Oman: Oman retail chain stops selling Danish products

Saudia Arabia: Chain Stores Drop Danish Goods Over Cartoons

Kuwait: Kuwait urges calm in cartoon protests

Bahrain: Thousands of Bahrainis protest against cartoons

Gaza: Foreign aid workers, journalists leaving Gaza after threat to Europeans over Prophet drawings

Yemen: Thousands join Yemen women protest against cartoons

Lebanon: Protesters torch Danish mission in Beirut, Interior minister resigns

Turkey: Turkish business group boycotts Denmark

The United Arab Emirates: Furniture outlets drop 'Denmark' label; Demo against blasphemy

Syria: Syria voices its regret over attacks

Iraq: Iraqi transport ministry freezes deals with Denmark

Afghanistan: Fresh protests over cartoons

Kenya: Kenyan Muslims to boycott Danish products

Algeria: Algerians stage rare protest over cartoons

Pakistan: NWFP chief minister calls to rupture ties with Denmark

Indonesia: Indonesia Muslim leaders tell protesters to avoid anarchy

Nigeria: Nigerian state gives Danish firms economic hit in cartoon row

Iran: Iranian protesters pelt UK embassy with stones

Indian Kashmir: Indian Kashmir separatist group calls for boycott over cartoon

Bangladesh: Muslims in B’desh rally against publication of Prophet Mohammad cartoons

To top it off, hackers primarily based in the Middle East have launched attacks against hundreds of mostly small Danish websites, most of which had poor security.

The news is not all bad for the Danish, however. A counter-boycoot has begun in the blogosphere designed to encourage the sales of Danish goods, presumably to help Danish companies make up for lost revenues from sales in Muslim countries. A search on the term " 'Buy Danish' + boycott" in Google returns almost 54,00 hits. Among the top results is End the Boycott which carries a list of Danish products, a list of other campaigns and other facts about Denmark.

Another popular site is George Mason University's History News Network. It includes, in a post by Judith Klinghofer, this plea passed to her by a Danish friend:

"If you Americans look with this great sympathy on our case, couldn't you then raise a consumer support of DK in the US? The opposite of a boycott. A movement of: "Buy Danish!" Please?

You can easily eat and digest all our famous Danish cheese at your millions of breakfast-tables from Seattle to Atlanta. Then the boycott (which is escalating fast down there now) will be harmless.

Interestingly, the post has 1339 comments. The most I've ever seen on a blog. It may have something to do with the fact that one of the most frequently visited blogs, Michelle Malkin, who gets more than 1 million page views per week, mentioned the HNN site a few days back. That post also sports a collection of three pro-Danish logos that have appeared on several other blogs. One other highly trafficked site promoting solidarity with the Danes is Wretchard's Belmont Club where there appears a Danish solidarity dinner.

The blogosphere and mainstream media outlets have also been lending moral support to the Danes. Dozens of posts have been written in the last week expressing agreement with the Boston Globe's "We are all Danes now" editorial and Brussels Journal's post by the same name.

In my estimation, it would seem that the forces in favor of the boycott have the upper hand- at least for now. An important consideration is that they need not have anything approaching the majority of their co-religionists agree with them about the cartoons. Once the products are removed from the shelves, no one in any of the above countries or regions is going to demand that they be returned. That is not to say that goods won't ever reappear on stores shelves in the Middle East. They might, but it now appears unlikely that sales and brand image will return to prior levels. Whether the Danish companies can make up for the sales elsewhere remains to be seen. There's always China.

Another fact that does not bode well for the Danes is the length to which some companies and countries are going to distance themselves from them, countries from which the Danes might have expected sympathy:

Placing ads appears to have worked for Nestle. An Arab boycott of milk powder products made by the Swiss food and drink giant subsided shortly after the company ran a newspaper advertisement in Saudi Arabia explaining that the products were not made in Denmark, a company spokesman said Monday.

“There was a campaign of e-mails, SMS’s, of flyers, saying that Klim and Nido were products made in Denmark, said Nestle spokesman Francois-Xavier Perroud. “We corrected that wrong information and within one or two days the situation normalised again.”

Apparently the Swiss are not only not Danes, they are very anxious to make sure Muslims know the difference! I wonder of they have even picked up market share as a result of the Danish product getting picked. Clearly, someone has. Either way, if this kind of behavior is typical of the way other European companies intend to address the crisis, if then the forces in support of the boycott can claim this as a victory too. Still, there is little evidence that Denmark as whole will be hurt economically. The amounts in question are, as shown earlier, simply too small. It takes more than street protests and lost sales of cheese and yoghurt and butter to bring a modern, industrialized economy like Denmark's to its knees.

And speaking of butter, some of the poorer countries invovled in protests and boycotts would be wise to consider who supplies it for their bread. The Danes give more foreign development aid, relative to their size, than any other country in the world. They are also perceived at one of the world's least corrupt governments. (Hat tip:Independently Speaking). Some countries may ultimately regret their decision to boycott a country with such a sterling reputation for the actions of a few journalists. Muslim or no, you can never have too many friends with qualities like these.

Tags: censorship | buy danish | Denmark | Cartoons | boycott | free speech | mohammed cartoon | mohammed cartoons | Jyllands-Posten | muhammad cartoons |

Links: Don Surber | Conservative Cat |