In The News

At Mecca Meeting, Cartoon Outrage Crystallized

Hassan M. Fattah February 9, 2006
Recent violence in response to the infamous cartoon depictions of the Prophet Mohammed may have not been as spontaneous as initially thought. At a December meeting in Mecca of Muslim leaders, Saudi, Iranian, Syrian and Lebanese officials thumbed through a dossier of the Danish cartoons. Ahmed Akkari, a Danish immigrant leader, brought the folder to the Middle East after appeals for redress to the...

The Opportunity of the Cartoon Crisis

Kishore Mahbubani February 9, 2006
In keeping with the Chinese definition of “crisis,” the uproar over recent Danish cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed offers opportunities that both Europeans and Muslims would do well to recognize. European and Muslim worlds have become inextricably linked, and Europeans should understand Muslim anger over the cartoons. The author argues that the outrage has come against the backdrop of a growing...

From Cartoon War to Trade War

February 9, 2006
Europe views a recent decision by Tehran to boycott Danish products as a blatant financial attack against the EU itself. Ostensibly a response to the Danish cartoons of Mohammed, the Iranian move puts Europe on the defensive about Iran’s nuclear program. Financial Times Deutschland counsels that the EU must remain calm and not antagonize Iran. The center-left paper, Süddeutsche Zeitung, has...

Bonfire of the Pieties

Amir Taheri February 8, 2006
Many commentators have framed the recent furor over Danish newspaper cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad as a harbinger of a clash of civilizations, a sign that Islam and Western secular and religious traditions are incompatible. But, as author Amir Taheri writes, the violent protests over the cartoons do not reflect true Islamic theology or practice. The rioting is largely the result of...

Cartoon Jihad

Sadanand Dhume February 7, 2006
The forces of globalization are responsible not only for spread of capitalism, but the growing influence of radical Islam. Enraged Muslim protesters rely on the tools produced by modern capitalism: mobile text messaging, the internet, satellite television, and desktop publishing. Such technology is contributing to a united community of believers, or “ummah,” a long-held Islamic goal. Analyzing...

Free Speech and Civic Responsibility

Tariq Ramadan February 6, 2006
The controversy over the recent Danish cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed should be cast as an issue of free speech versus civic responsibility. The cartoons fly in the face of a Muslim prohibition against making an image of Mohammed or other prophets. They also portray religion as subject for humor – an alien concept in Muslim culture. Scholar Tariq Ramadan calls for restraint and civic...

In Kuwait, Succession and a Parliamentary Revolution

Mai Yamani February 3, 2006
The victory of Hamas in Palestine showed the world how the democratic process can produce unexpected results. Less publicized, however, is the recent assertion of democratic power in Kuwait. The nation, which has 10 percent of the world’s oil reserves, has been ruled by two rival branches of the Sabah family for the past two centuries. Traditionally the family resolves issues of succession...