Tuesday, April 04, 2006

New York Times, What Kind Of Crack About Denmark Is That?

Wednesday's New York Times has an article entitled: Possible Crack in the Boycott of Danish Goods:
A group of prominent Muslim scholars has called for ending a boycott on a Danish food products company over the publication in Denmark of derogatory cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad.
Great news!
Moderate Arabs are finally showing some muscle!
Denmark is finally rewarded for taking a stand and sticking to it!

Baloney!!!
In a statement issued over the weekend, the International Conference for the Support of the Final Prophet, made up of influential Muslim scholars including Yusuf alQaradawi of Egypt and Salman alAwda, a Saudi cleric, advised that the company, Arla Foods, "should be withdrawn from the boycott on Denmark" in recognition of the company's efforts at reaching out to the Muslim world.
No, this is not really particularly great news.
This has nothing to do with Moderate Arabs gaining influence.
A Danish company is being rewarded for caving in.

This is not a crack in the boycott, New York Times. It is a disagreement over whether the Danish have been humiliated enough.

"We are waiting for the results, but we still have not seen a solution to the problem," said a product manager at the Sharjah Cooperative Society, a retailer in the emirate of Sharjah, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly.

"The boycott is not in our hands or in the hands of the government," he said. "It's in the hands of the people, and ultimately the consumer must decide."

Oh, really?
And when did Sharjah, or any of the other Arab dictatorships, become a democracy?

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