Via the NYT: At Mecca Meeting, Cartoon Outrage Crystallized

“It was no big deal until the Islamic conference when the O.I.C. took a stance against it,” said Muhammad el-Sayed Said, deputy director of the Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies in Cairo.

Sari Hanafi, an associate professor at the American University in Beirut, said that for Arab governments resentful of the Western push for democracy, the protests presented an opportunity to undercut the appeal of the West to Arab citizens. The freedom pushed by the West, they seemed to say, brought with it disrespect for Islam.

He said the demonstrations “started as a visceral reaction — of course they were offended — and then you had regimes taking advantage saying, ‘Look, this is the democracy they’re talking about.’ “

Smart politics, yet sad politics as well: don’t pay attention to the fact that you are oppressed, because with freedom comes the possibility of blasphemous cartoons!!

More on the smart side of the coin:

The protests also allowed governments to outflank a growing challenge from Islamic opposition movements by defending Islam.

The entire piece is interesting and worth a read.