Latest on the Muhammed cartoons

I thought I'd take a look around on the latest happenings all around the world on the Muhammed cartoon fiasco. First, through Lucianne:

NEWS Scotsman.com: Muslim hard-liners "ready to die". Report from Indonesia says that 175 students from an Islamic boarding school are ready to die to defend the honor of their prophet and all his wives, including the 9 year-old. Also, 3000 protesters outside the Danish embassy chanted the usual threats, or are they entreaties? "Long live Islam. Destroy Denmark. Destroy Israel. Destroy George Bush. Destroy America." That last bit is probably my fault.

Islamic Republic News Agency: Major cleric calls on cartoon protesters not to attack embassies. Hey, that sounds promising. Uh-oh, wait a minute.

Slogans, demonstrations and condemnation of the shameful measure of the western media are all sacred; but they (westerners) like their embassies set ablaze so that they will be able to outcry their innocence worldwide.... When gasoline is kept in the cellar of an embassy, this means that they do like their embassies set ablaze.

We Westerners are pretty smart, no? Reverse psychology at work. Make them think we really want our embassies torched and they'll immediately stop. Now, if we can only convince them that we like our citizens kidnapped and beheaded, blown to bits in the streets and we really, really want to see the Jews wiped off the face of the earth, all our troubles should be over, no?

The Weekend Australian: says that about 200 Venezuelan Muslims marched to the Danish embassy in Caracas and burned two flags. They burned a Danish flag and guess what was the other one? My bad, again, I s'pose.

The Toronto Star: Reports that a dimwit professor of philosophy at Saint Mary's University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, pinned the Muhammed cartoons to his office door " . . . merely trying to promote a reasoned debate . . ." when he found himself surrounded by 100 angry Muslims. What a twit. Reasoned debate with these people? From what planet did professor Peter March come?

Kudos, however, to Zain Esseghaier, a spokesperson for the Muslim community on Prince Edward Island.

To see people insult him (Muhammed) is an insult to Muslims and to Islam.

Our faith does not teach us to react in such a way to people who insult us. To the contrary, the reaction should be calm, composed and dignified and that is how we intend to conduct ourselves here.

News-Gazette.com from Illinois: Reports that the students who run The Daily Illinii, the student newspaper at the University of Illinois, have defended their printing of the cartoons. However, spokesman Chuck Prochaska demonstrated his cluelessness when he said,

Everyone knew there were catoons and that they were allegedly offensive, but they were very difficult to find (on the Internet) if you don't speak Danish.

Jeez! And this guy is representative of our youth in higher education, today? I don't speak Danish and it took me maybe 1 minute or less to find the cartoons on the internet and that was, like Monday or Tuesday.

The local Muslim imam didn't take Prochaska too seriously, either. Said Imam Mujahid Al-fayadh,

It's not a big deal. They're just repeating the whole story, trying to be famous by reprinting this junk.

He said that local Muslims were only "mildly disappointed by the action."

Aljazeera gleefully reports that the editor of the Norwegian Christian newspaper Magazinet has apologized to Muslims for reprinting the cartoons on January 10. Said editor Vebjoern Selbekk,

I address myself personally to the Muslim community to say that I am sorry that your religious feelings have been hurt.

It was never our intent to hurt anyone.

I, as editor, did not fully understand how hurtful the publication of the facsimile was. I would like to apologise for that today.

The more than 20 death threats he has received may have influenced his thinking just a touch.

Moving along to see what the Freepers have posted:

Dawn.com - apparently another "It's eveybody's fault except ours" website: has an article by a Ayaz Amir who says that America should be the target because the American media isn't allowed to write anything bad about Israel.

You won’t find much of it in the American media when it comes to Israel. Try pointing out Israeli atrocities in the occupied Palestinian territories and you’ll attract strange glances and be hounded or ostracized if you are in the media or the exalted world of academe.

He's obvioulsy never visited any California state university where he'd be greeted as the second coming of Marx.

WRAL.com, Raleigh-Durham, Fayetteville, NC: N.C. College Paper Publishes Cartoon Depicting Muhammad. says that teh Daily Tar Heel, campus newspaper at the University of North Carolina, received a letter from the Mulsim Students Association after the Daily Tar Heel published the cartoons. The letter said,

The intention of bigotry was clear. One must question the DTH's ethics in advancing a widely protested issue to cause a riot of their own. The MSA not only found this cartoon derogatory but is also shocked at the editor's allowance of its publication . . . one that incites hate in the current political and social context.

The "current political and social context," eh? That would be torching embassies, blowing up fellow Muslims, murdering helpless women and children, hanging rape victims by the neck until dead. Did they mean that political and social context?

Zaman on line - a Turkish publication - Putin: Denmark Should Apologize. Vlad "The Self-impaled" Putin equates the Muhammed cartoons with child pornographt:

When we denounce child porn, we do not hide behind freedom of press as an excuse for it.

Whatever, Vladdy.

And from Google:

KHON in Hawaii has a nice rundown on protests and violence around the world:
Islamabad, Pakistan - tens of thousands marching and burning;
Kenya - police shot and wounded one person as they sought to keep hundreds of demonstrators from marching to the residence of Denmark's ambassador;
Egypt - police hit demonstrators with water cannons and tear gas;
Jerusalem, Israel - 2000 women, young boys and older men marched around the Dome of the Rock shrine on the compound, chanting "Bin Laden, strike again." (Israel had banned all men under the age of 45 from attending Friday prayers);
New Delhi and Kashmir, India - thousands kicked, spat on and burned danish flags and effigies;
Bangladesh - 5000 marched, burned Danish flags and shouted, "Death to those who degrade our beloved prophet!" (I think they were referring to Muhammed.);
Australia - Prime Minister John Howard said he considered the violent reactions to the cartoons

"are completely disproportionate to the offense that could possibly have been given."

Capital FM Kenya reports that the demonstrator who was shot has died.

TAGS: Muhammed Cartoons