@Curmudgeon,
This link gives a perspective of where most of the violence seems to be originating from.
http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewForeignBureaus.asp?Page=\ForeignBureaus\archive\200602\FOR20060207a.html
Dr. Martin Kramer of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy said some protests may have started locally with the imams, but he also said it is important to look at "who is getting a ride" on the wave of resentment.
The answer to who is behind the trouble "is in the palaces" of the Arab and Muslim world - the leadership. The goal is to divide the transatlantic alliance between Europe and America on key issues facing the world, Kramer said.
"Iran needs for the West to be divided. Syria needs for the west to be divided [and] the Muslim Brotherhood wants to break any embargo [that might be placed on the] Hamas principality," said Kramer.
Saudi Arabia and Egypt want to escape Western pressure to make democratic changes, he said.
"The affair is a godsend for the regimes. They are not interested in Danish apologies. They want to be paid off...in the U.N. Security Council and in the IAEA [International Atomic Energy Agency] and the inner conclaves of the financial institutions [like the World Bank]," he said