Behind the Protection of the Black Drape

The cream rises to the top, they say. That explains the brilliant camouflage technique used in Pakistan this week, as described by AlJazeera:

A crowd of up to 50,000 rallied on Thursday in the main commercial district of the sprawling southern city, and some torched effigies of George Bush, the US president, and Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the Danish prime minister.

The protesters wearing green headbands shouted slogans of "Here I come, Oh Muhammad" and "Death to blasphemers" as thousands of policemen and paramilitary troops looked on.

A branch of Citibank, the American financial institution, and an office of the German company Siemens hung black flags to mask their logos, as did a Christian hospital and several cinemas on the rally's route.

Maybe this is just one of those cultural things an American just can't understand. You cover up your corporate logo with black cloth and save yourself an embarrassing torching? Or is it a symbolic gesture that says, "Dang it, we sure wish those Danish cartoonists had covered up their work with a black burkha!"?

You don't suppose anyone in that 50,000 crowd of chanting, would-be martyrs would remember where the local Citibank offices were located? Of course, if alJazeera is publishing in English, you can bet your copy of the Koran that they are also publishing the little black flag secret in Arabic too.