Fall-Out Over the Depiction of Prophet Muhammad as a Dog

Cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad with a dog’s body

THE LOCAL: Leading figures in Sweden's media industry have backed newspaper Nerikes Allehanda, which has been criticised by Iran for publishing a cartoon depicting the Prophet Muhammad as a dog. The paper itself has meanwhile defended its decision to publish.

PeO Wärring, deputy chairman of the Swedish Newspaper Publishers' Association (TU), said that regardless of what people thought of the cartoons it was important that they could be published and debated.

"The strength of freedom of expression lies in the fact that it tolerates - and protects - not only comfortable, harmless and uncontroversial opinions, but also those that are tasteless, controversial, upsetting and offensive," he said in a statement.

The cartoon in question, by Swedish artist Lars Vilks, depicted Muhammad's head on the body of a dog. Vilks had found it hard to find a gallery willing to display his work, and Nerikes Allehanda published the cartoon alongside an editorial on freedom of expression.

A Swedish diplomat was summoned to the Iranian Foreign Ministry on Monday to receive a protest from the Iranian government about the cartoon. Paper defends Muhammad dog cartoon (more)

Mark Alexander

Flemming Rose on Free Speech and Radical Islam
Mr. Rose is the culture editor of Jyllands-Posten. He is writing a book about the challenges to free speech in a globalized world.

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL - Opinion: At a lunch last year celebrating his 25th anniversary with Jyllands-Posten, Kurt Westergaard told an anecdote. During World War II Pablo Picasso met a German officer in southern France, and they got into a conversation. When the German officer figured out whom he was talking to he said:

"Oh, you are the one who created Guernica?" referring to the famous painting of the German bombing of a Basque town by that name in 1937.

Picasso paused for a second, and replied, "No, it wasn't me, it was you."

For the past three months Mr. Westergaard and his wife have been on the run. Mr. Westergaard did the most famous of the 12 Muhammad cartoons published in Jyllands-Posten in September 2005 -- the one depicting the prophet with a bomb in his turban. The cartoon was a satirical comment on the fact that some Muslims are committing terrorist acts in the name of Islam and the prophet. Tragically, Mr. Westergaard's fate has proven the point of his cartoon: In the early hours of Tuesday morning Danish police arrested three men who allegedly had been plotting to kill him.

In the past few days 17 Danish newspapers have published Mr. Westergaard's cartoon, which is as truthful as Picasso's painting. My colleagues at Jyllands-Posten and I understand that the cartoon may be offensive to some people, but sometimes the truth can be very offensive. As George Orwell put it in the suppressed preface to "Animal Farm": "If liberty means anything, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear."

Sadly, the plot to kill Mr. Westergaard is not an isolated story, but part of a broader trend that risks undermining free speech in Europe and around the world. Consider the following recent events: In Oslo a gallery has censored three small watercolor paintings, showing the head of the prophet Muhammad on a dog's body, by the Swedish artist Lars Vilks, who has been under police protection since the fall of 2007. In Holland the municipal museum in The Hague recently refused to show photos by the Iranian-born artist Sooreh Hera of gay men wearing the masks of the prophet Muhammad and his son Ali; Ms. Hera has received several death threats and is in hiding. In Belarus an editor has been sentenced to three years in a forced labor camp after republishing some of Jyllands-Posten's Muhammad cartoons. In Egypt bloggers are in jail after having "insulted Islam." In Afghanistan the 23-year-old Sayed Perwiz Kambakhsh has been sentenced to death because he distributed "blasphemous" material about the mistreatment of women in Islam. And in India the Bengal writer Taslima Nasreen is in a safe house after having been threatened by people who don't like her books. Every one of the above cases speaks to the same problem >>> By Flemming Rose

LETTERS TO THE WALL STREET JOURNAL APROPOS OF THIS ARTICLE:
Do You Have a Right to Avoid What You Don't Want to Hear?

Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)

British Teacher Awaits Judge's Ruling on 'Blasphemous' Teddy Bear
If these people are upset about children naming teddy bears 'Muhammad', I wonder how they would feel if people started naming their dogs 'Muhammad'? What if the West decided to have an international ‘Name Your Your Dog Muhammad Week’? Then they they really would have something to bitch and moan and whine about!

TIMESONLINE: A British teacher facing 40 lashes in Sudan over a school teddy bear named Muhammad will discover today whether she will be charged with blasphemy.

Gillian Gibbons, 54, is being questioned for a second day by police in Khartoum on suspicion of insulting Islam's prophet for allowing her seven-year-old pupils to give the toy the name of the prophet. >>

Mark Alexander

Muhammad on Broadway?
SPIEGELONLINE INTERNATIONAL: Several drawings of the Prophet Muhammad in the European press have already scandalized the Muslim world. Now, a Swedish cartoonist is converting his controversial work into a musical.

Almost two years ago, 12 unflattering caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad appeared in the Danish paper Jyllands-Posten. After a bit of PR work by some radical imams in Denmark, the Muslim world erupted in protest.

Never one to leave well enough alone, Swedish artist Lars Vilks decided to keep the scandal going, and last summer, he drew a cartoon depicting the prophet's head on the body of a dog, which was published in the tiny Swedish paper Nerikes Allehanda. The caper earned him numerous death threats and a $100,000 bounty on his head, courtesy of al-Qaida -- who promised a $50,000 bonus if the murder was accomplished by slitting his throat.

Undeterred, Vilks has now come up with a dubious new idea: Why not turn the entire scandal into a musical? He has already started work on the project -- with the working title "Dogs" -- and envisions a stage production in the mold of "Jesus Christ Superstar" or "Cats."

"Muhammad is also a superstar in the modern sense of the term," Vilks told the Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter. Controversial Cartoon Inspires Musical (More)

Mark Alexander

Muhammad Cartoonist Had $100,000 Bounty on Head
THE GUARDIAN: Lars Vilks's sketches drew a furious reaction from Muslim groups and countries, and death threats from al-Qaida

Lars Vilks, the Swedish artist at the centre of an alleged assassination attempt, was put under police protection in 2007 when al-Qaida offered a reward for his "slaughter". Vilks's depiction of the prophet Muhammad with the body of a dog in a series of drawings prompted the terrorist group to put a $100,000 bounty on his head.

The sketches had sparked a furious reaction from Muslim groups and countries including Pakistan and Iran. Some Islamic traditions consider it blasphemous to make or show an image of the prophet, and Vilks's drawings were regarded as especially derogatory as dogs are a symbol of filth for many Muslims.

In 2006 there were riots over Danish cartoons of the prophet, including one by Kurt Westergaard depicting Muhammad wearing a turban shaped as a bomb. Westergaard was subjected to death threats and attempts on his life. >>> Matthew Weaver and agencies | Tuesday, March 09, 2010

Muhammad Cartoonist Lars Vilks Installs Panic Room and Booby-trapped Art
TIMES ONLINE: A Swedish cartoonist whose controversial image of the Prophet Muhammad led to a series of death threats said today that he had secured his property with a homemade panic room and booby-trapped artwork.

The latest threat to Lars Vilks emerged yesterday when seven people were arrested in Ireland accused of plotting to kill the 63-year-old artist.

Mr Vilks responded by saying that he was ready for them. “If something happens, I know exactly what to do,” he said.

His home in southern Sweden now contains a barbed-wire sculpture that could electrocute potential intruders, a secure space to hide in and an axe which will allow him “to chop down” anyone breaking in through his windows.

He said he had learned from American media reports that the woman held in the US Colleen R. LaRose, who had called herself Jihad Jane in a YouTube video, had visited the area where he lives, but he did not know whether that was true. “I’m glad she didn’t kill me,” Mr Vilks said.

The artist, who has dishevelled hair and thick-lenses glasses, said his life was like the plot of a film. “It’s a good story,” he said. “It’s about the bad guys and a good guy, and they try to kill him,” he said.

“They have this woman also which I think is a good part of the plot with this fantastic name, ‘Jihad Jane’ who is actually doing some scouting there in the surroundings,” Mr Vilks added. “As I can see it, you have something of a film there. But as I said, I believe they’re a bit low-tech.”

Three leading Swedish newspapers and the national broadcaster today carried the notorious cartoon depicting the Prophet Muhammad with a dog's body. >>> Nico Hines and David Charter | Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Prize comment of the day in The Times apropos of this story:

The "Peaceful" religion of Islam strikes again. The Islamic religion/Muslims are the MOST intolerant of ALL people/religions in the world. The fact that their "moderate" wing doesn't stand up and protest their own extremists proves they are also gutless and cowards. Warm Regards, Eric [Simpson] [Source: The Times] | Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Culture Clash: European Art Provokes Muslims
Tell us what doesn’t provoke Muslims? – Mark
ASSOCIATED PRESS: LONDON — With the West locked in conflicts across the Muslim world, why would anyone throw fuel on the fire?

A small group of Europeans have been doing just that — provoking death plots and at least one murder by turning out art that derides the Prophet Muhammad and the Quran in the name of Western values.

Behind the scenes is something bigger: a rising European unease with a rapidly growing Muslim minority, and the spreading sense that the continent has become a front in a clash of civilizations.

Recent events — including surprising electoral success by an anti-Islamic Dutch party, moves to ban veils in France and minarets in Switzerland, and arrests in Ireland and the U.S. this week in an alleged plot to kill a Swedish cartoonist — are signs of the rising tensions.

Swedish artist Lars Vilks says he was defending freedom of speech when he produced a crude black-and-white drawing of Muhammad with a dog's body in 2007. Authorities say that set him in the crosshairs of an assassination plot by extremists including Colleen LaRose, a 46-year-old Muslim convert from Pennsylvania who dubbed herself "Jihad Jane."

Vilks said in a recent interview with The Associated Press that he wasn't interested in offending Muslims as an end in itself, but wanted to show that he could make provocative art about any topic he chose. "There is nothing so holy you can't offend it," he said.

The Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten also said it was defending free speech in 2005 when it printed 12 cartoons of Muhammad, one in a bomb-shaped turban, setting off protests and the torching of Western embassies in several Muslim countries. And bottle-blond Dutch populist politician Geert Wilders said he was promoting European values by producing Fitna, a 15-minute film that lays images of the Sept. 11 attacks alongside verses from the Quran. The film was shown in Britain's House of Lords this month.

The cases are extreme, but millions of moderate Europeans also are re-examining the meaning of the liberal values widely cherished across the continent. How, many are asking, should a liberal society respectfully deal with immigrants who often espouse illiberal values? Should the immigrants adopt the values of their adoptive land — or, to the contrary, should society change to accommodate the newcomers who now form part of it?* >>> Michael Weissenstein | Sunday, March 14, 2010

Associated Press Writers Karl Ritter in Stockholm and Art Max and Mike Corder in Amsterdam contributed to this report.

*This is an absurd question to ask! It is clearly incumbent upon the immigrant to adapt to the host country, not the other way around. Many of these immigrants, after all, are here in Europe ILLEGALLY. And even when they aren’t, they came here for a better life. They came here to get away from backwardness and poverty. We should stop engaging in such banal and useless belly-aching! Were I to have house-guests refusing to abide by the rules of the house, I would show them the door. So it should be with a country. Abide by the laws of the country, or get out! – © Mark

Two Muslim Men Charged Over Alleged Plot to Kill Swedish Cartoonist Lars Vilks
Swedish cartoonist Lars Vilks was allegedly the subject of a murder plot after depicting the Prophet Muhammad's head on the body of a dog in 2007. Photograph: The Guardian
THE GUARDIAN: Two Muslim men were charged last night in the Irish Republic in connection with an alleged plot to murder Swedish cartoonist Lars Vilks, whose artwork outraged many Muslims after he depicted the Prophet Muhammad's head on the body of a dog in 2007.

Algerian Ali Charafe Damache and Abdul-Salam Mansour al-Jehani, from Libya, were brought before a specially convened court in Waterford, south-east Ireland late last night.

Damache, 44, was charged with sending a menacing text message while al-Jehani, 32, was charged with an immigration offence after allegedly giving a false name. Both men were remanded in custody until Friday after Irish detectives said they were not convinced of the authenticity of the men's identities.

The men, who both gave Waterford addresses to the court, were among seven people arrested last Tuesday morning over an alleged conspiracy to kill Vilks. >>> Aidan Jones | Tuesday, March 16, 2010

No Mr Johnson, We Are Not Wrong, the Real Problem Is Islam Itself!
The was a time when the British government - the prime minister, his cabinet ministers, and the MP’s - had balls. Alas, those days are long gone! - ©Mark

THE TELEGRAPH: Oh come off it, I thought yesterday afternoon, when I heard that the Sudanese authorities had actually gone ahead and charged her. Surely they are out of their minds.

When the news broke yesterday teatime that poor Gillian Gibbons was facing prosecution in Khartoum for inciting hatred and showing contempt for religious beliefs, I am afraid my normal good humour momentarily deserted me.

How dare they! I spluttered, and for a brief undignified moment, I had fantasies of a return to the age of Palmerston.

Here is an innocent British citizen, a good and patently well-meaning 54-year-old British teacher. She has decided to make a new life for herself by giving instruction to children in one of the poorest countries on Earth. She has got herself into a muddle over the name of a teddy bear - and now she is facing 40 lashes or six months in jail.

There was a time when Britain would have sent a gunboat to rescue her. There was a time when MPs would have been holding furious debates on the matter, and bandying phrases such as "civis Britannicus sum".

In the old days there would have been démarche from Britain to Sudan, warning that His Majesty's government would not suffer a hair on her head to be disturbed. British Muslims should protest teddy lunacy >>> By Boris Johnson

MY COMMENT TO BORIS JOHNSON:

Boris, you obviously live in cloud cuckoo land! Islam is the problem, and it always will be, for it is a politico-religious system (90% politics, 10% spirituality) based on barbarity and Arab hegemony. Get with the story!

If they harm that poor teacher, then we should have a national 'name your dog Muhammad week' in retaliation. Better still, call for an 'international name your dog Muhammad week'!

I am sick of reading stories from the politically correct, stating that Islam is really a noble, loving and peaceful religion. Don't you naïve people realize that the Jihad is being waged against the West?

Wake up BEFORE it is too late! - ©Mark

Mark Alexander

Al-Qa’eda’s Reward for Swedish Cartoonist
BBC: The purported head of al-Qaeda in Iraq has offered a reward for the murder of a Swedish cartoonist over his drawing depicting the Prophet Muhammad.

The $100,000 (£49,310) reward would be raised by 50% if Lars Vilks was "slaughtered like a lamb" said the audio message aired on the internet.

The speaker, said to be Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, threatened a new offensive during the holy month of Ramadan.

Last month's cartoon showed Prophet Muhammad's head on a dog's body. Bounty set over Prophet cartoon (more) »

Mark Alexander

Swedish Media Reprint Cartoon That Inspired Alleged Murder Plot
TIMES ONLINE: Three leading Swedish newspapers and the national broadcaster today carried a cartoon depicting the Prophet Muhammad with a dog's body after an alleged plot to murder the artist was unveiled in Ireland.

The threat to Lars Vilks was a threat against all Swedes, the country's biggest daily, Dagens Nyheter, proclaimed, adding that the New Year axe attack on a Danish cartoonist for drawing the Prophet meant that Scandanavian values of openness were being assaulted.

The drawing by Mr Vilks was published in the Stockholm-based Dagens Nyheter and Expressen newspapers and the Malmo daily Sydsvenska Dagbladet in defence of one of the cornerstones of Sweden's constitution. This states that Swedes have the right to freedom of speech and cannot be restrained from the lawful expression of their views.

But the newspapers stopped short of running the controversial cartoon on their websites because of their wider accessibility around the world. Islam forbids representations being made of the Prophet.

"In September 2007, al Qaida leaders set a price on Swedish artist Lars Vilks’ head," said Dagens Nyheter in an editorial comment. His "alleged crime" was to draw a cartoon of the Prophet Mohammad as a "roundabout dog", a type of street installation popular in Sweden where sculptures are often placed in the middle of roundabaouts.

It added: "The latest development including the arrests in Ireland stresses the serious situation and the failed axe attack on Danish Mohammad cartoonist Kurt Westergaard further emphasises the weight of the threat.

"If anyone views the attacks on Westergaard and Vilks as individual criminal cases it is time for them to think again. The threats are attacks on one of the most fundamental rights – the freedom of speech – and should be viewed as a wider treat against an open and free society.

"The al-Qaeda individuals who would like to silence the Scandinavian artists are denying the most basic values which upholds a democracy. A threat against Lars Vilks is a threat against all Swedes*." >>> David Charter, Europe Correspondent | Wednesday, March 10, 2010

*This is a threat against all Westerners, not just against Swedes. For this reason, all Western newspapers should publish all the cartoons. But they haven’t; and they won’t. The reason: They are too cowardly to stand up for the freedoms they espouse. Shame on them all! – © Mark

Is Reinfeldt Playing ‘Dhimmi’?
BBC: Sweden's Prime Minister, Fredrik Reinfeldt, has met ambassadors from 22 Muslim countries in an effort to defuse a row about a Prophet Muhammad cartoon.

The cartoon, published in a Swedish newspaper last month, showed Prophet Muhammad's head on a dog's body. Several Muslim countries protested.

Mr Reinfeldt said Friday's talks had gone well, but added it was too early to say if tensions had been defused. Sweden acts to cool cartoon row (more)

Mark Alexander

Jihad Jane II: Second US Woman Arrested Over Cartoonist Murder Plot
THE TELEGRAPH: An American woman who converted to Islam last year and was lured to Europe by online extremists was arrested in Ireland in connection with a suspected plot to murder a Swedish cartoonist, her mother said on Saturday.

Jamie Paulin-Ramirez is the second American woman arrested in a plot to kill the Swedish cartoonist Lars Vilks. Photograph: The Telegraph
Jamie Paulin-Ramirez, the second American woman to be linked to the plot, had vowed to "strap a bomb" for the jihad cause, said Christine Mott.

Miss Paulin-Ramirez was a troubled single mother who taught her six-year-old son to hate Christians, said Mrs Mott. The 31-year-old had the "mentality of an abused woman" and had fallen in with extremists to escape her loneliness, according to her mother.

"She doesn't have the sense God gave a goose. She's book-smart and common-sense-dumb," said Mrs Mott.

Miss Paulin-Ramirez, a former trainee nurse from Leadville, Colorado, was one of seven people arrested in Ireland last week over an alleged conspiracy to murder Lars Vilks, a Swedish cartoonist who had depicted the prophet Mohammed with the body of a dog.

In a development that has caused alarm in the United States, she was the second American woman to be linked with the plot. >>> Tom Leonard in New York | Sunday, March 14, 2010

*Yet another American dumb blonde taken in by the false teachings of the prophet Muhammad (may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him)! Where and when will it all end, if indeed it ever will? By allowing Islam to put down roots in the West, we have given ourselves a right headache: a headache that no simple Tylenol or Beechams will eradicate. – © Mark

Related:

For the Love of Islam: A Second American Woman Is Arrested in Cartoonist Case >>> Vanessa O’Connell in New York, Stephanie Simon in Colorado and Evan Perez in Washington | Friday, March 12, 2010

In Solidarity: Lars Wilks’ Cartoon
Muhammad as roundabout dog. Image: Google Images

A New World Order
The West isn’t working. This world order isn’t working, either. It’s time for a change. If the West wants to survive, then things will have to change. The way things are going on, the West will be on its knees in a short time, and in short order. At the moment, everything revolves around the Middle East, and around Middle Eastern money and oil, and around Middle Eastern influence.

The culture and ‘civilisation’ of the Middle East is diametrically-opposed to our own; but Middle Eastern petrodollars are being used to buy power and influence here in the West. Therefore, if we wish to preserve our civilisation, if we wish to preserve our way of life, we need change. The claptrap coming out of the White House, the claptrap coming out of Number 10, the claptrap coming out of the Foreign Office is not helpful to the preservation of freedom, liberty, and democracy.

The people at the top are like junkies – they are addicted to Middle Eastern money. They don’t call those people potentates for nothing! It is a sad fact of life in the twenty-first century that our leaders are far more interested in making money than they are in preserving our civilisation.

We have got to the point in which it is far more important to earn a fast buck than it is to re-affirm our commitment to the Judeo-Christian culture which has served us so well - a culture which has brought us civilisation, compassion, liberty, dignity, and justice. Islam, with its barbaric practices of beheading, amputation, lapidation, whipping, and torture doesn’t come anywhere close to Judeo-Christian civilisation. Indeed, it is light years away!

President Bush dreamed of bringing democracy to Iraq, nay, to the Middle East. He has been living in ‘cloud cuckoo land’! As has his partner: Tony Blair. Islam and democracy just don’t mix. A fool would have known this. Apparently, neither the White House nor Number 10 did!

Tony Blair has left office. He no longer resides at 10 Downing Street. He is no longer the prime minister of Great Britain. Mercifully! In ten years at the helm, Tony Blair has inflicted a lot of damage on Great Britain. Much of that damage is in the loss of democracy, to say nothing of the uncontrolled borders.

It would appear that the West is being driven by the petrodollars of the Middle East. The tail is wagging the dog! And while this state of affairs exists, there will be no good outcome. No good outcome at all! Inherent in capitalism is greed. Greed is no good principle on which to steer our economy, to say nothing of our civilisation. Now that is not to say that I think that capitalism is bad; it isn’t. But unbridled capitalism needs to be reined in if we wish our freedoms and liberty to proliferate.

Osama bin Laden accuses the United States of being “a paper tiger”. It would appear that there is much truth in this description of our friends’ country; especially since President Bush has run that wonderful country. Why do I say this? Because it has been impotent in stopping the growth of Islam in America, and therefore impotent in helping stop the growth of Islam in the West, because it has failed to stop the influence of Wahhabism in America, and it has failed miserably to stop the uncontrolled growth of Salafism in the States, too. Indeed, in the past ten years, Islam has grown apace in the US, in the UK, and in the West in general. The power and influence of Muslims and the Middle East is at a frighteningly high level! And all the while democracy has been weakened at home.

It is no good trying to bring democracy to another part of the world – a part of the world which can never be democratised while the prophet Muhammad is the people’s guide – and it is no good trying to change the nature of a people, either. The nature of a people depends on the philosophy which guides them. Islam guides Middle Easterners; so, as Islam and democracy are diametrically-opposed, there is little point in trying to bring democracy to that region. For democracy to flourish, the sine qua non is that there be a separation of the temporal from the sacred, a separation of politics and religion. Without that separation, there is absolutely no hope of establishing a democracy. None at all! No, democracy cannot exist without a separation of church, or mosque, and state. It is impossible! What Bush and Blair embarked on could be labelled “mission impossible”! For mission impossible it most certainly was. Here we are, several years later, and nothing, absolutely nothing, has been achieved; and nor will anything be achieved in the future, either. From nothing, comes nothing!

But what bothers me most is this: We are destroying the life we have grown to love and respect. Corruption abounds. Billions of dollars, billions of pounds, are paid to the potentates of the Middle East. Politicians in the West are reluctant to uphold the status quo for fear of upsetting their paymasters. They are also worried that they will not get the lucrative deals after they leave office that they might if they spill the beans. All quite understandable, of course; but all quite disgusting all the same.

If the West is to survive in its present form, if the West is to remain whole and free – and with the number of immigrants that have entered the West, that is a big question! – the West has to sever the umbilical cord which binds us to Middle Eastern oil, which binds us to Middle Eastern funds, which binds us to Middle Eastern influence. Sucking up to Saudis just won’t cut the mustard. We will have to break loose!

There is no other way for the survival of the West, there is no other way for the perpetuation of freedom and liberty and no other way to ensure the dignity of man. If Islam wins the day – which, as things are going at the moment, it most certainly will – then we all have dark daysto look forward to. There is no other way: This world order isn’t working. It’s ‘broke’. And when something is broken, it needs to be fixed. It’s time for a new world order. Now!

©Mark Alexander

All rights reserved

Famous Quotes on Islam
“If any religion had the chance of ruling over England, nay Europe within the next hundred years, it could be Islam” – George Bernard Shaw

"Liberals hate America, they hate "flag-wavers," they hate abortion opponents, they hate all religions except Islam (post 9/11). Even Islamic terrorists don't hate America like liberals do. They don't have the energy. If they had that much energy, they'd have indoor plumbing by now." – Ann Coulter

"How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries! Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia in a dog, there is this fearful fatalistic apathy. Improvident habits, slovenly systems of agriculture, sluggish methods of commerce, and insecurity of property exist wherever the followers of the Prophet rule or live. A degraded sensualism deprives this life of its grace and refinement; the next of its dignity and sanctity. The fact that in Mohammedan law every woman must belong to some man as his absolute property - either as a child, a wife, or a concubine - must delay the final extinction of slavery until the faith of Islam has ceased to be a great power among men." – Winston Churchill

"Individual Moslems may show splendid qualities. Thousands become the brave and loyal soldiers of the Queen: all know how to die. But the influence of the religion paralyses the social development of those who follow it. No stronger retrograde force exists in the world. Far from being moribund, Mohammedanism is a militant and proselytising faith. It has already spread throughout Central Africa, raising fearless warriors at every step; and were it not that Christianity is sheltered in the strong arms of science - the science against which it had vainly struggled - the civilisation of modern Europe might fall, as fell the civilisation of ancient Rome." – Winston Churchill

"In the seventh century of the Christian era, a wandering Arab of the lineage of Hagar [i.e., Muhammad], the Egyptian, [.....] Adopting from the new Revelation of Jesus, the faith and hope of immortal life, and of future retribution, he humbled it to the dust by adapting all the rewards and sanctions of his religion to the gratification of the sexual passion. He poisoned the sources of human felicity at the fountain, by degrading the condition of the female sex, and the allowance of polygamy; and he declared undistinguishing and exterminating war, as a part of his religion, against all the rest of mankind. THE ESSENCE OF HIS DOCTRINE WAS VIOLENCE AND LUST.- TO EXALT THE BRUTAL OVER THE SPIRITUAL PART OF HUMAN NATURE.... Between these two religions, thus contrasted in their characters, a war of twelve hundred years has already raged. The war is yet flagrant ... While the merciless and dissolute dogmas of the false prophet shall furnish motives to human action, there can never be peace upon earth, and good will towards men." – John Quincy Adams

“That a moderate Government is most agreeable to the Christian Religion, and a despotic Government to the Mahometan.

THE Christian religion is a stranger to mere despotic power. The mildness so frequently recommended in the gospel, is incompatible with the despotic rage with which a prince punishes his subjects, and exercises himself in cruelty.” – Montesquieu (“Spirit of the Laws”, Chapter III)

“It is a misfortune to human nature, when religion is given by a conqueror. The Mahometan religion, which speaks only by the sword, acts still upon men with that destructive spirit with which it was founded.” – Montesquieu (“Spirit of the Laws”, Book XXIV, Chapter IV)

Mark Alexander

A New World Order
This essay was first published here on June 27, 2008. In view of the tumultuous events that have happened in the world economy since that time, I thought it was time to re-publish the essay: - Mark

The West isn’t working. This world order isn’t working, either. It’s time for a change. If the West wants to survive, then things will have to change. The way things are going on, the West will be on its knees in a short time, and in short order. At the moment, everything revolves around the Middle East, and around Middle Eastern money and oil, and around Middle Eastern influence.

The culture and ‘civilisation’ of the Middle East is diametrically-opposed to our own; but Middle Eastern petrodollars are being used to buy power and influence here in the West. Therefore, if we wish to preserve our civilisation, if we wish to preserve our way of life, we need change. The claptrap coming out of the White House, the claptrap coming out of Number 10, the claptrap coming out of the Foreign Office is not helpful to the preservation of freedom, liberty, and democracy.

The people at the top are like junkies – they are addicted to Middle Eastern money. They don’t call those people potentates for nothing! It is a sad fact of life in the twenty-first century that our leaders are far more interested in making money than they are in preserving our civilisation.

We have got to the point in which it is far more important to earn a fast buck than it is to re-affirm our commitment to the Judeo-Christian culture which has served us so well - a culture which has brought us civilisation, compassion, liberty, dignity, and justice. Islam, with its barbaric practices of beheading, amputation, lapidation, whipping, and torture doesn’t come anywhere close to Judeo-Christian civilisation. Indeed, it is light years away!

President Bush dreamed of bringing democracy to Iraq, nay, to the Middle East. He has been living in ‘cloud cuckoo land’! As has his partner: Tony Blair. Islam and democracy just don’t mix. A fool would have known this. Apparently, neither the White House nor Number 10 did!

Today, Tony Blair left office. He no longer resides at 10 Downing Street. He is no longer the prime minister of Great Britain. Mercifully! In ten years at the helm, Tony Blair has inflicted a lot of damage on Great Britain. Much of that damage is in the loss of democracy, to say nothing of the uncontrolled borders.

It would appear that the West is being driven by the petrodollars of the Middle East. The tail is wagging the dog! And while this state of affairs exists, there will be no good outcome. No good outcome at all! Inherent in capitalism is greed. Greed is no good principle on which to steer our economy, to say nothing of our civilisation. Now that is not to say that I think that capitalism is bad; it isn’t. But unbridled capitalism needs to be reined in if we wish our freedoms and liberty to proliferate.

Osama bin Laden accuses the United States of being “a paper tiger”. It would appear that there is much truth in this description of our friends’ country; especially since President Bush has run that wonderful country. Why do I say this? Because it has been impotent in stopping the growth of Islam in America, and therefore impotent in helping stop the growth of Islam in the West, because it has failed to stop the influence of Wahhabism in America, and it has failed miserably to stop the uncontrolled growth of Salafism in the States, too. Indeed, in the past ten years, Islam has grown apace in the US, in the UK, and in the West in general. The power and influence of Muslims and the Middle East is at a frighteningly high level! And all the while democracy has been weakened at home.

It is no good trying to bring democracy to another part of the world – a part of the world which can never be democratised while the prophet Muhammad is the people’s guide – and it is no good trying to change the nature of a people, either. The nature of a people depends on the philosophy which guides them. Islam guides Middle Easterners; so, as Islam and democracy are diametrically-opposed, there is little point in trying to bring democracy to that region. For democracy to flourish, the sine qua non is that there be a separation of the temporal from the sacred, a separation of politics and religion. Without that separation, there is absolutely no hope of establishing a democracy. None at all! No, democracy cannot exist without a separation of church, or mosque, and state. It is impossible! What Bush and Blair embarked on could be labelled “mission impossible”! For mission impossible it most certainly was. Here we are, several years later, and nothing, absolutely nothing, has been achieved; and nor will anything be achieved in the future, either. From nothing, comes nothing!

But what bothers me most is this: We are destroying the life we have grown to love and respect. Corruption abounds. Billions of dollars, billions of pounds, are paid to the potentates of the Middle East. Politicians in the West are reluctant to uphold the status quo for fear of upsetting their paymasters. They are also worried that they will not get the lucrative deals after they leave office that they might if they spill the beans. All quite understandable, of course; but all quite disgusting all the same.

If the West is to survive in its present form, if the West is to remain whole and free – and with the number of immigrants that have entered the West, that is a big question! – the West has to sever the umbilical cord which binds us to Middle Eastern oil, which binds us to Middle Eastern funds, which binds us to Middle Eastern influence. Sucking up to Saudis just won’t cut the mustard. We will have to break loose!

There is no other way for the survival of the West, there is no other way for the perpetuation of freedom and liberty and no other way to ensure the dignity of man. If Islam wins the day – which, as things are going at the moment, it most certainly will – then we all have dark daysto look forward to. There is no other way: This world order isn’t working. It’s ‘broke’. And when something is broken, it needs to be fixed. It’s time for a new world order. Now!

©Mark Alexander

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Copenhagen Attack Cartoonist Lars Vilks Wins Award

Lars Vilks has been living under police protection in Sweden

BBC AMERICA: A Swedish cartoonist who depicted the Prophet Muhammad as a dog has made his first public appearance since attending a debate that was targeted in a gun attack in Copenhagen last month.

Lars Vilks received a prize for courage from a free press group, at a heavily secured event in the Danish parliament.

His cartoon offended many Muslims and he now lives under guard in Sweden. » | Saturday, March 14, 2015

Seven Muslims Arrested Over 'Plot to Kill Cartoonist'
TIMES ONLINE: Seven people have been arrested in the Republic of Ireland over a suspected plot to kill a Swedish artist who portrayed the Prophet Muhammad as a dog and had a $100,000 (£66,000) al-Qaeda bounty on his head.

Anti-terrorist units used information from the CIA, FBI and European intelligence agencies to identify the suspected terrorist cell of three women and four men. They are believed to include Algerian, Libyan, Croatian, US and Palestinian citizens and at least one naturalised Irish citizen.

They were arrested in Cork and Waterford after a four-month international investigation.

The artist, Lars Vilks, has received death threats this year and was forced to go into hiding after his depictions of the Prophet were printed in a Swedish newspaper in 2007.

After the Danish cartoonist Kurt Westergaard was threatened by a Somali axeman in January, Mr Vilks said he had received calls from “a Swedish-speaking Somali” who said: “Now it’s your turn.” >>> David Sharrock, Ireland Correspondent | Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Verbunden / Related:

WELT ONLINE: Festnahme in Irland: Mordplan gegen Mohammed-Zeichner vermutet >>> dpa/jm | Dienstag, 09. März 2010

Amerikanerin vor Gericht: "JihadJane" rekrutierte Terroristen übers Internet
WELT ONLINE: In Pennsylvania muss sich eine US-Amerikanerin vor Gericht verantworten, weil sie mit fünf über den Erdball verstreuten Komplizen Männer für Terroranschläge in Europa und Südasien angeworben haben soll. Colleen LaRose wollte auch selbst morden. "JihadJane" habe dafür einen "direkten Befehl" erhalten.


”Jihad Jane”, auch als Fatima LaRose bekannt. Foto: Welt Online
In einschlägigen Kreisen ist sie als „JihadJane“ und „Fatima LaRose“ bekannt. Ihre Mission: Mit Hilfe des Internets, Kämpfer für den islamischen „Heiligen Krieg“ (Dschihad) zu finden. Jetzt klagte die US-Justiz Colleen LaRose aus dem US-Staat Pennsylvania an, weil sie mit fünf über den Erdball verstreuten Komplizen Männer für Terroranschläge in Europa und Südasien angeworben haben soll.

Die Gruppe habe zudem Frauen rekrutiert, die mit unverdächtigen Pässen in Europa umherreisen und den „Dschihad“ unterstützen könnten, teilte das US-Justizministerium mit.

Die 1963 geborene Frau habe überdies einen „direkten Befehl“ erhalten, einen schwedischen Staatsbürger in seiner Heimat zu ermorden. Damit solle „die ganze Welt der Ungläubigen“ das Fürchten gelehrt werden, hieß es in der Mitteilung, allerdings ohne näher zu erwähnen, wer den Befehl erteilte. LaRose sei daraufhin nach Europa gereist und habe das potenzielle Opfer über das Internet ausgekundschaftet, „mit dem Ziel, die Aufgabe zu Ende zu bringen.“ Im Falle einer Verurteilung muss sie mit lebenslanger Haft und einer Geldstrafe von bis zu einer Millionen Dollar (741 000 Euro) rechnen. >>> dpa/fas | Mittwoch, 10. März 2010

Verbunden mit diesem Artikel:

US 'Jihad Jane' Charged With Planning Terror Attacks in Europe >>> Tom Leonard in New York | Thursday, March 09, 2010

WELT ONLINE: "JihadJane" plante Mord an Mohammed-Zeichner >>> dpa/jm | Mittwoch, 10. März 2010

Jihad Jane: American Blonde Accused of Terror Plot
Colleen LaRose, as shown in a police mugshot. Photo: Times Online
TIMES ONLINE: A blonde American woman who went under the online alias "Jihad Jane" has been accused of plotting to murder a Swedish cartoonist for drawing a picture of the Prophet Muhammad with the body of a dog, it emerged today.

Colleen LaRose, a 46-year-old Muslim convert from Pennsylvania, was said by prosecutors to have used the internet to make contact with jihadists overseas and was persuaded to use the fact that she was a white American to get through security surrounding the artist, Lars Vilks.

A US Justice Department official said last night that the case "shatters any lingering thought that we can spot a terrorist based on appearance".

Ms LaRose was arrested in Philadelphia in October last year, but her indictment remained sealed until after the arrest in Ireland yesterday of seven people - three women and four men - involved in a suspected plot to murder Mr Vilks.

The cartoonist has been holed up in a rural hideout since his cartoon appeared in a Swedish newspaper in 2007, a year when the publication of similar cartoons in Denmark sparked violent protests across the Islamic world.

Islamic law generally opposes any depiction of the Prophet - even favourable - for fear that it could lead to idolatry, and al-Qaeda put a bounty of $100,000 on Mr Vilks's head.

Three Swedish papers reprinted his image today in a gesture of solidarity. One, Dagens Nyheter said in an editorial that "Vilks doesn’t stand alone in this conflict. A threat against him is, in the long term, also a threat against all Swedes."

A federal indictment charges that Ms LaRose, who also called herself Fatima Rose, agreed to kill Mr Vilks on orders from the unnamed terror contacts and went to Europe to carry out the killing.

It also alleged that Ms LaRose, who has blond hair and blue-green eyes, indicated in her online conversations that she thought her appearance would help her move freely in Sweden to carry out the attack. >>> Philippe Naughton | Wednesday, March 10, 2010