Religious intolerance or freedom of speech.

[Adrian II]

Heh. Looks like a Redleg refutation. (No offense to you or Redleg).

No offense taken. But I am still not sure we are on the same wavelength.

Bomb scares are mostly the result of bomb threats, particularly if such threats have come true recently as they have in the Philippines. If anyone is to blame for the deadly rush in front of that stadium, it is the bloody terrorists who caused the bomb scare in the Philippines the first place. That is what terrorism does, it is random violence intended to scare and cause chaos. That is its very nature. The same thing happened in Iraq not too long ago: a deadly stampede caused by a bomb scare caused by concrete threats against pilgrims. That is not a consequence of free speech, not even of its abuse. It is the very opposite of free speech.

And about the cartoon: if someone claims that Mohammed wants him to blow things up, someone else has every right to produce a cartoon of said Mohammed with a bomb in his turban. The demonstrators should be protesting against their terrorist brethren, not against the very apt and timely cartoon.

The sad thing is they are put up to it by government agitators and clerics who stand to lose everything if their population would ever exercise their right to free speech, a free flow of information, legal and political equality, etcetera. That is the issue we have to face now.

I am rather happy with the way the Danish and other European governments tackle this. We have a saying in The Neds that in delicate situations 'someone has to use their brains'. The Danes for instance are not demonstrating, shutting down embassies, calling for the beheading of such and such. Their government remains firm but moderate and open to dialogue. Like Mandelson on behalf of the EU, Rasmussen has made it clear that they will not give in on the one hand and that they will not condone the cartoons on the other hand -- which is quite right because governments are not in the business of promoting cartoons and anyone here who thinks they should needs their head examined.

If the anti-Danish boycots and agitation persist, the EU will have to reciprocate with trade sanctions where it hurts some Arab leaders and second echelon types most. Pascal Lamy, Mandelson's predecessor, has shown that the EU can be very good at this after the WTO condemned Bush punitive steal tariffs. Lamy threatened a package of 200 major and minor EU trade sanctions against the U.S. that would hurt Bush re-election most (Florida oranges, for instance) after which the steal tariffs were scuttled inside of two weeks. I have no doubt that if needed, Mandelson's staff will come up with a suitable package for Mssrs Assad or Bin Abd al-Aziz Al Saud. They buy most of their luxuries such as yachts, cars, jewellery and fancy consumer electronics in Europe. No more toys for the boys would be my advice.