All this really has very little to do with pictures of Muhammed in my oppinion. When the drawings were put in the paper it gave some of the muslims in Denmark something real and fairly simple to object to. Over the years political debates about immigrants and fugitives - especially muslims - is getting more heated and the tone is getting more disrespectful, rude and in some cases bordering on racist. Protesting about something as real and fathomable as these drawings gives vent to frustrations that are otherwise difficult to bring up. This has blown WAY out of proportion especially after (as far as I know) danish imams and muslims started spreading rumors and lies in their home countries - such as the book burning that never happened.

I think the fact that both the Danish, Swedish and Norwegian embassy was burned in Syria, and that the names of the countries are constantly mixed up in both demontrations and the media shows that those protesting and causing riots are troubled and frustrated by something other than drawings. This - along with the general problem of placing blame - is what makes this a really difficult issue. It seems many of these protesters are actually in opposition to their own governments and probably using this issue - again - to vent frustations about something they cannot otherwise deal with. This means that not only will the real issues never get the attention they need, companies in my country will also suffer from it financially. Add to this our already growing reputation as a small, intollerant and even racist country. Sorry about the rant but I do hope it made sense.