TS says the tensions between Islam and the West are being played out in Denmark’s political system: we’re not seeing violence, so it’s a political and foreign policy phenomenon. (How is it that Denmark has become such a flashpoint for tensions between Islam and the West?) There is one party with a strongly Islam-ophobic agenda with allies to the central government, this is the Danish People’s Party (DPP). They put out ads showing women wearing the religious burka suggesting that is what Danish judges would look like if headscarves were not banned. (And statements from Al Qaeda can cause even more damage, such as the Danish Embassy in Pakistan being attacked. Do Danes see themselves as having to pay a price for their relations with Islam?) Yes, I think that is a debate we’re having now. the connection for that terrorist attack is clear. (What element of this has to do for Denmark allying itself with Washington in Iraq and Afghanistan?) Those connections add to that. We still have a symbolic presence in Afghanistan.
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