Timothy Garton Ash had an excellent commentary in today's Globe and Mail on how the Muhammad cartoons controversy is between moderate Europe Muslims and their extremist minority.

I try and cover off a few things he missed.

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The Salon blurb: "The Danish paper that printed the cartoons wanted to stir up trouble -- and the government wanted a culture war. They got more than they bargained for."

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The NYT's Michael Kimmelman analyzes the cartoon crisis. Two key points are that "the Muslim world has no tradition of, or tolerance for, religious irony in its art" and "we can often overlook the way images may not just symbolize but actually 'partake of what they represent'."

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Here's an excerpt from the NYT story I mention below:

Mr. (Ahmed) Akkari (a Danish Islamist) denies that the group had meant to misinform, but concedes that there were misunderstandings along the way.

In Cairo, for example, the group also met with journalists from Egypt's media. During a news conference, they spoke about a proposal from the far-right Danish People's Party to ban the Koran in Denmark because of some 200 verses that are alleged to encourage violence.

Several newspapers then ran articles claiming that Denmark planned to issue a censored version of the Koran.  

This NYT story talks about how Muslim reactions to cartoons about the prophet Muhammad crystallized at a summit of 57 nations in Mecca, Saudi Arabia.

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An Iranian newspaper wants to publish Holocaust cartoons as a way of exploring the Western commitment to free speech. The Danish newspaper that originally triggered the Muhammad cartoons controversy says it will consider publishing them.

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On the subway going to work this afternoon:

To the MORON

Who just SPIT on the WINDSHIELD,

THANKS a LOT.

 

Next stop, Greenwood.

Possibly figuring that offending Muslims has monopolized peoples' time, JimBobby takes aim at Christians.