Some two years after the incident that provoked me to start blogging, something different—something encouraging for those of us who believe in Enlightenment values—is happening:

Newspapers Republish Muhammad Cartoons

After the arrest this week of three men who wanted to kill a Danish cartoonist, about a dozen papers in Denmark have republished the infamous Muhammad cartoons. Some observers notice a sea-change in Denmark’s integration debate since the 2006 riots in the Muslim world

DPA

It was hard to read a newspaper in Denmark on Wednesday without seeing the cartoons.

Also: the Mohammed cartoons case in Canada has been dropped, too:

Calgary Muslim leader Syed Soharwardy says he is withdrawing his Alberta Human Rights Commission complaint against former Western Standard publisher Ezra Levant.

Apparently, Soharwardy got a civics lesson:

“Over the two years that we have gone through the process, I understand that most Canadians see this as an issue of freedom of speech, that that principle is sacred and holy in our society,” said Mr. Soharwardy, president of the Islamic Supreme Council of Canada.

Two years ago, I hoped for an inoculation campaign:

On the matter of the Danish cartoons, it has been my opinion that the only thing that will work is inoculation. Fundamentalist Muslims living in Western societies need to get used to the idea that no matter how offensive and vulgar they may find our “culture”, they have to tolerate it, tune it out, or create their own alternative.

I haven’t changed my mind in the meantime.

I’ve been saying for a while now that Obama is the preferred candidate of American narcissists.

Using himself as a laboratory, Andrew Sullivan inadvertently makes my case:

[T]he criticism of Obama as a messiah figure is misplaced. It’s not about believing in him. It’s about believing in our own capacity to act as newly reasonable democratic participants in an age of extreme danger. I don’t think of him as a messiah. Mine has already come. I don’t believe this world will ever be heaven on earth. I don’t need or want another person to give my life meaning.

But I have been deeply, deeply demoralized about this country for the past few years.

McCain goes part of the way - these primaries have ensured that the U.S. will not be torturing after the Bush-Cheney years. His election is a defeat for the insular, toxic forces that have taken over conservatism. But Obama is a deeper solvent for the Bush stain. His election would be a statement not about him, but about Americans themselves. About how they do not recognize themselves any more. And want to again. [e.a.]

You’ll note that on the one hand, Sullivan claims he doesn’t need anyone other than himself to give his life meaning. On the other, however, Sullivan gives “Bush-Cheney” the extraordinary power to make him (a person of seemingly sturdy ego) feel “deeply, deeply demoralized”—to the point where Sullivan believes that only the “solvent” of Barack Obama can properly remove the “Bush stain” and allow Americans to “recognize themselves” again.

This is the Not in Our Name syndrome. It is a kind of delusion.

It assumes, first, that there is a stain on America rather than on America’s  bloodthirsty, savage, barbaric, ghoulish, soul-crushing enemies—the ones who butchered Daniel Pearl in early 2002, for example, for the crime of being an American, a journalist, and a Jew.

It assumes, second, that this “stain” on America appeared with George W. Bush and will magically disappear when the pleasingly mild multiculti symbol Barack Hussein Obama is the occupant of the White House.

The problem here is not Obama. The problem is his fans.

They believe in magic. They believe that by electing him they will have done their bit to make America more lovable and that they’ll then be free to continue being as selfish and greedy and narcissistic and oblivious to politics, policy, and national security as ever.

Mismanaging impressions is a bad idea:

Russia warned Iran on Wednesday that its development of rockets and continued uranium enrichment was creating the impression Tehran was intentionally ignoring the concerns of the international community.

“We do not approve of Iran’s actions in constantly demonstrating its intentions to develop its rocket sector and continue enriching uranium,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told Russian news agencies. …

I think it is advisable to refrain from steps, and especially from statements, that merely heat up the atmosphere and create the impression that Iran really has made up its mind to ignore the international community, the United Nations Security Council and the IAEA,” he said.

Interesting development. I wonder what’s going on. I suppose it’s hard being Iran’s only friend …