No apology

Considering the anti-Muslim sentiments that permeate modern Europe, it should have been obvious, if not predicted, that many Muslims would react with fervour to what the UN condemned as a slight against basic Muslim sensibilities.

The Danish and Norwegian newspapers that initially printed the cartoons must have been able to predict the backlash that they would invite. And so were the other newspapers in Europe that reprinted the cartoons. Indeed, what those newspapers called a show of solidarity seemed much closer to the same sort of ideological pride that Muslims felt had been trampled upon.

Certainly, the cartoons violated a basic Islamic tenet and thus would naturally beget outrage. Either the European editors were uneducated in what should today be basic knowledge, or the move was a calculated one. It's tempting, though, to consider similarly blatant provocations being leveled against Jews or blacks.

Would they demand the sort of apology being denied to Muslims or would they be satisfied with the chest pounding of European journalists?