Have any fellow Dopers heard anything about Osama Bin Laden’s threat against the nations in the EU, for the republishing of those cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed?
Will anything come of this threat or is this just Bin Laden sabre-rattling again?
Link? Were the cartoons recently republished? I thought this was over.
Personally I don’t think ObL wants to give us (Americans) a true coalition of the willing. He and his cause would be quite fucked IMO.
It’s not just the cartoons…it’s also the EU’s support in Afghanistan. I don’t have a link but it was on CNN (IIRC) this morning. Shouldn’t be to hard to find.
ETA: In fact, it’s on the front page of their web site. Here .
-XT
So Bin Laden pops up yet again.
Did he see his shadow? Because if he did, you know what THAT means: six more weeks of winter!
Yeah, we’d totally be able to attack Iran if Al Qaeda hit the EU. And wouldn’t that just show Bin Laden who’s the boss? Heck, we could bring violence to several unrelated Muslim nations while letting him get away. That’d show the bastard.
What a joke.
He talks about the cartoons being printed but that was three years ago. Maybe he meant the reprinting? Except those were so last month.
Incidentally, the tape is released on the five year anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, but not one mention of that? According to the article there was no reference to the date of any sort.
On top of that is the curious incident surrounding Benazir Bhutto’s “mistake” during an interview with David Frost a month before she was killed.
I don’t know, but I suspect our boogieman has gone into syndicated reruns.
Denmark is right now having a silly little goverment which won the election twice partly by playing the “the muslims are taking over”-card (which European parties do from time to time when they fear people won’t vote for them). To really show the world they’re serious, they stood together with the USA (“the coalition”) in the great crusade against Iraq by sending a submarine to the gulf.
I’m sure the US Navy was very, very greatful for this crucial reinforcement in the great naval battles of the Persian gulf.
Go Denmark.
Everytime a goverment in Europe is flirting with racism, strange things begin to happen. Lunatics might pick up the atmosphere and begin to shoot people with black hair, believe that that’s what they are supposed to do (Sweden); artist might feel a sudden urge to make fun of Mohammed (not Jesus, not Buddha, not Confucius), as in Denmark, in the name of the Art, and so forth.
A minority of the muslims around the world are agitated, etc - we all read it, and Denmark’s prime minister refuse to meet representatives of the muslim community because… because… the “press is free, I can do nothing.” (That’s right, not even talk to muslims when your society is about to explode.)
Well, anyhow, this was long time ago now and all is forgotten and people get on with their life,
if it wasn’t for the Denmark intelligence service who recently claimed to have arrested a couple of muslims who allegedly planned to kill a guy on the crypto-fascist newspaper which published the ill drawed pictures in the first place, the ones mentioned above.
This makes every damn newspaper in Denmark to eagerly grab the opportunity to publish the dumb drawings of Muhammed again - in support of the guy who according to the desperate Denmark police might have been subject to sinister plans.
And of course, in support of Democracy and the Free Press and yada-yada-yada -
And this minority of muslim fundamentalist grab the opportunity to -
And this time bin Laden, self appointed leader of the muslim “resistance”, wakes up in time to appear on the CNN.
And one thinks: The drawings are not funny, they are not smart, they are not well drawned, they do not make you think, they do not add anything…
So… why are you publishing them - I mean, at this point?
Moron?
:rolleyes: I was going to point out several of the reasons why this is preposterous, but the rolleyes says it all.
Its pretty pointless Bin Laden threatening Europe as we were already a target and have been a target and probably always will be a target.
Its not even as though OBL can even offer us any concessions if we turned gutless as we have been told many times that Al Quiada is not a centralised organisation as such but in fact a loose collection of groups sharing the same hatreds er sorry ideas.
Home grown Islamist nutcases will always find some sort of excuse for impressing the boys who laughed at them at school or who are more successful then them careerwise within the Muslim communities by becoming “martyrs”.
Recruiting Muslims into the armed forces/police,not introducing Sharia law into the host nations legal system,Iraq,Afghan or Palestine its a complete and utter waste of time even trying to appease them.
The threat will only end when the Muslim communities in European nations identify much more closely with their host nations cultural values or in the unlikely event that for whatever reason Western nations become poorer and more dysfunctional then the Musllim
worlds which will remove the real cause of their hatred of the Westl,jealously at its world pre eminence and wealth and hatred born of their shame at their self perceived inferiority inspite of being gods chosen peoples in their eyes.
Religion and politics are only the mask for these feelings.
For those of us who don’t want to watch a 14 minute video, what was the “mistake?”
Oh, but he does. A general war between the Western world and the Islamic world is exactly what he wants – because he believes that the Muslims would win it, and it would lead to the emergence of a united Islamic Caliphate as the world’s new superpower. It’s in all his writings.
Won’t happen. How could the Sunni and Shi’a Muslims ever agree on the same Caliph?
Some people actually take Democracy and freedom of speech seriously. So, yes Go Denmark.
Artists don’t make fun of Jesus? You have got to be kidding me. Chocolate Jesus, a picture of a crucifix in urine, The blasphemy Art challenge on you tube with a reptilian Jesus poster as a prize. The cartoon South Park has Jesus as a talk-show host on a number of episodes. I could go on for hours. You have no clue what you’re talking about. Jesus and religion are often the object of artistic social commentary.
You have no clue what freedom of speech means. None. It’s not the function of a government to speak on the behalf of private companies. If you don’t like freedom of speech that’s TOO FRICKIN BAD. The cartoons addressed the violent nature of Islam and the teachings of a warrior prophet. The irony of which is lost on the followers of a warrior prophet. Freedom of speech means you can send a letter to the editor. If you think the society is about to explode then you are validating the meaning of the cartoons.
Freedom of speech is what allows a Democracy to exist. It means you have the right to discuss and debate what other people think.
The drawings weren’t meant to be funny. They are political commentary on the violent nature of Islam. The believers of which are willing to kill people in order to prove it is the religion of peace.
They’re publishing them again because the message is as relevant as the day they were originally published. Any moron could figure out the irony of it. I don’t know what country you live in but you’re expressing your opinion because of a board that allows it in a country that allows it. You could not do this in a communist country such as China or in a Middle-Eastern country where thought is controlled. THAT is freedom of speech and it’s here to stay. Bin Laden and people like him cannot stop it.