In the span of two days, protestors have burned the Danish and Norwegian embassies in Damascus, and the Danish embassy in Beruit. Kidnapping and burning embassasies over a
cartoon? How incredibly fucking stupid.
Other developments:
- Hundreds of people rally in Afghanistan in protest at the cartoons
- Jordanian authorities arrest two tabloid editors for printing the cartoons
- Iran recalls its ambassador to Denmark
- An Iraqi militant group in the insurgent stronghold of Ramadi calls for attacks on Danish and non-Muslim targets in Iraq
- Britain's main opposition Conservative Party says slogans by anti-Danish protesters in London amount to incitement to murder
While only 12 cartoons were intially published, there are fakes circulating which are incredibily inflammatory. Extremists have taken advantage of the situation and have fueled the flames with fake cartoons and dangerous rhetoric. But I don't care how damn offensive you find a cartoon, violence is unacceptable. Period.
My question: Where the hell is Karen Hughes, Under Secretary of Public Diplomacy for the Middle East? Shouldn't she be, I don't know, working what little diplomatic mojo she has to try and quell this chaos?