Cartoons article | The Revival

Christopher Bollyn American Free Press

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.

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."

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.

"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.

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."

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.'"

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.

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.

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."

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.

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.

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.

"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.

"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."

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.

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."

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.

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."

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.

Peter Mandelson, Trade Commissioner for the European Union, strongly

reprimanded

the newspapers for pouring "oil on the fire" by reprinting the

offensive

cartoons.

Robert MEnard, 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.

"I understand that it may shock Muslims, but being shocked is part of

the price

of being informed," he told The New York Times.

However, when it comes to discussion of the Holocaust, media monitors

like

MEnard 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.

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.

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.

"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."

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?"

"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.

"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?"

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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