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Muslim extremists flip out over Facebook photo

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A dozen Pakistani Muslim extremists in Lahore burned a Norwegian flag and chanted slogans after a Norwegian newspaper reprinted the famous Danish Mohammed cartoons and a Norwegian Member of Parliament changed his Facebook profile picture to the caricature of Mohammed with a bomb in his turban. 

Ulf Erik Knudsen, a fourth term member of Norway's Stortinget, said he posted the picture "in sympathy with one who is threatened by forces that want to restrict freedom of expression." This is a reference to artist Kurt Westergaard, who was the object of a New Years Day assassination attempt by a 28 year old Somali man affiliated with the al-Shabab movement. The picture originally ran in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten in September 2005. "We must ensure freedom of expression," Mr. Knudsen told the Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten. "It is threatened by certain sections of fundamentalist Islam, which is opposed by our Western values." 

Pakistan's National Assembly passed a resolution condemning Aftenposten for reprinting the anti-Mohammed cartoons, calling it "a blasphemous act meant to provoke the Muslim Ummah." Looks like it worked!

Pakistani extremists burn Norwegian flag

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About the Author

James S. Robbins

James S. Robbins, PhD, Senior Editorial Writer for Foreign Affairs, was formerly professor of international relations at the National Defense University, associate professor of international relations at the U.S. Marine Corps Command and Staff College and special assistant in the Office of the Secretary of Defense under Donald Rumsfeld. Dr. Robbins is author of the recently released "This Time We ...

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