Van Gogh Update
Reactions to the murder of Theo van Gogh continue to pour in. There’s the uninspired, like this Newsweek piece, which rehashes the idea of the clash of civilizations. There’s the baffling, like news that Sergej Moleveld, the chairman of the Dutch right-wing party LPF, faked threat letters suggesting he would be attacked by Islamists. And of course there’s the blame game, like the declarations by Dutch Commissioner Frits Bolkestein that the country of Morocco is somehow responsible for the murder. The Moroccan government was quick to point out that Mohammed B., the alleged murderer, was born and bred in the Netherlands. B.’s current situation–a man stuck between two countries, neither of which wants him–is unfortunately the one aspect that isn’t being addressed in all these articles.