A blow for freedom in Moscow, more courageous and stronger than most in what used to be known as the free world. From UPI, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:
MOSCOW, Feb. 7 (UPI) -- A Moscow museum has announced it will exhibit the entire series of cartoons of Mohammed that have caused riots throughout the Islamic world.Yury Samodurov, director of the Sakharov Museum and Public Center, said on Russian television that the center was ready to organize a public exhibition of the cartoons satirizing the founder of Islam that originally were published in a Danish newspaper, Pravda.ru reported Monday.
"We must show the whole world that Russia goes along with Europe, that the freedom of expression is much more important for us than the dogmas of religious fanatics," Samodurov said.
Dollar to a doughnut that no way this exhibition happens.
"We must show the whole world that Russia goes along with Europe, that the freedom of expression is much more important for us than the dogmas of religious fanatics," Samodurov said.
Samodurov I could kiss you. You are a true hero and the danish people will be proud of you when they learn about you.
Today the president in Chechnya demanded that his republic kicked out any dane and dane-related items. more than 10.000 of his fellow citizens rely on 'evil' danish items like food, medicin and shelter. Im sure this made your great prophet mohammad happy!
In face of this tradegy I am pleased to learn of a russian hero named Samodurov!
good to see that the solid "religion is the opium of the people" attitude is alive and well still in Russia.
The RoP needs scimitars, bombs and bullets only.
But then again, those who live by the sword.....
I always knew the Russians had more balls than all western country combined. Ya see they never went through a 1960's period where people learned to wilt like lillies. They are to use a phrase, HARD ASSES! We have plenty of Russian Ex-pats here where i live, and let me tell you they are mean and crude and rude. Just what we need against or enemies! :) Unlike Euros who are just "sweating it out" the Russians are not only in a struggle against Mooslims in thier own south but they have suffered more than even the US, though they had no 9-11. Just from memory i remember that they lost 4 planes, the Moscow theatre bombing and the 300 CHILDREN lost in Beslan. Combine that with the thousands killed over Chechnia. And thousands more displaced. They have essentially had many small "9-11"'s. I personally know this woman from Russia and we got to talkin about Beslan and the general problem of mooslims. She is a doctor who would be considered quite liberal. When i mentioned that it literally might come down to a "race war", rather than be disgusted with my answer she said "you know, unless things change it might come to that"
Every time I despair when Russia takes four steps back, it seems to rise occaisionally and take five steps forward. I hope it goes ahead.
Last March, Samodurov was tried under the Russian law against inciting religious hatred after he put on an exhibit blaspheming Christianity and fined $3,600 (£2,000). The fine was dropped after the Patriarch said it was foolish to punish a man for unbelief.
The question is: will the Muslims be so moderate and forgiving? I seriously doubt it.
When the Russians appreciate Freedom of the Press, Freedom of Expression, Freedom of Thought more that the god damned American Press does, you know somethings really screwed up the the American Press...
I have written, emailed, and left vm with as many US media outlets as I can think of demanding that we stand in solidarity with the Danes, the Cartoonists, and all fellow victims of Islamic intolerance, violence and fascism...
I hope everyone who posts here is doing the same in their respective media markets -- a few thousand emails and vms might convince some to re-assess their policy of appeasing the Nazi Muslim Collective...
PS -- Hats off! to Yury Samodurov, Director of the Sakharov Museum and Public Center...
A man who knows the right thing to do...
Its great news for press freedom and the free world.
Russians don't give a damn about appeasing Muslims, they do what is necessary. Chechnya is a waste land after the Russian army finished with the rebels. They bombed Chechnya to the stone age. That is what is needed now.
Chechnya will regret the refusal of aid from Denmark, they were helped by the Danish aid agencies in many ways over the years. They are cutting 'their noses to spite their faces'. Denmark is not going to suffer one bit because of actions by Chchenya.
It will be interesting to see the Muslim response to Russians displaying the cartoons.Will scum be allowed to attack Russian embassies the way the Danish embassies have been attacked? Stay tuned.
I salute Yury Samodurov, and hope his museum exhibit does take place.
I've been drinking Danish beer, and eating Danish cheese, the last few days. I guess I'll have to start adding toasts with Russian Vodka!
If the Russians do go through with the exhibit, I hope our press in the USA is shamed by their self-censorship, and that those USA museums that in the past - sometimes with government funding - exhibited "Piss Christ" and the Elephant Dung Madonna, are challenged to exhibit the "Cartoon Muhammad".
Hulegu Khan: I also wondered about the term "Blow for" freedom. I guess Robert, being an American, meant "victory" whereas those of us who speak British English would understand it as something having a negative impact.
Roxanne, The Muslims would not dare attack the Russian embassies, like they do the Danish and others.
If you could recall what happened, during the height of the kidnapping of foreigners in Lebanon in the 70's , three Russians were kidnapped in Lebanon. They were released unharmed within days.
The story goes that KGB agents got hold of a couple of the kidnappers and cut their privates and mailed them to the Mullahs who were controlling the show in the background, as a warning. They heard it alright and immediately the three Russians were released without even a murmur. No Russians were ever kidnapped again.
Samodur indeed, or yurodivij, or something. I hope he goes through with it. Neither he, nor Elena Bonner, strike me as people likely to back down.
And why is the United States, and why Great Britain, still unwilling to show these cartoons? Afraid of what, exactly, that the French, the Italians, the Bulgarians, the Czechs, the Poles, the Hungarians, the Spanish, and others around the world were willing, to make an important point that the Western world will not have Muslims dictating their own mores to the rest of us, and will not be permitted to do away, through the medium of chanting and primitive mobs, and at a different level boycotts and contract-cancelling, and at still a different level the cutting of diplomatic ties and attacks on Danish missions, and on still a different level, death threats, in some cases instigated by the behavior of Danish Muslims who were at the very beginning so instrumental in whipping the whole thing up when they toured Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, and subsequently have tried to get credit, amazingly, for serving as "emissaries" on behalf of Denmark with the very Muslims that previously they had worked to whip up into a fanatical frenzy, of the hydrophobic kind Churchill described in that by-now famous paragraph in "The River War."
The American government, and the press, should be ashamed of themselves. Of course they have the ability to rationalize it -- anyone can, at any time. They can tell us, they can even tell themselves, that "showing the cartoons adds nothing to the discussion." What nonsense. Showing the cartoons makes clear just how mild they are. Showing the cartoons the Muslims made up themselves also tell a story. And reiterating that the freedom of speech is not something subject to negotiation, not by fear of Muslim mobs, and not for any other reason.
It is the Western world that should be cutting contracts with any Muslim country doing the same to Denmark. It is the Western world that should be withdrawing its ambassadors from countries that permit these attacks, and do not apologize for them. It is the Western world that should reiterate the essentialness of freedom of speech to Western peoples and polities, and to suggest that Muslims might themselves learn something by looking closely, and comparing, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights with the "Islamic" Declaration of Human Rights that is so very different. They do not have to be like us, but they are not entitled to tell us to be like them.
Would any of you like that? Would you like your own countries to have those all-male mobs, brutalized from having a steady diet of Islam and nothing but Islam? Would that be something to look forward to, to take as a civilizational model? What country would one wish Denmark, for example, to become? Iran? Sudan? Pakistan? Saudi Arabia? Algeria? Iraq? Egypt? Would one wish Italy to become like them? Or France? Or England? Or Canada? Or Australia? Or the United States? Would that be a gain for humanity?
As encouraging as this intent sounds, I can see Putin stepping in and shutting the museum down. He and the Iranians are engaged in a sick dance that leads me to believe that he won't want to tick them off and make them turn their sights on Russia (as opposed to Israel and Europe, for now).
l was think that about Putin and the Iranians deals..what will the Iranian thugs think if and when that museum exhibits those cartoons? will be interesting.
3812Michelle, Russia always had good relations with Iran even when the Russian forces bombed the Muslims in Chechneya into oblivion and Iran kept quiet. I don't think the Russians care for such civilities, if they are attacked they take the offensive immediately.
To Hulegu Khan and Disillusioned_German:
Disillusioned_German said:
Hulegu Khan: I also wondered about the term "Blow for" freedom. I guess Robert, being an American, meant "victory" whereas those of us who speak British English would understand it as something having a negative impact.
Not sure about British English, but in the States we can say that someone or something has
"struck a blow for freedom"
(or for women's rights, or for whatever, you fill in the blank). In Robert's usage of "for", the preposition means "on behalf of, " which of course is a common way of using "for" in English. As in "He did something for you. When "blow" is negative in the way you mean, a different preposition would usually be used, thus - so-and-so "struck a blow to the West" (or to whatever, you fill in the blank.)
Thus in this particular case it is actually not a question of whether the word "blow" means "victory" rather than something negative -- it is solely a question of where or how the blow, (or impact, or connecting punch), is directed. "A blow for freedom" means a punch is landed against the enemies or obstacles in freedom's way. "A blow to freedom" means the punch hits freedom itself.
3812michelle said:
As encouraging as this intent sounds, I can see Putin stepping in and shutting the museum down. He and the Iranians are engaged in a sick dance that leads me to believe that he won't want to tick them off and make them turn their sights on Russia (as opposed to Israel and Europe, for now).
I wonder if Putin is to some extent playing both ends off the middle -- trying to use his connection with Iran, for example, not just for economic gain, but also for some leverage with the West, to get what he wants from us. But I also suspect that Putin knows who his better friends are, and will use, and probably already has used, his inside connection with Iran, and Russia's technological contributions to Iran, as a way of giving the West some secret control or surveillance of some of Iran's technology, insofar as Russia sells it to Iran. Maybe too optimistic, but we can hope there is some truth to it...
The New York Times, which, just this past Sunday had not one word (that I could find) about these latest Muslim atrocities .. might have to step up to the plate after all -- if for no other reason, not to be outdone by their role model: Russia.
Last I heard, Putin still calls the shots in Russia and he's not likely to let this project see the light of the day. Why? Coz Iran's been busy cutting off economic contracts with all 'cartoon countries' and Russia has been sucking up to Tehran looking for oil, gas and nuke deals.
But if Putin's calculated that the US, the EU and Israelk are serious in wanting to see the mullahcracy go, he might as well gamble on joining the (militarily) winning side. Makes sense to let the cartoons get displayed and some fireworks happen then. Or so I hope.
"l was think that about Putin and the Iranians deals..what will the Iranian thugs think if and when that museum exhibits those cartoons? will be interesting."
Lulu ... I've been wondering too ... Maybe both the Iranian and Russian thuggeries will welcome (and orchestrate ) the resulting "post cartoon display" chaos and cut some deals behind the resulting fire and smoke.
Putin is a torturer-murderer and Ahmadinejad (who claims to have glowed in the dark like a Muslim messiah while at the UN) is also a torturer-murderer. Ahmadinejad may be a real Islamist .. or may be pretending to be one in order to grab even more power. They will attempt to outmaneuver each other in dictatorial power grabbing. And they will increase the distress of the world ... unless they are stopped.
Both are liars and liars lie. In spite of that, I hope I'm wrong.
America and Russia need to put a retarded past history behind us... This is like Byzantine and Western Europe all over again. We fight and plot against each other instead of crushing a mutual foe (islam) that will smash us both if we let it go unchecked..
Make teh cartoons into stamps, and mail them to all the Muslim country embassies.
After hearing American editorial cartoonists whining all day long on U.S. radio programs about how "they would never have drawn" such "insensitive" cartoons (or the smarmy voices of invited Muslim co-apologists agreeing with these testicle-less examples of submission to the will of Islamic anger), this exhibit's news gives me a needed breath of encouragement that freedom of thought might have a chance.
Not one of the press spokespeople -cunningly chosen to mis-address to the issue- had the slightest understanding of the free speech genesis of the Danish cartoons in the first place, so their dislocated opinions came of as ludicrous panderings to the waved sword of international Muslim pique.
"We shouldn't be gratuitous..."
"We need to be careful..."
"We can't just provoke..."
"I really can't see what the point of the Danish cartoonists was..."
It was like an Heironymous Bosch painting of the blind leading the blind... into a waiting pile of pig crap... which is about all their prattling amounted to.
Not one said:
"Get a sense of humor! We live in a free country! We don't have to follow religious rules. And, I've read the Koran. It's full of violence, and Islam's own jihadist warriors proclaim that they are following Mohammad's orders to dominate the world. With simple pressure tactics if that'll work, but by way of the sword if need be. The Danish cartoons were therefore all-too-apt, ironically incisive, and, as far as the West is concerned, Islam is either going to have to reform its infantile bloodlust, or be laughed off the planet. Vicitm of its own absurd overreactions to mere doodles. You guys are pathetic. Grow a set!"
Not a chance of that.
Just the usual uninformed: "we must show understanding"..
...sure, to those who would destroy our way of life if they got the upper hand.
Standard p.c. suicidal pabulum.
Cringing, become a fine art.
Meanwhile...
Thank you, Russia!
Naz droviya!
Tonight on Hannity and Colmes, Michelle Malkin was one of the guests to discuss the Mohammed cartoons. (The other was a dhimmi professor).
Michelle immediately pulled out a poster board, having all the original cartoons pasted thereon, and held it steadily in front of her (she was completely covered by it) for about twenty seconds until the cameras cut away. All the while she discussed, in her forceful way, the absurdity of the Islamic reaction to these mild caricatures, most of which don't even have an explicit image of Mohammed anyway.
That was the first time I have seen ALL the cartoons displayed anywhere in the U.S. media.
Bravo Michelle.
More on this at her web site:
http://michellemalkin.com/
Profits beard. Brilliant.
I agree this PC ideology is suicidal. PC or cultural Marxism whatever you want to call it is destroying our culture. Let me give the Nuclear war analogy. If there is a nuclear war all life will be destroyed except for the cockroaches. And the cockroaches will inherit the earth. Cultural Marxism or PCness is destroying all the culutures of the world. And in that void Islam will dominate. PCness is like a nuclear bomb. Islam is like a cockroach. I say we all stand up and remember who we are stop making apologies for being western, European, Hindu, Jewish or whatever and start standing up to these thugs.
Russian taqiya to the West IMO.
Seriously guys, how can anyone expect anything good to come from Russia?
Putin is creepy.
IMO Russia will devastate Europe in the near future and are behind much of the "winding up" of the Muslims.
Fifth column and all that.
Why are they developing superweapons, eg the Sunburn missile, if they have been "defeated".
I never saw a death certificate for Communist Russia.
Korkowski 1983:
"Don't be fooled, the eastern bloc will feign peaceful compliance: with the opening and shifting of borders, with pact dissolutions or pretended suggestions of neutrality. Then, when you are factored out of Western protection, they will attack you just like unprotected game."
Lucia, the last living seer from Fatima, 7 April 1990 (Fatima was 1917):
"The events taking place in Europe are a deception. Russia will be the scourge for all nations, because it was not converted. Russia attacks the West, and China invades in Asia."
Gorbachev's speech to the Politburo in 1987, just prior to "the collapse":
"Gentlemen, comrades, do not be concerned about all you hear about glasnost and perestroika and democracy in the coming years. These are primarily for outward consumption. There will be no significant internal change within the Soviet Union, other than for cosmetic purposes. Our purpose is to disarm the Americans and let them fall asleep."
They can’t protest against Putin so at least they can protest the moo-Slime morons.
Speaking of anti-dhimmitude:
http://thepoliticker.observer.com/2006/02/ny-press-kills-cartoons-staff-walks-out.html
"The editorial staff of the alternative weekly New York Press walked out today, en masse, after the paper's publishers backed down from printing the Danish cartoons that have become the center of a global free-speech fight.
Editor-in-Chief Harry Siegel emails, on behalf of the editorial staff:
New York Press, like so many other publications, has suborned its own professed principles. For all the talk of freedom of speech, only the New York Sun locally and two other papers nationally have mustered the
minimal courage needed to print simple and not especially offensive editorial cartoons that have been used as a pretext for great and greatly menacing violence directed against journalists, cartoonists, humanitarian aid workers, diplomats and others who represent the basic values and obligations of Western civilization. Having been ordered at the 11th hour to pull the now-infamous Danish cartoons from an issue dedicated to them, the editorial group—consisting of myself, managing editor Tim Marchman, arts editorJonathan Leaf and one-man city hall bureau Azi Paybarah, chose instead to resign our positions.
We have no desire to be free speech martyrs, but it would have been nakedly hypocritical to avoid the same cartoons we'd criticized others for not running, cartoons that however absurdly have inspired arson, kidnapping and murder and forced cartoonists in at least two continents to go into hiding. Editors have already been forced to leave papers in Jordan and France for having run these cartoons. We have no illusions about the power of the Press (NY Press, we mean), but even on the far margins of the world-historical stage, we are not willing to side with the enemies of the values we hold dear, a free press not least among them."
OT,
The Northern League (Roberto Calderoli) in Italy has appealled to the Pope to announce a ...crusade against Islam!
http://wiadomosci.gazeta.pl/wiadomosci/1,53600,3153217.html
and
the Lithuanian paper called "Respublika" has published 10 of the cartoons in support of the freedom of speech, accusing its government of "acting as if they were on the moon and not in the centre of a wave of fanaticism in Europe!"
Bravo Lithuania!
http://serwisy.gazeta.pl/swiat/1,34174,3153041.html
Bohemond_1069 had a brilliant idea.
I checked into it. You can order custom stamps using your favorite photos and they're valid US postage.
http://photo.stamps.com/PhotoStamps/
Then use the stamps on your own mail. Send letters to your Editors, Representatives, and to Foreign Embassies using stamps made with pictures of Mohammad.
Great way to participate in the global anti-Jihad.
Looks to me like the Islamic dark age had already started in France judging by this. Jacques Chirac's not giving his muslim population much credit, and nor should he.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4693628.stm
The Pope actually does have his s#@t together..
"One has to have a clear understanding that Islam
is not simply a denomination that can be included in the free realm of a pluralistic society."
Pope Benedict XVI
Dollar to a doughnut that no way this exhibition happens. -IPF
"The Islamic world has no greater ally than Russia" -Putin
Remember the Moscow subway
First, whomever said that Russia needs oil and gas from Iran is retarded. As to selling nuclear technology, it is not like they cannot sell it to other countries who would love to have it.
If Putin wanted to stop it, he clearly could. If the exhibition takes place, that means Putin allowed it. Unlike Danish newspapers, Putin tightly controls all the media and cultural exhibitions as well. I think Russia is already getting sick of Iran and does not want to be associated with it. They continue to thwart compromises on the nuclear issue. Now, the only supporter they could rely on could rely on is China and China alone would likely not veto UN resolutions against Iran. In my opinion, Iran will be fucked by the UN Security Counsel and Nato as well.
Russia would benefit from a war with Iran because it would bring oil prices to $100 a barrel while only Russia and Saudi Arabia (and Venezuela) would be able to produce oil to their fullest capacity.
Russia is also fighting against all religions except Christian Orthodoxy, including Mormons and Evangelicals. This would not be a change in their practice.
Most Russians hate the surrounding Muslims and many of them have been randomly beated up on the streets of Moscow. Thus, the people would support this move.
Moreover, Putin can show that they have freedom of speech and freedom of religion in Russia, something that most Western commentators have been accusing Russia of lacking. So, this is kind of thumbs up their asses.
Moreover, Putin can take attention away from his failure to influence Ukrainian politics and even the war in Chechnya and use this conflict with Iran (if Iran makes this into a conflict) the same way as Bush has used the war in Iraq to stay in power.
In general, I think it is possible. It is unfortunate that it appears that mostly Jews are donating to this exhibit and Muslims will against claim that Zionist attacked out prophet. But they claim that 911 was orchestrated by Jews and even the Danish newspaper's cartoons are a part of a Zionist plan to take over the world. So, since they can blame the Jews for anything, including bad weather in Iran, I guess it does not matter.
Does anybody thing that US is not printing the cartoons and Bush is probably having private meetins with all editors of newspapers (as he has done before) to scare them into not reprinting the cartoons because the Saudis are lobbying him?
Regardless what you think of Russia and its tolerance towards non-Russians, an enemy of my enemy is my friend.
P.S. Samodyrov in Russian approximately means stupid. Maybe that is why the Orthodox Church leader asked for forgiveness of his fine, since Russians usually forgive things to something they call "holy" fools.