Europe's cartoon battle lines are drawn in shades of grey, not black
and white
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1707343,00.html

Lost in the furore over violent protests is any condemnation of the
deliberate provocation by newspaper editors

Jonathan Steele
Saturday February 11, 2006
The Guardian


It is not often that the left agrees with Tony Blair, let alone George
Bush. But the good sense the two leaders have shown in the Danish
cartoons affair by siding with leftwing and liberal critics of the
offensive drawings' publication is one of the more remarkable aspects
of the drama. The Bush-Blair position is a useful antidote to those who
claim that fear is stalking the offices of western newspapers, where
cowardly executives allegedly shrink from publishing anything that
might upset Muslims. Flemming Rose, the cultural editor of
Jyllands-Posten, which first printed the unfunny cartoons, says he
wanted to break away from Denmark's "self-censorship" in the face of
Islam. Other European papers that followed suit boasted of courage.

Europe's cartoon battle lines are drawn in shades of grey, not black
and white
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1707343,00.html

Lost in the furore over violent protests is any condemnation of the
deliberate provocation by newspaper editors

Jonathan Steele
Saturday February 11, 2006
The Guardian


It is not often that the left agrees with Tony Blair, let alone George
Bush. But the good sense the two leaders have shown in the Danish
cartoons affair by siding with leftwing and liberal critics of the
offensive drawings' publication is one of the more remarkable aspects
of the drama. The Bush-Blair position is a useful antidote to those who
claim that fear is stalking the offices of western newspapers, where

cowardly executives allegedly shrink from publishing anything that
might upset Muslims. Flemming Rose, the cultural editor of
Jyllands-Posten, which first printed the unfunny cartoons, says he
wanted to break away from Denmark's "self-censorship" in the face of
Islam. Other European papers that followed suit boasted of courage.