continue to see the Muslims of Europe as a new proletariat." He explained that his "behavior during the 'cartoon crisis'… was very much informed by my experience with Soviet Union because I saw the same kind of behavior both inside the Soviet Union and those dealing with the Soviet Union in the West." In a February 2008 interview with Der Spiegel, Rose said that "on a global level people who are in favor of free speech have to unite in order to get rid of all kinds of laws around the world that limit the right to free speech – blasphemy laws, laws protecting dictators, laws which are being used to silence people who are critical." He added that Denmark's "debate about integration and about fundamental values in our democracy is far more fact-based than it used to be. The cartoons didn't create a new reality, but they revealed a reality. That reality was already there, but not everybody was willing to see it. Now this reality has become clear and we can discuss the real problems based on facts instead of some abstract thinking." Plot against Westergaard and afterward In February 2008, in response to a plot to kill Kurt Westergaard, 17 Danish newspapers reprinted his cartoon of Muhammed with the bomb in his turban. "My colleagues at Jyllands-Posten and I understand that the cartoon may be offensive to some people," wrote Rose in the Wall Street Journal, "but sometimes the truth can be very offensive." He quoted George Orwell: "If liberty means anything, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear." He also stated that "the plot to kill Mr. Westergaard is…part of a broader trend that risks undermining free speech in Europe and around the world." There is "a global battle for the right to free speech," he maintained, and although legal systems differ, "the justifications for censorship and self-censorship are similar in different parts of the world: Religious feelings and taboos need to be treated with a kind of sensibility and respect that other feelings and ideas cannot command." Rose rejected this special treatment, noting that during the Cold War "people like Vaclav Havel, Lech Walesa, Andrei Sakharov" had insisted that "It is not cultures, religions or political systems that enjoy rights. Human beings enjoy rights, and certain principles like the ones embedded in the U.N. Declaration of Human Rights