Omar, from Iraq The Model, on the Danish Mohammed Cartoons:
You know that those cartoons were published for the 1st time months ago and we here in the Middle East have tonnes of jokes about Allah, the prophets and the angels that are way more offensive, funny and obscene than those poorly-made cartoons, yet no one ever got shot for telling one of those jokes or at least we had never seen rallies and protests against those infidel joke-tellers.
What I want to say is that I think the reactions were planned to be exaggerated this time by some Middle Eastern regimes and are not mere public reaction.
And I think Syria and Iran have the motives to trigger such reactions in order to get away from the pressures applied by the international community on those regimes.
However, I cannot claim that Muslim community is innocent for there have been outrageous reactions outside the range of Syria's or Iran's influence but again, these protests and threats are more political than religious in nature.
One last thing, even if the entire EU apologizes it won't change a thing; fanatics in our countries here had always considered the west their infidel arrogant crusader enemy and no apology no matter how big or sincere can change that.
The Astute Blogger has been saying for quite awhile now, that the Muslim reaction to the Jyllands-Posten cartoons was Syria and Iran's way of deflecting attention from their problems.
5 comments:
Yes, that's what Martin Kramer, a scholar on the Middle East and student of Bernard Lewis, was saying.
There is no doubt that Islamists are being manipulative to see if they can get concessions. It isn't all piety but Islam lays the groundwork for such displays.
It's true but don't forget that, even some Middle East regimes are interested in the unrest, the muslim streetman is deeply rooted in this case. Or else it could not have been so huge.
Look at this Google Maps mashup ot the riots spreading
sorry, the mashup link was:
http://www.lastingnews.com/maps/cartoons_riots.html
Oops, Jason. Did you already post on this subject today? If so, I am sorry. I have been so busy, I haven't really read through all the IBA posts today.
No, it's good to see several people coming to the same conclusion. And you've expanded on the theme.
It's also a good sign that we've covering every angle.
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