Cartoon jihad: Wake up call, number eleventy-hundred
The demonstrators are saying, "Europe is the cancer, Islam is the answer".

This morning's BBCA news video (click on BBC NEWS: VIDEO AND AUDIO See the protests across the world) started by mentioning the "youths" staging protests around the world (as they did with French riots story), but now at least they did mention the "youths" are Muslim.

Make no mistake: the cartoon jihad is a well orchestrated maneuver against free speech. The Counterterrorism Blog posted about it:

the Danish Muslim delegation showed much more than the 12 cartoons published by Jyllands Posten. In the booklet it presented during its tour of the Middle East, the delegation included other cartoons of Mohammed that were highly offensive, including one where the Prophet has a pig face. But these additional pictures were NOT published by the newspaper, but were completely fabricated by the delegation and inserted in the booklet (which has been obtained and made available to me by Danish newspaper Ekstra Bladet). The delegation has claimed that the differentiation was made to their interlocutors, even though the claim has not been independently verified. In any case, the action was a deliberate malicious and irresponsible deed carried out by a notorious Islamist who in another situation had said that "mockery against Mohamed deserves death penalty." And in a quintessential exercise in taqiya, Abu Laban has praised the boycott of Danish goods on al Jazeera, while condemning it on Danish TV.

Today The Guardian reports on the Rioting with well-planned spontaneity.

Theodore Dalrymple asks, Is "Old Europe" Doomed?

Apocalyptic thought is curiously pleasurable. Doom is too strong a word, in my view; I think it would be more accurate to say that Europe is sleepwalking to further relative decline. But we should also modestly remember that the future is, ultimately, unknowable.

John Stephenson asks, Can democracy co-exist with such large numbers of this kind of extreme mentality?

The Dissident Frogman says,

It's not done (far from it) but for the first time in years, I have the slight hope that Europe might finally wake up.

They want to fight us, on what is without a doubt a pillar of Western civilization? They want to deprive us from freedom of speech, a concept we invented 2,500 years ago, improved and expanded ever since? An idea for which we did not hesitate to pay the highest price, and which we defended against foes far more formidable and lethal than them?

So be it.

Let's pump up the volume on this whole "Support Denmark" campaign as much as we can, as I suspect this story might be one of those moments of truth that can make a difference. Now is the moment to stand up, be counted, and hold the line. Remember, that's how the Frankish infantry stopped and inflicted a crushing and decisive defeat to the Muslim cavalry in 732.

A European Awakening Against Islamic Fascism? By Victor Davis Hanson poses the same question:

Americans are not confident, but we should remember at least one simple fact: Europe is the embryo of the entire Western military tradition. The new European Union encompasses a population greater than the United States and spans a continent larger than our own territory. It has a greater gross domestic product than that of America and could, in theory, field military forces as disciplined and as well equipped as our own.

It is not the capability but the will power of the Europeans that has been missing in this war so far. But while pundits argue over whether the European demographic crisis, lack of faith, stalled economy, or multiculturalism are at the root of the continent’s impotence, we should never forget that if aroused and pushed, a rearmed and powerful Europe could still be at the side of the United States in joint efforts against the jihadists. And should we ever see a true alliance of such Western powers, the war against the fascists of the Middle East would be simply over in short order.

Zapatero firmly places Spain in the wrong side by signing a joint letter with Turkey; Barcepundit explains,

Read the rest of the letter, in which you won't find a single line of clear and specific condemnation for the death threats, embassy burnings, etc. There isn'tacknowledgementement whatsoever of previous acts of violence in the name of Islam prior to the Danish cartoons, which is specially egregious considering Zapatero is the Prime Minister of a country where 192 people were killed in the name of Islam (at least apparently) almost 2 years ago. Way before any cartoon "provoked" any reaction.

It would be too easy to say that Zapatero's position comes from the fact that he owes his position to Islamic terrorism; it would also be too simplistic to think that it's because of fear, although fear plays a part here, considering that most of approximately 8% of alien population in Spain comes from Islamic countries.

Mark Steyn reminds us that 'Sensitivity' can have brutal consequences, and last February asked, Are we serious?

Dan Riehl certainly is:

America must wake up and see radical Islam for the true danger it represents to civilized countries throughout the world. Failure to recognize that danger and deal with it now will only increase the danger from it, as well as leave our children with a war which, at some point in the future, they may not be able to win.

We can win today. We will win today if we stay the course. And we must win. But to do that, Everyone must look squarely and candidly at the evil we face. So everybody look

On February 1, 2006, at Ground Zero, NYC:
.

Until such time as a real Islamic theology replaces Islamic ideologies, we must be clear as to our differences.



Update Europe's New Dissidents
Middle Eastern repression comes to the Continent.

But what really sealed the Danes' fate--and possibly Europe's--was the lack of solidarity from other governments. The European Union likes to call "emergency meetings" for the most trivial topics, from farm subsidies to VAT rates. But when one of their smallest members came under attack for nothing else than being a European country, for defending the values and norms the EU is based on, there was nothing but silence from Europe's capitals. That silence has been heard and understood in the Muslim world.

(technorati tags muslim cartoon, Denmark, jyllands-posten mohammed, muhammad cartoon)