i too am quite confused at the turn of events and i really cant figure out what is the single that caused all of this mishap, and more importantly- what will stop it outright. however, a few points i noted: (i) sick mentality and a feeling of false superiority possessed by europens- earlier it was anti-semitism, they tried their best to wipe out the jews; at some point of time (mostly after the cold war and at its peak during iraq strike) anti-americanism; and afterwards anti-islam. it appears that racial hatred and fear are part of the life of a large portion of european populace (but i am afraid that how much racist i myself become at making this statement- with due apologies). (ii) stupid sense of immunity of some freaks under the guise of journalism. doctors regulate themselves, engineers regulate themselves, lawyers regulate themselves- there are codes of conduct and matters of professional ethics in every profession, and what i have observed in north america is that journalism also has VERY STRONG ethical norms violations of which do lead to VERY STRONG punitive measures. what still strikes me is that a bunch of backbenchers once start working in a newspaper and believe that they have supernatural powers and start acting like they can say anything, they can paint anyone's image to anything- like they are the modern gods. freedom of speech is definitely a great thing- but ironically it has become a 'freedom of abuse' this time. remember- it first began in september, this time the same cartoons were RE-printed- which definitely has provocative intentions. i remember myself signing a petition right here through (through means through a link posted by somebody i dont remember in) Sajha when some muslim artist (M.F. Hussein-? i guess) painted naked pictures of the Goddess Durga. The hindu response was a mere online petition. But, again, this time I sympathize with the muslims because their religion itself began by depicting god in abstract form and any idolistic depiction of the god in islam equals what is forcefully feeding beef to a hindu. they do deserve a right of unhindered religious practice and acts like these offend each and every muslim. (iii) uneducated muslim population and the overall world-wide suppression at their corridors- be it palestine, be it iraq, be it afghanistan or be it in europe/america, muslims have a reason to feel suppressed and treated unfairly. and suppression just brings up the animal part in every human being, to capitalize that immmense terrorist resource- there are those religious schools which brainwash them to get armed them with AK rifles and bomb-belts. although it was in the name of 'muslim' that terrorists killed our brothers in iraq (and have been killing millions throught the world), i have also met with some good muslims. so i, for one, would refrain from painting all muslims as 'murderers' but would like to clarify that i do observe a huge proportion of their population still remaining uneducated and living in places where they are suppressed by external powers and thus being the worlds deadliest terrorists. i wish this thing gets settled very soon- its not just an arson in an embassy in the middle east, it has every potential of cracking throughout all over the world. i really wish this issue gets addressed very soon and the world becomes a better place. Keep rolling...