The cartoons seem to have their day in the press - who would have thought that the Danes could set race relations in the UK back? It seems such an unlikely conjunction - Denmark and threats to world peace. Anyway glad it's over, and now all we need to worry about is why did the cartoons attract attention now when they were published in September last year? And who benefited from the furore that they generated?
If I was a fan of conspiracy theory I would propose that having the attention of the world firmly fixed on cartoons, muslims and Denmark was convenient for someone (.....perhaps the Liberal Democrats needed to have a break from the attention that having their leadership divided up betweeen a drunk, a puff, a bi, a codger and a nobody was attracting....). I would imagine that moderate followers of Islam are reeling this week from the negative attention that their religion had attracted. It almost seeems like someone orchestrated a dramatic demonstration of the hate-filled stereotypes of Islam - scimitar weilding nutters threatening death and beheading while burning flags.
Having lived in a northern town in the UK with a significant Asian presence and in the middle east for some years I know that the extremist voices raised against the Danish cartoons last week were not necessarily representative of the vast majority of Muslims. But the extremism is a problem and mostly for followers of Islam. It is the moderate majority that will doubtless bear the brunt of intolerance and hate crime carried out by those who believe that their obnoxious and racist views have been vindicated by the scenes on the streets of London and elsewhere.
So did Mr.Bush and Mr. Blair sneak off somewhere and whisper in the shadows about the best way to improve their global standing? Did they organise some creative types in MI5 to come up with some cartoons and then get the dopey editor of the Danish paper to print them (with assurances of publicity beyond his wildest dreams?) Did the CIA plant a few of its agents in the more volatile parts of the globe and give them cash for cardboard, paint and petrol bombs, with carte blanche to incite anybody who seemed up for a bit of violent protesting.
Are they now sitting back and congratulalting themselves on their succes in A. distracting the world from the mess that is Iraq and B. justifying their anti- terror policies? I think that we should be told!
