Wednesday 15 December 2010
The first is that the attack was incompetent. The car bomb had similarities with previous failed attempted attacks in New York, Glasgow and London. And the individual found dead in the area had been carrying an explosive device, which would seem to suggest that this was the bomber himself.
But the incompetence of the execution allows no complacency. Although just two people were hurt (other than the presumed bomber), this could easily have been lethal. Six years after the Madrid train bombings, the threat of terror still haunts Europe's streets.
An email sent before the attempted attack suggests that it was motivated by Sweden's military involvement in Afghanistan and the fact that a Swedish cartoonist, Lars Viks, in 2007 drew a picture of the Prophet Mohamed in a local newspaper that offended many Muslims.
The Mohamed cartoons affair, which began in 2006 in Denmark, continues to have repercussions.
In January, a Somali man broke into the home of the Danish cartoonist Kurt Westergaard armed with a knife and an axe. In September an (unsuccessful) letter bomb was send to 'Jyllands-Posten', the Danish newspaper that published the original offending cartoons.
So how should democracies respond to this insidious threat, driven as much by religious offence as anger at Western military actions abroad? The answer is that we need to keep calm and defend liberal values. The solution is not censorship of magazines or newspapers.
It is not fiery speeches. It is mixing constant vigilance with an awareness that we all need to show moderation.
Soource: Independent