Flap's Blog – FullosseousFlap's Dental Blog

Syrian demonstrators protest outside the burning Danish embassy in Damascus February 4, 2006. Hundreds of Syrian demonstrators set the Danish embassy on fire on Saturday to protest the printing by a Danish newspaper of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad, a Reuters witness said.

Reuters: Syrian protesters set Danish embassy ablaze over cartoon

Thousands of outraged Syrians protesting offensive caricatures of Islam’s prophet torch the Danish Embassy in Damascus on Saturday Feb. 4, 2006. Police fired tear gas and water cannons to disperse demonstrators who crowded outside the Norwegian Embassy after earlier setting fire to the Danish Embassy, about six kilometers (four miles) away

Furious Syrians set fire to the Danish embassy on Saturday as protests over cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad spread and oil giant Iran said it was reviewing trade ties with countries that have published such caricatures.

Chanting “God is Great,” thousands of protesters stormed the embassy, burned the Danish flag and replaced it with a flag reading “No God but Allah, Mohammad is His Prophet.” They set fires which badly damaged the building before being put out.

No one was hurt as the embassy was closed at the time.

Denmark is at the eye of the storm as the cartoons that Muslims demonstrators find offensive, one of the Prophet with a turban resembling a bomb, first appeared in a Danish daily.

In another twist, Iran said it had formed a committee to review trade ties with countries that published cartoons that are deemed to insult the Prophet.

“A committee has been formed to review trade ties,” a spokesman for the presidential office said.

From Gaza to Lahore, demonstrators rallied on Saturday to condemn the cartoons in what has developed into a face-off between press freedom and religious respect.

For many Muslims depicting the Prophet Mohammad is forbidden and European leaders have called for calm, expressing deep concern about the furor that has erupted over the last days.

Newspapers have insisted on their right to print the cartoons, citing freedom of speech.

With the French riots a few months ago and now these violent demonstrations do you think our European friends particularly the LEFT will get the message regarding Islamic extremist fundamentalism?

How about the American LEFT and allowing domestic oil drilling to relieve some of our dependence on foreign oil?

Doubtful.

Previous:

Muhammad Caricature Watch: Protests Over Muhammad Drawings Intensify

Muhammad Caricature Watch: Anger Over Cartoons of Muhammad Escalates

Day by Day by Chris Muir on CNN

Day by Day by Chris Muir on Muhammad Caricatures

Cox & Forkum: Publication of Caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad by a Danish Newspaper

Technorati Tags: Jyllands-Posten, ProphetMuhammad, Islam, Muhammadcaricatures

IAEA’s Chairman Yukiya Amano from Japan, right, talks to Iranian Ambassador to the IAEA Ali Asghar Soltanieh prior to the start of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) 35-nation board meeting on the escalating nuclear standoff with Iran, on Saturday, Feb. 4, 2006, at Vienna’s International Center. Iran’s breaches of the nuclear nonproliferation treaty and lack of confidence that it is not trying to make weapons are linked to a decision to ask for Tehran’s referral to the U.N. Security Council.

ASSociated Press: IAEA to Report Iran to Security Council

The U.N. nuclear watchdog on Saturday reported Iran to the U.N. Security Council in a resolution expressing concern Tehran’s nuclear program may not be “exclusively for peaceful purposes.”

The landmark decision by the International Atomic Energy Agency’s 35-nation board sets the stage for future action by the top U.N. body, which has the authority to impose economic and political sanctions.

Still, any such moves were weeks if not months away. Two permanent council members, Russia and China, agreed to referral only on condition the council take no action before March.

Twenty-seven nations supported the resolution, which was sponsored by three European powers – Britain, France and Germany – and backed by the United States.

Cuba, Syria and Venezuela were the only nations to vote against. Five others – Algeria, Belarus, Indonesia, Libya and South Africa – abstained, a milder form of showing opposition.

Among those backing the referral was India, a nation with great weight in the developing world whose stance was unclear until the vote.

And Iran’s reaction to the referral:

Reacting to referral, Javed Vaeidi, the deputy head of Iran’s powerful Security Council, said his country would “immediately” set into motion steps to restart work on full-scale uranium enrichment and curtail the inspecting powers of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

The Resoultion Calls on Iran:

1. Reestablish a freeze on uranium enrichment and related activities.

2. Consider whether to stop construction of a heavy water reactor that could be the source of plutonium for weapons.

3. Formally ratify an agreement allowing the IAEA greater inspecting authority and continue honoring the agreement before it is ratified.

4. Give the IAEA additional power in its investigation of Iran’s nuclear program, including “access to individuals” for interviews, as well as to documentation on its black-market nuclear purchases, equipment that could be used for nuclear and non-nuclear purposes and “certain military-owned workshops” where nuclear activities might be going on.

Now over to Iran President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Stay tuned……..

Previous:

Iran Nuclear Watch: Iran Threatens Full-Scale Enrichment Work

Iran Nuclear Watch: Iran Says BACK OFF Or…

Iran Nuclear Watch: Bush – United States Will Defend Israel Against Iran

Iran Nuclear Watch: Iran Will Resist “Bully Nations”

Iran Watch: Bush: Iran ‘Held Hostage’ by Clerical Elite

Iran Nuclear Watch: Iran Documents Point to Nuclear Warheads

Iran Nuclear Watch: Iran Threatens End of Diplomacy

Iran Nuclear Watch: Permanent Five Say IAEA Must Report Iran to U.N. Security Council

The Natanz uranium enrichment complex in Natanz is pictured in this January 2, 2006 satellite image.

Technorati Tags: Iran, Russia, China, SergeiLavrov, UnitedNations, UnitedNationsSecurityCouncil, ZhouWenzhong, NicholasBurns, EuropeanUnion, MahmoudAhmadinejad, ManouchehrMottaki, JacquesChirac, Chirac, France, Iran, Nuclearweapons, nuclear, AbdulQadeerKhan, AliLarijani, CondoleezzaRice, JohnBolton, RezaVaidi

Technorati Tags: DaybyDay, ChrisMuir, MichaelYon