Please Eat Danish

Americans, who love their Danish with their morning coffee, must buy more Danish.

A periodical in Denmark published some satirical cartoons, that some Islamic extremists took umbrage with. OK.

But, now, that extremism has spread throughout the Middle East, from periodicals to governments to the “street,” demonstrating that such extremism is a pandemic there.

The Brussels Journal offers a comprehensive roundup (with many links):

This morning armed Palestinians stormed the European Union office in Gaza City, threatening Danes and Norwegians and demanding that they leave…. Yesterday the Danish national flag was burned in the West Bank in protest against the publication of 12 cartoons of Muhammad (see them all here, halfway the article) in the Danish daily Jyllands-Posten last September. Depicting the prophet is blasphemy according to Islam….

Governments of a number of Muslim countries in the Middle East, such as Jordan and Syria, have contacted Danish ambassadors and condemned the cartoons. Last week the Jordanian parliament called for the punishment of the Danish cartoonists. On Saturday the Foreign Minister of Iran, Manouchehr Mottaki, wrote to his colleagues in Denmark and Norway protesting the „ridiculous and repulsive insult“ which he says the cartoons embody. Last week Saudi Arabia called back its ambassador to Denmark for consultation. Yesterday Libya decided to close its embassy in Copenhagen in protest against the cartoons and the lack of „responsible actions“ by the Danish government. Libya also said it would be taking “economic measures” against Denmark, but did not say what they would be….

Several Muslim governments have encouraged their people to boycott Danish products in protest against the cartoons. Disinformation about the affair and about Denmark’s role is being distributed in many Muslim countries, for example through e-mails and sms messages which claim that Jyllands-Posten is a government owned newspaper and that the Danish government was behind the publication of the cartoons. Danish embassies in Arab countries have felt compelled to correct these lies. [There is also disinformation in the Western mainstream media that has finally picked up the story.]

At a press conference in Jeddah on Saturday the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) lambasted the Danish government „over its lack of action or apology“ for the Muhammad cartoons. “The Danish authorities have, by providing protection to the newspaper and failure to censor it in unequivocal terms, served neither the cause of freedom of expression nor advanced the goals of multiculturalism, domestically or internationally. The Danish authorities should have categorically condemned the cartoons,” said Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, Secretary-general of the OIC…. In addition the OIC and the Arab League have announced their intention to appeal to the United Nations’ General Assembly to issue a resolution “prohibiting attacks on religion.” Such a resolution would among other things make it possible to resort to economic sanctions against countries that contravene it.

In typical European fashion, the EU sticks its head in the sand.

Both José Manuel Barroso, the president of the EU Commission, and the Austrian chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel, who currently holds the EU precidency, appear to be avoiding discussions on the cartoon affair.

However, Danes, as during World War II, are not easily intimidated:

In a new poll published in Denmark last week 79% of Danes say the Danish government should not apologize for the cartoons while 18% say it should. 62% say Jyllands-Posten should not apologize, but 31% say it should. 58% say the newspaper had every right to publish the cartoons, but also said they understood Muslims were angry.

Americans should stand with the Danes. Judith Klinghoffer has issued an appeal to “Buy Danish,” listing some wonderful Danish products:

Danish butter cookies
Danish Havarti cheese
Carlsberg and Tuborg Beers.
Arla owns White Clover Dairy, a Wisconsin company so buy that brand. It comes under White Clover and Holland Farm.
Danish Crown hams ( DAK (sold at Sam clubs)... baby back ribs, because they come from Denmark.
You shop online at The Danish Foodshop and Danish Deli Foods.
You can also buy gorgious Danish porcelain and LEGO for the kids.
Gevalia coffee

The Middle East has nothing to export, aside from oil -- that we in the West must accelerate escape from via alternative energy sources.

Let them pound sand.

UPDATE: With the combined fecklessness of the EU and Bill Clinton, after 4-months of standing up for a free press, the Danish newspaper has issued an “apology” to put the matter behind it. Now, watch all the other newspapers in Europe receive intensified pressure from the Arab states to avoid offending them by any honest reporting.

Judith Apter Klinghoffer
CLINTON AGAINST FREE SPEECH IN DENMARK AS IN CHINA
I came back from teaching only to discover that the former president, who had nothing to say about Yahoo helping China to put a subscriber in jail for being a whistle blower, has plenty to say about a Danish paper publishing offensive cartoons. Clearly he knows who is paying for his new lifestyle. In any case, a man like Clinton will never stand up to dangerous entities like China or Saudi Arabia when he can pick on safe democratic Denmark.
I was going to write shame on him but I know too well the man does not know the meaning of the word.

Danish paper apologizes for Muhammad caricatures
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
COPENHAGEN, Denmark

A Danish newspaper on Monday issued an apology to the world's Muslims for publishing caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad that sparked a furor in the Islamic world.
The drawings "were not in violation of Danish law but have undoubtedly offended many Muslims, which we would like to apologize for," the Jyllands-Posten's editor-in-chief Carsten Juste said in a statement posted on the paper's Web site.