Free Republic

A twilight zone of insanityCartoons in a Danish newspaper depicting the prophet Muhammed have set off a clash of civilizations. Problem is, all blonds look alike in a jihad.BARBARA AMIEL One of the easiest things to start off is a Muslim mob. Last September, author Kåre Bluitgen complained to the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten that he couldn't get an illustrator for his book on the prophet Muhammed. For Muslims, depicting Muhammed is blasphemy. The newspaper's sophomoric response was to ask cartoonists to help Bluitgen commit it. Any Hollywood director can depict Christ as an adulterer or the Virgin Mary nude without...

Dark times surround Conrad Black, business newsmaker of the year TORONTO (CP) - His biggest news may still lie ahead of him, but Conrad Black has been anointed by newspaper and broadcast editors as the first notable to be named The Canadian Press business newsmaker of the year. Unfortunately for the hard-pressed media magnate who for a time dealt with Canadian newspapers like Monopoly-game properties, the honour carries no cash - and no "get out of jail free" card. Black, 59, dominated voting for business newsmaker of 2003 in a survey of newspaper editors and broadcasters by CP and Broadcast...

The players take their positions for the "Great Game", Kipling's name for the geopolitical contest between Russia and other powers for influence in southern Asia and the approaches to the Middle East. In leaderless Baghdad, daily life is nasty. Saddam Hussein's regime had the monopoly on looting and lawlessness, but now it is in the hands of disorganised private interests. This is lost on BBC commentators, who blame everything - SARS, if only they could - on the coalition. About the only thing in Saddam's favour was that you could get the death penalty for listening to the BBC. UN...