In Czechoslovakia under communism it was common to see signs reading "Workers of the world, unite" in the windows of fruit and vegetable stores. Vaclav Havel, in his book, "Living In Truth," discerned the significance of those signs.

As elaborated by Stanley Hauerwas, professor of Theological Ethics at Duke School of Divinity, Mr. Havel knew the shopkeeper does not believe the sign. He puts it up because it was "delivered from the headquarters along with the onions." The grocer thinks nothing is at stake because he understands that no one really believes the slogan.

The real message, according to Mr. Havel, is "I'm behaving myself... I am obedient and therefore I have the right to be left in peace."

But Mr. Havel shrewdly points out that even a modest shopkeeper would be ashamed to put up a sign that literally read, "I am afraid and therefore unquestioningly obedient." He is, after all, a human being with some sense of dignity.

I would argue that this Czechoslovakian parable of the self-deceiving green grocer goes a long way to explaining the decision of most American news outlets not to republish the Danish cartoons currently stirring up so much of Islam.

This is Dennis “The Wizard” Turner’s rebuttal to my Celebrating Hamas of last week. My comments are at the end. ---JW

The core of Jack’s celebration is that now Europe and America could no longer delude themselves about the Palestinian’s intentions. Funding, diplomatic support, and pressure on Israel for further concessions would dry up.

Hamas’ victory was a week ago Wednesday (1/25). Already the international community’s initial comments are weakening. I will give pertinent extracts from a few articles published just six days later (1/31).

Just before Congress adjourned for Christmas break, the House voted to pass the Border Protection, Antiterrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act of 2005 (HR 4437) by a vote of 239 to 182. Introduced by James Sensenbrenner (R-WI), I am proud to be one of its co-sponsors.

Pro-illegal immigration forces are outraged. The Wall Street Journal, for example, in an editorial on December 29, is particularly incensed that the bill makes being in America illegally a crime. How unfair that something illegal should be a crime!

Now it is the Senate’s turn to vote on its version of HR 4437. We in the House hope that our Senatorial colleagues will have the courage to withstand the deluge of demagoguery coming their way, and support our efforts to preserve our national borders and economy.

President Nursultan Nazarbayev, the leader of Kazakhstan since 1989, won the country's Dec. 4 presidential election hands down. The Central Election Commission reported he got 91 percent of the votes. Gallup and International Republican Institute exit polling says he got only 83.2 percent. Either way, no Orange Revolution there.

To put the Kazakh elections in perspective, it is important to note there were no democratic procedures there during the Russian czarist or the Soviet times. Seen in this light, the Kazakh elections were among most open in Central Asia.

What makes Kazakhstan unique are its real economic achievements, fueled by high oil prices. Kazakhstan today is as one of the more positive available examples of post-Soviet market development, including Western access to oil and gas resources, which Russia increasingly rejects.

Parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan, an oil-rich former Soviet republic on the western shores of the Caspian Sea, are scheduled for this coming November 6.   

They have all the trappings of a James Bond movie. In fact, the Bond film, “The World is not Enough,” which centered on the struggle to control Caspian Sea oil, was shot in Azerbaijan’s capital, Baku, in 1999.   

But now it is life's turn to imitate art. Today's intrigue in Azerbaijan includes power struggles, a clash between geopolitical giants – America, Russia and Iran – an ethnic conflict with neighboring Armenia, and almost one million refugees. Add corruption, lots of oil and gas, and serve hot. What a perfect recipe for a first-rate thriller.

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's latest moves show he now clearly understands he has no option but to decisively settle the question of who governs California: the taxpaying middle and entrepreneurial classes, or their nominal servants in state and local government-employee unions.

The stakes in November are enormous for both sides. If voters reject his reform package, Mr. Schwarzenegger is weakened going into 2006, when he grapples again with the unions and the Democrat legislature over the chronic budget deficit while running for re-election.

On the other hand, voter approval of Mr. Schwarzenegger's reform package entails dire consequences for California’s Axis of Evil between the Democrats and public employee unions, because Propositions 75 and 77 pose a very real threat to their suzerainty over state government.

After two weeks of unrestrained violence across the country, France imposed curfews and a state-of-emergency rule on 24 of its provinces. The government certainly hopes that this wartime measure will quickly scale down the riots and it may well do that.

Yet history is more likely to look back on this not as the end of an irrational burst of urban violence, but as the first act in a protracted time of troubles for France and Europe that could ultimately lead to the demise of European civilization as we know it.

None of this is even remotely discernible in French political rhetoric or media coverage surrounding the violent events in the Moslem ghettoes. Yet, shying away from reality by France's ruling class does not change reality – and that stark reality is one of a civilized European nation sliding into barbarism.