Read these two columns

Two op-ed columns this morning get the Uncommon Sense stamp of approval:

Jeff Jacoby of the Boston Globe on Muslim violence.

The money quote:

This time it was a 14th-century quote from a Byzantine ruler that set off -- or rather, was exploited by Islamist firebrands to ignite -- the international demonstrations, death threats, and violence. Earlier this year it was cartoons about Mohammed in a Danish newspaper. Last year it was a Newsweek report, later debunked, that a Koran had been descecrated by a US interrogator in Guantanamo. Before that it was Jerry Falwell's comment on ``60 Minutes" that Mohammed was a ``terrorist." Back in 1989 it was the publication of Salman Rushdie's satirical novel, ``The Satanic Verses."

In every case, the pretext for the Muslim rage was the claim that Islam had been insulted. Freedom of speech was irrelevant: While the rioters and those inciting them routinely insult Christianity, Judaism, and other religions, they demand that no one be allowed to denigrate Islam or its prophet. It is a staggering double standard, and too many in the West seem willing to go along with it. Witness the editorials in US newspapers this week scolding the pope for his speech. Recall the State Department's condemnation of the Danish cartoons last winter.

Of course nobody's faith should be gratuitously affronted. But the real insult to Islam is not a line from a papal speech or a cartoon about Mohammed. It is the violence, terror, and bloodshed that Islamist fanatics unleash in the name of their religion -- and the unwillingness of most of the world's Muslims to say or do anything to stop them.

And Paul Greenberg of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette on how Havana reminds him of Soviet-era Leningrad.

The money quote:

To quote Oswaldo Paya: “The government might as well post a sign: ‘Citizens of Havana, this is not your city. It is a playground for foreigners. You are merely background. ... Your money is worthless. Press your face against the glass and watch the outsiders who, by despotic decree, are your superiors.’ ”

Sr./Comrade Paya even tells the same bitter joke I first heard in Moscow: A little boy, asked what he wants to be when he grows up – a policeman, a fireman, a doctor, a soldier? – replies: “A foreigner!”

To think, this is the capital of what was once the Pearl of the Antilles – a center of commerce and education. There was a time when Havana was a magnet for refugees from Europe’s tyrannies; now its own people flee on flimsy rafts.

One day, because of voices like Oswaldo Paya’s, Cuba will be free. That day may come sooner than anyone dares hope. Because of voices like Andrei Sakharov’s, Leningrad is St. Petersburg again. And one day Havana will be Havana again, and Cuba Libre will be more than the name of an old-fashioned cocktail.

I’ll drink to that.