East-West cartoon dispute smolders once again

 Just a year ago, a caricature of Muhammad in a Danish newspaper provoked angry reactions in the Muslim world. Now a new edition of the dispute is threatening: the Swedish newspaper Nerikes Allehanda published a drawing showing the Prophet's head on a dog's body. At present, the uproar is still limited to diplomatic circles. Sweden's representatives in Pakistan and Iran have already been summoned to the respective foreign ministries. The diplomat in Islamabad has been informed that the publication of the cartoon has offended the religious sensibilities of Muslims. As reported by SDA, the diplomat tried to calm the waters: "Unfortunately, there is a growing tendency among some Europeans to mix freedom of expression with blunt and well-considered insults to the world's 1.3 billion Muslims."
His words do not seem to have missed their mark: The Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) will now discuss future action "against the repetition of such provocative publications". The OIC had previously demanded apologies and punishments for the artists and publishers, but instead the organization called on Muslims to exercise restraint and remain calm.