars have nudged the larger struggle in the right direction."
I don’t necessarily agree with the above statement and broad conclusion in James Button’s article.
But, I do think he made a few other points in the article, which may well be valid. For example, how ordinary Moslems see themselves versus how the Europeans perceive them (all Moslems, not just those who burn embassies, and even mosques, etc.). How there are extremist Moslems who subjugate other Moslems and how these extremist elements will and have used these cartoons as an excuse to entice young muslims into becoming fanatics due to a sense of their ‘victimhood’, etc. Some of the points he made are similar to the ones in this thread that nuconvert posted:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/1573807/posts
James Button also mentions that the wake up call in Europe came about when September 11 happened. Since then, there have been other events such as Madrid and London bombings. Even in Australia, Bali attacks affected Australian (88 Australians dead and many crippled or seriously injured) long before these cartoons.
I also agree that it is great for other non-extremist Moslems and their leaders to stand up to these extremist elements and make their views very clear. Unfortunately, we haven’t seen much of that. If these cartoons are an incentive, then more power to Cartoons!