What? No Egyptian flags burned? No riots outside the Egyptian embassy?
Apparently if you are a Muslim newspaper, the prohibition about insulting the prophet by depicting him in a cartoon does not apply.
Opinion Journal has an excellent piece regarding who is behind the "spontaneous" protests surrounding the Danish cartoons.
According to the Op Journal editorial, Dictatorial regimes in the Middle East are using this episode to derail Democratic movements and pro-Western sentiments. Imagine, as they suggest, what kind of violent protests would be occurring in Iraq today if Saddam were still in power?
All this is true, but there is more to it on both a tactical and strategic level. And Mike's America, your sometimes humble opinionator, will weigh in on that subject in detail shortly.
Stay tuned!
Update: The West Surrenders to Radical Islam?
Joshua Trevino has some strong words for the spineless appeasing apologists in the West:
It is assuredly this same foe who, having accorded a hero’s burial to a murderer of the Bloody Seventh, having celebrated the slaughter of September 11th, and having called to power the masters of suicide bombers, now feels immensely outraged over the desecration of his Prophet. Know this: neither massacre of innocents, nor mauling of children, nor infamy dredged from the horrors of the Dark Ages repel their consciences — and still less do they spur a reexamination of their fundamental beliefs. But draw the beloved Prophet?
Kill.
The barbarians have won. Let us be forthright about this. In what should be a clear case of right and wrong — free expression good, death and violence against it bad — the great powers of the West have failed in their most elementary duties of conscience and self-preservation. There is no moral difference between appeasing the sensitivities of violent Islam, and appeasing the sensibilities of Germans circa 1933 who yearned for the return of the Volksdeutsche. The aping of the rhetoric of a just demand (for sensitivity!) does not signify the existence of that just demand (for submission!). There is no point of satiation at which the killers of 9/11, Theo van Gogh, Atocha, Fallujah, or the rest will be satisfied. There is no supine posture to forever preclude the “cartoon rage” of today. There is no appeasing gesture to deflect the blow. There is no demonstration of goodwill that will engender the same. There is only weakness — and strength.
We are not among the strong. We have chosen not to be.
“They have won. That is the sad fact.
”I guess that during the next generation no one in Denmark will draw the Prophet Mohammed.“
Certainly not. The ultimate fault is not the murderous masses’, but our own. That is the truth. And that is our shame.
If it Offends Radical Muslims: We'd Better Not Do It!
Joshua has a point. When you allow a violent minority to define appropriate behavior on their terms, where will it end?
Readers may recall that the Miss World contest had to pull their pageant out of Nigeria in 2002 because radical Muslims objected to any showcasing of women in a format that is not respectful to the laws of Islam. 105 people were killed by rampaging mobs, including one man burned alive.
And few need a reminder of the fatwa, in this case an order of death, issued against author Salman Rushdie for his book "The Satanic Verses" by Iran's spirtual leader, the now deceased Ayatollah Khomeini. This fatwa is now refered to as the "Rushdie Rules" which demand that all non-Muslims adhere to the laws of Islam, as dictated by the radicals, or face similar treatment.
It's time for the West and all moderate Muslims to choose. Either defend your freedom or be prepared to sacrifice it to those who will show no corresponding "sensitivity" to your beliefs or heritage, let alone your right to live.
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