While Muslim's leaders demand apologies and the Muslim street breaks out in protest against the Pope's use of an anti-Islamic quote from a 14th century Byzantine leader, many bloggers look at the reaction wondering why?.

Keefy from Adventures in Dubai posted the entire text of the pope's speech and bet most of the protestors had not read it. Ramrumple wonders why it's not OK to portray Hassan Nasrallah (Hizballah Leader) in a comical sketch, but it's OK for al-Jazeera TV to do the same by portraying the pope as shooting down peace (in the form of doves)? Iraq Pundit gives an almost comical commentary of how the situation has unfolded, pointing out the irony in these violent reactions. He also wonders why there is no reaction from the Muslim street when hundreds of Muslims are killed each day in Iraq in the name of Islam.

Iraq The Model, one of the most popular blogs in the Middle East, tries to look at things from a different perspective, using an academic approach by quoting respected Arabic books on Islamic History. However a few days later Omar posts his anger about what he calls a "War on Peace" by Islamic extremists.

In the comments section of this post there was an interesting conversation about the role of militant islam's role in global terrorism. Two interesting comments were posted by "bg" on the 25th of September the first was the introduction to an excellent "weekly roundup" of radical islamic activity around the globe written by by Charles Bird from Obsidian Wings. The second comment sampled and linked this article, which discusses true role of Osama Bin Laden's al-Qaeda network (literally, The Base network) in organising and perpetuating militancy among Islamic extremists around the globe.

There were over 150 comments from people all-over the globe on that particular post, and the same or more on most other recent posts at Iraq The Model; this blog is a very successful forum for discussion about Iraq and the Middle East in general. There was much other discussion in the Middle Eastern blogosphere aside from the Pope issue. As usual there are always some stories of hope such as the post "Iraqi Muslim Amongst Jewish People! Felt Welcomed!" from 24 Steps To Liberty, an Iraqi blogger who moved to America very recently.

Truth Teller, the Iraqi doctor who blogs at "A Citizen of Mosul" briefly tells the story of having to move his clinic somewhere safer due to poor the security situation. Discussion about the Middle East outside of the blogosphere tends to be limited to professional opinions, journalistic reporting or discussion about western policy and wars in the area. Just search Google for "Online Discussion" + "Middle East" and see for yourself. However in the Middle Eastern blogosphere, especially for those who delve deep into the comments sections, there is a wealth of practical analysis and discussion about moving forwards. What's most impressive is how some people like the Tel Aviv university lecturer Ze'ev Maoz can breach cultural boundaries and discuss the situation realistically.

I have recently been asked the question "is the blogosphere going to bring a solution to the problems in the Middle East?". To this I must say no, it is not the solution itself, it will definately be part of the solution. But to end this post here is something from Hala_S to remind us that we all come from the same place.