Posted on 03/05/2006 8:12:29 AM PST by Dark Skies
Why did it take until January for Muslim protests to erupt in violence, after the initial non-violent reaction to the publication of the Prophet Mohammed cartoons in Denmark on September 30, 2005? The answer lies within the enigmatic and schizophrenic Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. By designating themselves Custodian of Islam's holy shrines, Mecca and Medina, the Saudi royal family and its uncompromising Wahhabi-Salafist religious partners have declared to the Muslim world that they are the true defenders of Islam and its Prophet.
The issue of the cartoons provided the Saudi royal family with an unprecedented opportunity to reinforce their Muslim leadership role and warn the West of Saudi willingness and ability to mobilize Muslims – violently if necessary - against the "enemies of Islam." Knowing that Muslims will rise against anyone who defames their Prophet or religion, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia called an urgent summit meeting of the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) in Mecca on December 7, 2005, ostensibly to discuss religious extremism and the image of Islam, with the leaders of the world's 57 Muslim nations.
Playing its hand cleverly and stealthily, the Saudis used the Mecca conference to spark violent reactions to the four-month-old cartoons and eclipse other significant events the Saudis wanted to cover up (see Hassan M. Fattah's report in the New York Times, "At Mecca Meeting, Cartoon Outrage Crystallized," February 9, 2006). "It was no big deal [the cartoons] until the Islamic Conference, when the OIC took a stance against it," said Muhammad el-Sayed Said, deputy director of the Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies in Cairo. Instead of condemning violence, the closing OIC communiqué tersely condemned "using freedom of expression as a pretext to defame religions." And on January 26, 2006 the Saudis were the first to recall their ambassador from Denmark to protest the cartoons, while radical Wahhabi-Salafist clerics back home called on their Muslim followers to boycott Danish products. These moves came four days before the State of the Union Address in Washington, where President Bush again called for democratization and political openness in the Middle East, much to the chagrin and discomfort of the autocratic Saudi ruling family.
Given Saudi influence with the Muslim faithful worldwide, the royal family failed to exercise restraint in the cartoon controversy and placed its own narrow self-interest before peace, stability, respect for law, and sanctity of life. The Saudis again demonstrated that it would risk plunging the world into religious war if its domination or survival is perceivably threatened. The Saudi decision to initiate a protest against Denmark and the cartoons was based on well-calculated principles of royal family self-preservation and helped divert world attention from the Hamas Palestinian election victory, uncomfortable Kuwaiti succession issues, and Abdullah's extraordinary security-for-oil agreements with China. The strategic significance of King Abdullah's recent trip to China was overshadowed in the press by the cartoon fiasco, but his trip clearly marked a strategic effort by the Saudi government to shift alliances from the West to Asian countries, especially China, for trade, protection, and support for the Saudi royal family against possible future threats to its repressive regime.
The Saudi royal family could have used the Mecca conference to bring the world's Muslim leaders together in the cause of peace and stability. Instead, King Abdullah chose to play a devious, behind-the-scenes role to bolster Saudi leadership in the Muslim world and reinforce the royal family's survival by using explosive religious issues, energy blackmail and billions in oil money. As many Western politicians and news media organizations cringe in fear over the Danish cartoons, many questions remain unanswered:
What price must the world ultimately pay for the self-serving efforts of the Saudi royal family?
Where does their unrestrained behavior in promoting violence leave the oppressed Saudi people?
What are the implications for Middle East peace and global economic stability?
Finally, what side in the war against radical, militant Islamism is Saudi Arabia really on?
It's not that complicated to understand. Isn't it it obvious that, like the Borg hive, all those countries are interconnected?
best observation I have seen so far today 9:22
where is the democracy at the UN? a little hypocritical. does the US get another 49?
Well stated. Mindless, unquestioning following of a single book that less than 50% of the vermin can even read.
September 30, 2005: Danish newspaper 'Jyllands Posten' publishes anti-Islamic caricatures.
October 19-20: The ambassadors of 11 Arab countries in Denmark request a meeting with the prime minister of that country, Anders Fog Rasmussen. He refuses.
December 7th: The first anti-Danish demonstration is held in Pakistan. December 19th: Former Danish envoys in Moslem countries criticize the position of Rasmussen's government.
January 1st, 2006: The Prime Minister of Denmark apologizes to Danish Moslems during his New Year's address.
January 10th: Norwegian publication 'Magazinet' reprints the caricature.
January 26th: Saudi Arabia recalls its ambassador from Denmark.
January 28th: The Kuwaiti foreign ministry and other Arab countries recall their ambassadors from Denmark. Libya recalls its ambassador from Copenhagen.
January 30th: Gunmen break into the offices of the European Union in Gaza and demand apologies.
January 31st: 'Jyllands Posten' apologizes. The Prime Minister of Denmark officially rejects apologies from Moslem countries.
February 1st: A number of newspapers in France, Germany, Italy, and Spain publish the caricatures. The owner of 'France Soir' fires editor in chief Jacques LeFrana. Leader of the Chechen rebels (terrorists) Shamil Basayev criticizes the caricatures.
February 2nd: A German citizen, who was mistaken for a Frenchman or a Dane, is taken hostage on the West Bank. The editor of the Jordanian newspaper 'Al -Shihan', which reprinted a number of caricatures of the prophet, is fired.
February 3rd: Anti-Danish protests break out for the first time in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta. In many Arab countries demonstrations take the form of anti-European protests. In Iran ten thousand demonstrate. In Jordan the editors of the newspapers 'Al -Shihan' and 'Al -Mehwar', who reprinted caricatures of the prophet, are arrested.
February 4th: Palestinian protestors raid and burn a German cultural center in the Gaza strip. In Denmark there are street fights between Moslems and neo-Nazis.
February 5th: The Danish embassy in Beirut is destroyed.
February 6-7th: At least eight people are killed in battles between police and protesters in Afghanistan. In Lebanon one demonstrator dies from wounds obtained in the assault on the Danish embassy. In Somalia there is fighting and a teenager is killed. Iran breaks off all commercial contacts with Denmark. Many thousands protest in Niger.
February 8th: UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, EU Foreign Policy Coordinator Javier De Solana, and Islamic Conference head Ekmeletdin Ihsanoglu sign a joint declaration on the anti-Islamic caricatures with a call to solve the crisis peacefully. George Bush expresses support for Denmark in a telephone conversation with Prime Minister Rasmussen.
February 8th, 2006
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Article on the theme
Caricature war: opinion
The global conflict, which ignited because of images of the prophet Mohammed in European newspapers, is a blasphemy for the Moslems and shows no sign of abating. Was it possible to avoid this explosion of anger and violence? Orientalists, human rights and religious activists give their opinions.
http://grani.ru/Politics/World/Europe/m.101679.html
February 7th, 2006
Copyright © 2005 grani.ru
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Just for information purposes.
This obviously doesn't include the Nigerian murders of Christians by Muslims....then the retalitation by Christians.
The KSA is too small to have much impact on much in the world, people-wise. Besides, other Muslims nations, Arab (25%) and non-Arab (75%), don't have a great fondness for the Saudis. The Saudis were some of God's poorest, most illiterate Bedus for far too long. They never did get no respect from their fellow Muslims. Still don't inspite of their wealth.
You always, always follow the money.
I do not admire the Saudi Royal Family, but let us never forget that the same people who are gunning for us are also gunning for them. Try to imagine a world in which Iran/al-Qaeda/Taliban-type terrorists overthrow the Saudi Royals and you will begin to see what such a world would look like. I think we need to work with the Saudis in constructive ways to bring about much needed reforms, but without going too far too fast (as per Aristotle's thesis on manageable change). Moreover, while there are many areas where the Saudis deserve much criticism, I am also convinved that our mutual enemies are doing everything in their power to drive a wedge between the USA and Saudi Arabia by exploiting the natural contradictions between our two countries. No doubt this is sometimes done by drawing attention to real divisions, but I am also convinced that our mutual enemies are using disinformation and deception to fan the flames of mutual distrust whenever and wherever possible.
Well considering these Saudi b@stards were the ones promoting their whacked Wahbi religion as well as financing it, they are getting their just desserts!
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