Some middle eastern blogs are speculating on the politics behind the timing
of the cartoon riots, after discovering that Egyptian Newspaper Al Fagr published the controversial Muhammad pics in October 2005:

  • You know that those cartoons were published for the 1st time months ago
    and we here in the Middle East have tonnes of jokes about Allah, the
    prophets and the angels that are way more offensive, funny and obscene
    than those poorly-made cartoons, yet no one ever got shot for telling
    one of those jokes or at least we had never seen rallies and protests
    against those infidel joke-tellers. – Iraq the Model
  • Freedom For Egyptians
    reminded me why the cartoons looked so familiar to me: they were
    actually printed in the Egyptian Newspaper Al Fagr back in October
    2005. I repeat, October 2005, during Ramadan, for all the Egyptian
    Muslim population to see, and not a single squeak of outrage was
    present. – Sandmonkey

  • This irrelevant outrage timing is but a sign that this violent response
    to the cartoons is politically-motivated by Muslim extremists in Europe
    and the so-called secular governments of the Middle East. I want also
    to mention that despite the fact that all editors who tried to reprint
    the cartoons in the Middle East nowadays were arrested, the Egyptian
    editors went unharmed. – Freedom for Egyptians

  • Oh these words! They are controversial. Samuel Huntington was scorned
    for coining them 15 years ago. Everyone wants to avoid them. Even those
    who believe in the clash of civilisations don’t admit it and run around
    the bush instead. Well, here you go. Hear it from an Egyptian. I
    believe in the clash of civilisations. I firmly believe we are
    currently living through it. Let me explain. – Big Pharaoh

  • Will the West surrender in “Cartoon Wars” like last time? Saddam Hussein was upset with this earlier cartoon on display
    in France in 1988 at the Institute du Monde Arabe in Paris… – Gateway Pundit

  • Let me start off with my personal position. I was
    offended. Perhaps I wasn’t as offended as most Muslims; perhaps my
    heightened exposure to hurtful attacks on my religion because of what I
    do and the web sites I visit has left me less susceptible…Ever since this fiasco started I have received
    emails to boycott Danish products and to boycott the boycott. I wasn’t
    swayed to do either. – One Arab World

  • The dictators in the Middle East don’t give a damn that some newspaper
    in Denmark printed some cartoons depicting Muhammed. The reason they
    are condemning them is because it is politically popular. – Publius Pundit
  • As I sat there watching CNN (International) with my friend today, I
    could not help but note the number of Saudi flags that the various
    rioters were waving in Lebanon and Syria. Coincidence? I think not.
    Look for yourself – they are green with a large expanse of Arabic
    writing in white above a sword. – Daily Kos