Category: Islam

Who Is Still Free Not to Be Muslim?

Let’s begin by dispensing with the moot question of whether I agree with all that Geert Wilders has said. I don’t, and I specifically disagree with statements by Wilders, such as his call for the Koran to be banned, that are themselves incompatible with the freedom of speech Wilders now defends so articulately. But almost by definition, people who become the state’s first targets for censorship have inevitably expressed views that are controversial, even indefensible. Wilders is now facing prosecution...

What, You Mean These Cartoons?

An ax-wielding Somali man with suspected al-Qaida links was charged Saturday with two counts of attempted murder after breaking into the home of a Danish artist whose Prophet Muhammad cartoon outraged the Muslim world three years ago. The suspect, who was shot twice by a police officer responding to the scene, was rolled into a Danish court on a stretcher, his face covered. [AP] Wow. Could it possibly have been these innocuous cartoons that he’s all upset about? People are...

Have Fun Spending That $20 Million in Hell

Mullah Abdullah Jan, the Taliban commander who led the kidnappings of 23 Korean hostages in Afghanistan, was killed in an air strike by U.S. forces.  U.S. forces launched an airstrike on a house in Ghazni province where a council of Taliban commanders was meeting on Monday night, the Associated Press reported.  Twelve Taliban leaders were killed including Abdullah, the commander of Qarabagh district in Ghazni, AP said on Tuesday, citing Ghazni provincial police chief Ali Shah Ahmadzai. Abdullah was believed...

At What Precise Moment Did Andrew Sullivan …

… transform himself from a principled defender of liberal values to someone who is willing to deceive to make his points?  The video shows Iraqi troops beating three men who’d been caught with a bag full of mortars in their car. I don’t defend the beatings, which at least one American tries fecklessly to stop, but calling people captured with mortars “civilians” is a bit of a distortion, no?    I noticed  it at the precise moment Bush declared his...

Lebanon on the Altar

Michael Totten reports, and has some pretty shocking pictures, and it’s depressingly doubtful that democracy can survive there. The Cedar Revolution will become a victim of Iranian infanticide and the amivalence of Europe, the United States, and other democracies to support it in its hour of need. The lesson comes through clearly: investing your nation’s survival in the United Nations and its French peacekeepers is like investing your savings in a partnership with that exiled Nigerian general who keeps e-mailing...

Islamic Terror in South Korea?

That’s been my worry ever since I was there, and apparently, the South Korean authorities are worried, too. Generally, the “camp follower” subculture that grows up around a U.S. military installation is right outside the gate. In Seoul, that subculture is in Itaewon, several blocks away. Itaewon ended up being the most “foreigner-friendly” zone in Seoul, which attracted third-country nationals and eventually, a large mosque. Today, that mosque sits right on top of “hooker hill,” the, um, intercourse of the...

Maybe They Should Get Out of Iraq…

A LEBANESE student suspected of trying to paralyse the German railway network with a bomb concealed in a suitcase appeared in court yesterday, as a huge police hunt for a second suspect continued. The root cause of this is clearly that unequivocal German support for Israel, and for Bu$h’s war, which of course started this whole terrorism thing: [T]he case has rattled Germans, many of whom have clung to the belief that their government’s opposition to the war in Iraq...

Korea Diary, 17 May 06

If you need an even better illustration of the idiocy of the Tokdo distraction, read this moving story about the families of two hostages, one Japanese and one South Korean, who married during their captivity in North Korea. Yokota expressed gratitude that his son-in-law was a South Korean. “I am so lucky to have a South Korean son-in-law, not a North Korean. I am so happy that I can hope that our families may meet one another again. He said...

Meet Your New Censors

They have won, and you have lost. On Wednesday, Comedy Central forced South Park to censor out one single, innocuous image of Mohammad. Because I think this is a much greater issue than just one TV show, I’m going to print Comedy Central’s entire response to an angry comment I sent that very night. Within the response, I will add my own comments. Thank you for your correspondence regarding the “South Park” episodes entitled “Cartoon Wars.” We appreciate your concerns...

Show Mohammad

In tonight’s second installment of the two-parter, “Cartoon Wars,” Comedy Central censored out an image of Mohammad. South Park has thus far parodied sexually abusive Catholic priests, blacks, Asians, Jews, the handicapped, illegal immigration, Osama bin Laden, and even the Holocaust. You may not consider any of that funny, but that’s not the point. You have the freedom to change the channel, and I have the freedom to watch. Parker and Stone finally picked targets that Comedy Central feared, however;...

Links of Interest

The Flying Yangban has lots of good stuff up today. If you’re in or near Seoul and aren’t working with LiNK yet, they’re holding another meeting Saturday afternoon. Andy also links to an analysis from the International Crisis Group, giving the encouraging conclusion that the U.S. will never allow anything made in Kaesong to be included in a free-trade agreement. He also informs us of the latest machinations in South Korean politics. Yet more calls for America to disengage from...