Back in September a Danish newspaper published cartoons caricaturing the prophet Muhammad in a current political context. Anger among Muslims peaked late last month, resulting in the boycott of Danish goods and the torching of Denmark’s consulates in some Islamic countries. According to the Jyllands-Posten’s editor-in-chief Carsten Juste, the drawings “were not in violation of Danish law, but have undoubtedly offended many Muslims.” Newspapers report a wave of reactions, including a call by the Iranian Commerce Ministry to rename “Danish pastry” to a flower named after Muhammad (remember “French fries” being renamed freedom fries in the U.S. in 2003?).

Lesson to be learned: Whatever you do in the privacy of your own country or in business units abroad may have consequences well beyond your borders.

• Several well-known U.S. web portals, Google among them, acquiesced to China’s desire to exclude the Human Rights Watch website, lesbian.com, and other subversive properties. Do no evil, see no evil? Apparently “The need for information crosses all borders,” item #8 in the list of “ten things Google has found to be true,” is for a future release of Google’s search engine. To its credit, Google has not caved in on giving up search information to U.S. government snooopers.
• The Sheraton Maria Isabel Hotel in Mexico City, Mexico kicked out a Cuban delegation meeting with American oil companies. The hotel, owned by the American Starwood chain, caved in to a U.S. Treasury Department demand for the Cubans to leave, citing a violation of the Trading with the Enemy Act and the Cuban Democracy Act of 1992, instances of the same embargo excluding Cuba from the U.S. Major League Baseball Classic. These U.S. laws prohibit American firms and their overseas subsidiaries from providing services to Cubans. Mexican politicians were incensed that U.S. laws were being enforced on Mexican soil. The Cubans probably weren’t that upset, though, since the Sheraton charges for WiFi access and the Starbucks in the lobby overcharges for its grandes.
• Last week Hong Kong Disneyland overflowed with visitors, forcing Disney officials to close the park to any more ticketholders. In January Disney offered a discounted one-day pass good for any day in the coming 6 months except a number of blackout days, including Chinese New Year. Hong Kong celebrates New Year over a 4-day period, but the PRC celebrates it for a full week. Disney had only blacked out the Hong Kong dates, failing to localize for the 1.3 billion people right next door, and many mainlanders showed up with what they thought were valid tickets. Mickey could not be reached for comment.

Elsewhere in the Magic Kingdom, ABC Sports — another Disney unit — televised Super Bowl XL, the annual match-up of the 2 best teams in American football. The half-time show is always eagerly anticipated, especially since a famous “wardrobe malfunction” 2 years ago briefly exposed singer Janet Jackson’s right breast (this nano-second glimpse turned out to be the most TiVo’d moment in American TV history). This year’s half-time show featured the Rolling Stones with a 5-second tape delay. The broadcaster edited out one-line sexual references from the classic Start Me Up (licensed by Microsoft to launch the Start button in Windows 95) and Rough Justice, thereby localizing these songs to the puritanical sensibilities of American football fans (ABC Sports blamed the NFL for the censorship).