It is a chilling sign when cartoonists, illustrators, artists are attacked by the legal system because of incorrect; thinking. This is a canary in the coal mine matter. An oppressive government must have the visual arts reigned in-- to control thought. Funny how control of the arts is a very left wing obsession (communism, socialism, nazism).

I do not read MO* , nor do I share their opinions. However, I'm hard put to say the cover art is offensive, at least by today's standards. Witness samples of hateful cartoons originating from France. There is much tasteless, insulting "art" and "design" in this world, often paid for by tax payers. Why do they attack this poor illustrator?

It also appears that the law urgently needs updating to include visual communication, and digital technology (web, pdf, etc.). What is odd here is that the cover art is purely an illustration. This is clearly not photo editorial or "Photoshop" trickery.

Frank, I get your point about 2nd World War & Cold war, though the word probably would be 'overrun' rather than 'wither'. On the other hand, we could have done without interference in 1st World War, where in 1917 we were close to stopping the war by ourselves. Which, in turn, would have prevented communist takeover in Russia and Versailles.

My point about US democracy, though, is a different one. I watch the presidential campaign and say to myself: "This isn't working too well." Incompetent candidates get to the top, public involvment (at the federal level) is not working, and US foreign policy is making way too many mistakes (Balkans is one).

We are quite a few here, including the fine people at Brussels Journal, who are putting all possible energy into fixing the situation here. For much too long we've believed that the European Union would do that, but that obviously ain't working either - it promises the sky, consumes a lot, delivers little.

We have work at hand...

You state that "U.S. democracy would wither and die without connection to its European roots."  But the Second World War and the Cold War proved the opposite:  that European democracy would die without its ties to the United States.  Naturally, you want to convince yourself that the inverse is also true -- because you want America to believe she gains sometime vital by protecting you -- but you do not cite any evidence to support the assertion that American democracy would wither and die if the military ties to Europe were cut, which is my point about NATO.

Frank, how can it be a 'pretense' that we share values?

I know the tendency for American isolationism, and I sincerely do not like it. Some Americans believe Europeans are largely evil semi-fascists, some believe we are our stupid governments. None of these really hold true.

Just as Americans are not as incompetent as their president, neither are Europeans as weak as their EU-stupified leaders. There's upheaval in the civil society here, we're an unruly bunch happily insulting the 'religious sentiments' of those who believe religion can be violent and vengeful.

Further, I believe US democracy would wither and die without connection to its European roots.

Frank Lee said: "One of the reasons often given for extending the life of the NATO alliance is that the NATO members share the same set of values."

I think the main reason why the USA and Frank Lee are interested in Europe is because they have the same ancestors. By the way, who in the world is closer to American values than Europe?

If Americans are only interested in "values", and if you think that Islam is bad, but Arabs are swell, then you should definitely stay in Iraq and pursue Bush's brilliant policy and enjoy your friendship with the Iraqis.

"But clearly Americans and Europeans have very different values when it comes to freedom of expression,"

If there was freedom of expression in the American media, they would keep explaining why the displacement of Americans is a wrong policy, and mass immigration would stop immediately. In fact, there would never have been mass immigration in the first place. The truth is that Americans have been brainwashed, just as the Europeans.

"and the growing influence of Muslim immigrants in Europe will only widen the gap."

I agree that Muslim immigrants to Europe and Mexican immigrants to the USA will probably not be interested in each other.

"It's not just that the European nations prosecute their authors and cartoonists; it's also that the vast majority of the European electorate would support such measures, while the vast majority of the American electorate would oppose."

Maybe you have a point here. But almost no one in Europe would support the decision taken in this particular case.

Hasn't this judge heard about intent or spirit of the law? Or doens't he understand that drawings also express ideas?

Most broken legal system after Albania... 

This kind or reasoning could have come straight out of Soviet communist courts playbook. And hey, what about "constitution - living instrument" and the Europeam Convention of of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms..?

One of the reasons often given for extending the life of the NATO alliance is that the NATO members share the same set of values.  But clearly Americans and Europeans have very different values when it comes to freedom of expression, and the growing influence of Muslim immigrants in Europe will only widen the gap.  It's not just that the European nations prosecute their authors and cartoonists; it's also that the vast majority of the European electorate would support such measures, while the vast majority of the American electorate would oppose.  It is surely time to stop pretending that we share values.