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FEELINGS HURT
Christopher Hitchens on the damning of the Danes:
The incredible thing about the ongoing Kristallnacht against Denmark (and in some places, against the embassies and citizens of any Scandinavian or even European Union nation) is that it has resulted in, not opprobrium for the religion that perpetrates and excuses it, but increased respectability! A small democratic country with an open society, a system of confessional pluralism, and a free press has been subjected to a fantastic, incredible, organized campaign of lies and hatred and violence, extending to one of the gravest imaginable breaches of international law and civility: the violation of diplomatic immunity. And nobody in authority can be found to state the obvious and the necessary—that we stand with the Danes against this defamation and blackmail and sabotage. Instead, all compassion and concern is apparently to be expended upon those who lit the powder trail, and who yell and scream for joy as the embassies of democracies are put to the torch in the capital cities of miserable, fly-blown dictatorships. Let’s be sure we haven’t hurt the vandals’ feelings.
Which is the general tone of commentators at an Asian security conference:
“This cartoon crisis reveals a blind spot which we have not really seen before and sends a bad message to the Muslim community about democracy at a time when we are trying to advocate to the moderate community that Islam and democracy go together,” said Dino Patti Djalal, spokesman for Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
Bruce Lemkin, US deputy undersecretary for international affairs in the US Air Force, said that while freedom of expression should not be limited, it must be balanced with sensitivity.
“Globalisation has changed the effects and the consequences and we must understand that,” Lemkin said. “There is a responsibility to educate not only our populations but our media.”
The Boston Phoenix seems plenty educated. Meanwhile, Bill Clinton remains clueless:
Mr Clinton today said it was important to find out what was behind the cartoon and the reasons for their publication.
“Does anybody here know whether that cartoonist knew that it was blasphemous when he did the picture of Mohammed?”
UPDATE. Prophet and loss:
Denmark’s Aria Foods is reporting a $20 million loss ever since controversy erupted over cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed.
But Mecca Cola is selling like the proverbial cakes of hotness:
Sales of UAE-based Mecca Cola have tripled since the cartoon row began.
Mmm-mmm! Meccalicious!
UPDATE II. Another newspaper in trouble:
Saudi Arabia has suspended a youth daily that carried cartoons satirising the Prophet Muhammad that have sparked violent protests around the world, journalists from the newspaper said today.
UPDATE III. Local Muslims disappoint.
UPDATE IV. Oh no! The EU’s credibility is under threat:
OIC Secretary-General Prof Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu on Tuesday called on the European Union to invoke its existing law on offensive material over the publication of blasphemous cartoons and cautioned that failure to do so would put its credibility at stake.
How very alarming.
UPDATE V. Forty-two scholars have their say:
“The sacrilegious cartoons represent a crime of aggression on the Islamic nation that helps to torpedo the process of interaction among civilisations and peoples,” a statement issued by the prominent clerics said ...
“The Danish government and people should respond in a just manner by condemning the aggression, otherwise Denmark will have to live in isolation from the rest of the world community.”
Bossy little customers, aren’t they?
You’d really have to wonder how Clinton could be so ignorant wouldn’t u??? when he is speaking for a living…. and probably has so many minders and people he talks to, that no one has tapped him on the shoulder and told him to stop acting like a boob and get it right that their were multiple cartoonists???
Liberal, neo-nazi, communist, islamofascist, muslim.
They may differ in the details but they’re all on the same side and adhere to the same methedologies of totalitarnianism.
I doubt any nation will be able to stand against the comming darkness for much longer without some form of civil war.
In every “western” country and culture, the “useful idiots” have so allied themselves with the various enemy ideologies and have bought into such a depth of self hatred, that the only way to survive them will be to remove them.
Yackity Yack Good ol’Bill he always talked a lot more than he walked. The hunreds of thousands the US and UN left to die in Africa are testimony to that fact. However, we are all a bit guilty of talking rather than doing. We vent our anger by cyber grumbling in chat rooms and on blog sites. The cyber vent phenomenon is taking the sting out of “people power”. The pollies need to see a big angry mob demanding a response to Islamic fascism or nothing much will bloody well change on the “infidel” team. The other guys though are going to get a lot pushier and a lot more aggresive at pushing the Wests’s buttons. It’ll be interesting to see what they have to do to finally get a fair dinkum response - another 3000 deaths perhaps. I for one would like to demonstrate a presence to protest militant Islam action against the Danes and the complete absence of balls by the western worlds “free press”.
I see that The Tosser, erm, make that Chaser, is being overwhelmed by comments about the issue from erudite and informed members of the latte-left.
Well, make that a couple of knuckledragging drongo’s from the far distant shallows of the gene pool, with knee-slapping witticims like ‘still no comments!’ Spavined cretins.
MarkL
CanberraI tried to log in and comment on the “Local Muslims Disappoint”—wanted to ask where they left their cojones.
The Chaser has an Administrative Block: I can register but not log in.
I blogment here on line for the first time in my life…am I paranoid or has Tim Blair’s member list monitored by the LWVC?
Posted by MentalFloss on 2006 02 22 at 01:31 AM • permalinkNow that the Chaser have had a go at Tim, I expect Leunig will be able to forget that whole public humiliation/psychos-showing his-photo thing and see the funny side.
BTW There is a rumour going around that the Chaser have some cracking images of Mohammed in their office, though I personally have no wish to see them.
Posted by Margos Maid on 2006 02 22 at 01:32 AM • permalinki guess we’ll know to crash aeroplanes into them and blow up their bars next time, rather than draw a few silly doodles…. that way we can maintain that “process” of interaction amongst “civilisations and peoples”...
or of course we could just cry “damn the torpedoes” and let them have it fair and square…
and where would u find such a collection of 42 pompous ignoramuses to make such a statement condemning Denmark to future isolation??? hang on, they have 1.3 billion contenders to choose from don’t they!!!
Some of you may have missed Stephen Zunes’ open letter to Denmark. It provides an alternate view not covered here. Here is an excerpt.
This is a letter of apology from an American who has witnessed in horror the extreme anti-Danish reaction in parts of the Islamic world. While the spark may have originated in your country, the tinderbox which caused that spark to explode in such a violent conflagration is largely a result of the policies of the United States…
The United States provides six times more military aid to the Middle East than it does economic aid, and arms sales are America’s number one commercial export to the region, strengthening militarization and weakening financial support for human needs. Furthermore, while threatening war at the mere possibility of Iran developing nuclear weapons, the United States maintains close strategic ties to Israel, Pakistan, and India despite their already-existing nuclear arsenals. In addition, the United States has categorically rejected calls by Iran and virtually every Arab state for the establishment of a nuclear weapons-free zone in the region and the U.S. Navy has brought its own tactical nuclear weapons into Middle Eastern waters since the late 1950s. In a part of the world which has been repeatedly conquered by outside powers over the centuries, the growing U.S. military presence has created an increasing amount of resentment. It is no accident that a region so heavily militarized would give rise to militant religious extremism…
There has been widespread debate in your country regarding Denmark’s role in provoking the reaction, ranging from the appropriateness of the cartoons themselves to the Danish government’s support of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. Whatever missteps may have occurred on your side of the Atlantic, however, it is hard to imagine that the extent of the violent reaction would have been nearly as severe as it was if not for the pent up grievances in the Islamic world resulting from many years of irresponsible U.S. policies.
I’d love to see Hitchens debate Zunes on this issue. Or perhaps Tom Englehardt.
...extending to one of the gravest imaginable breaches of international law and civility: the violation of diplomatic immunity.
I can’t remember who first pointed it out, but technically an attack on a Danish embassy is an attack on Danish soil, no different to dog-paddling to Copenhagen and setting fire to their parliament building. If it can be shown that it was an arm of government, instead of just the whim of a random rabble, behind the attacks on various embassies, then it’s an official Act of War. Iran, for example, has more or less formally declared war on Denmark.
It just goes to show the extent of the wilfull blindness of the UN, the EU and the global commentariat that this fairly major technicality is apparently being ignored.
Posted by blandwagon on 2006 02 22 at 04:45 AM • permalinkSorry but all of Zunes’ points relate to nasty things done by the US. So how does it makes sense to beat up on Denmark at the slightest provocation. Or is Zunes implying that followers of Islam in the MIddle East are too stupid to make the distinction between different aspects of western society.
And how come the significant Christian population of the middle east hasn’t seemingly developed this radical strand
Loony Zunes - your mate DBO is a small part of the problem. You are a large part. We have seen the Middle East swamped in our cash over the last 50 years, and, perhaps partly as a result of that, they are still nothing but trouble, and each year more so.
It is a cultural cul de sac. They are a dysfunctional rabble with possibly incurable tribal and ideological problems. Individually some of them are fine and, given the right opportunities and resources, could improve the lot of their fellows.
But:
When it comes to the point we are now at, stand up for yourself, or lie down and die.
There is no respect for wet lefty scum in their philosophy.Strikes me that this letter from Axel Springer CEO, Mathias Döpfner, is even more true today than a couple of years ago when it was first written. :-(
Europe, thy name is appeasement!
Posted by Mr Snuffalupagus on 2006 02 22 at 05:50 AM • permalink#21 the problem is that the Iranians did this to the US and what did ol Jimmy Carter do. The same as he does now, vaccilate and talk. So they attack the super powers embassy and nothing. What do you think Denmark can do in response. Unfortunately we have been systemtically and deliberately neutered for thirty plus years by the left and now everyone with a gripe is coming out. If, and hopefully when, the US (with us and a few other countries notably less Germany, France, Spain and Russia) beats the Muslims China will be ready to have a go. Great! When John Howard was talking about a minority that is utterly antagonistic to our way of life I thought he meant the lefty elite.
Posted by platey mates on 2006 02 22 at 05:59 AM • permalinkYeah, yeah, dirt road option, heard it all before, and it is BS for the braindead just like it always was. Talk about written by a clueless clown, for the onanistic pleasure of other clueless clowns.
But let’s have some fun in two parts!
This is a letter of apology from an American who has witnessed in horror the extreme anti-Danish reaction in parts of the Islamic world. While the spark may have originated in your country, the tinderbox which caused that spark to explode in such a violent conflagration is largely a result of the policies of the United States ...
COMMENT: Yup, that Chimpy, he is SUCH a wag, he wrote the Koran, trapping them in the 7th century, and then gave them all that oil! What a hoot!. Then he forced them never to adopt things like separation of church and state.
But we did that just for fun, donchaknow? Bit of a laugh. Bit of a giggle.The United States provides six times more military aid to the Middle East than it does economic aid,
COMMENT: Oh, that Chimpy again. Clinton never did this (of course!), but the VRWC henchmen and minions forced Arab governments to be kleptocratic dictators who rob their own people blind, stuff their Swiss bank accounts with billions in stolen loot, all to enable McHalliEnronExxon those markets. As ZipperheadZunes knows, these sales are forced on the poor Arabs by threat of nuclear attack! We deliver these tattooed on the sides of pigs, of course. (Well DONE, Wronwright! Such a lovely touch, along with the endless fatwa’s from Tel Aviv)and arms sales are America ’ s number one commercial export to the region, strengthening militarization and weakening financial support for human needs.
COMMENT: That was ME! I made that happen! DO I get promoted to henchman now?Furthermore, while threatening war at the mere possibility of Iran developing nuclear weapons, the United States maintains close strategic ties to Israel, Pakistan, and India despite their already-existing nuclear arsenals.
COMMENT: Well, he has got the VRWC there! Yes, democratic Iran cannot have them. Obvious fascist dictatorships like Israel and India can, of course, goes without saying, and we like it when they say ‘and as soon as we get’ em, we are gonna nuke Tehran’ (then we drink all the rocket fuel - talk about PAR-TAY! Of course, we had to let the Pakistani’s play too, they LOVE the Indians so much that they just had to get the same toys, and they bribed us with curried goat.In addition, the United States has categorically rejected calls by
Iran and virtually every Arab state for the establishment of a nuclear
weapons-free zone in the region
COMMENT: Look, McEnroe had to do that, OK? Why, if all those shining multicultural, Arab democracies that have NEVER once attacked our dictator-mates in Israel were permitted this, HOW could they be bent to Israeli will? Next you’ll be calling for a stop to the incessant Jewish suicide bombings and constant threats to drive the Arabs in to the sea! Dude, what would we DO on a Saturday night if we could not watch a Jewish Freedom Fighter hacking off an Arab’s head with a rusty knife?and the U.S. Navy has brought its own tactical nuclear weapons into Middle Eastern waters since the late 1950s.
COMMENT: OK, Ok, it is OK, boys, we got away with it again…. it was all Wronwright’s fault that the USN got the order wrong! That is why they have not had tactical nukes at sea on ANY ship ANYWHERE in the world since 1992. I am so glad, fellow VRWC-ers, that the mind-altering space lasers have to maintain our BIG bluff! Another bravo to Wronwright.
End of Pt 1Pt 2
In a part of the world which has been repeatedly conquered by outside powers over the centuries, the growing U.S. military presence has created an increasing amount of resentment.
COMMENT: Oooh, what a NICE compliment! We have finally surpassed the british, French, Ottoman, Mongol, Sassanid, Eastern Roman and Persian Empires. Mesopotamian Mead all round then!It is no accident that a region so heavily militarized would give rise
to militant religious extremism ...
COMMENT: That was us, Yup. Never happened before, nope. We used the time machine to kick-start Khalid’s very first attack on the Christian world away back in the 7th century. You have NO IDEA how much work it takes for the VRWC to constantly go back in time, re-educate the pea ceful people like the head of the Assassins (a pastel toned basket-weaving guild before WE started) and every damned Imam since 685AD. Glad you like our work, dirt road option! And the WORK it took to convince the goatshagger-in-chief that it was cool to murder strangers, steal their stuff, rape their women, and sell their kids in to slavery, not to mention marry and screw nine-year-old girls!
There has been widespread debate in your country regarding Denmark ’ s role in provoking the reaction, ranging from the appropriateness of the cartoons themselves to the Danish government ’ s support of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. Whatever missteps may have occurred on your side of the Atlantic, however, it is hard to imagine that the extent of the violent reaction would have been nearly as severe as it was if not for the pent up grievances in the Islamic world resulting from many years of irresponsible U.S. policies.
COMMENT: DUDE! We have spent 1400 years building up to this level, had
to invent time machines to do it - hell, we had to genetically CREATE Wronwright! (He was originally a 46-foot carnivorous amphibian back in the Triassic - this explains his ummm, unusual eating habits and liking for the still-beating hearts of peaceful, kumbaya chanting Arab adolescents who just want to smoke dope and think about the temple and stuff) Thanks for the kind words.
dirt road option, thanks for the entertainment. Zune is the sort of standard-lefty-cretin, a clueless, gormless, amoral, jelly-backed relativist we have come to know and love. Not the slightest hint of any connection to reality, no idea of history, just deluded ignorance, narcississtic egotism, and fever-dreams of the terminally stupid spanker.And you are a troll, shilling for morons.
MarkL
CanberraTo those who have responded to Zunes, let me reiterate his stance as spelt out in a number of books and articles.
The cauldron of Middle East tension is a direct result of decades (some would argue longer) of western intervention, either political or military or both. First the colonial European powers, then the US. When you have simmering discontent of this sort, people with a sense of grievance - justified or not - fall prey to reactive political and social movements such as militant Islam. That is, some of those you kick will eventually kick back.
The cartoons said to be disrespectful to Islam are simply the latest opportunity for the more reactive elements to drum up support for their anti-western crusade. It’s method is crude, criminal, and counterproductive. Yet the grievances at its core are, unfortunately, genuine. Those recruited to burn flags and beat people up - and let’s face it, the protestors number in the thousands, sometimes only in the hundreds - see this as the latest provocation from the west. It’s not just about cartoons, or Denmark. Perhaps they even consider the west to be monolithic, just as many here consider Islam to be.
The US army has an understanding of all of this, even if Washington often chooses to deny it. Why is it so difficult to comprehend?
It is one thing to laugh about the situation from Perth or Brissie or wherever. It is another to attempt to understand it in such a way that a solution can be found that does not involve protracted international tension, further terrorism, or more wars. Zunes and those like him who write constructively about foreign policy options seek a solution that is lasting and peaceful, as well as one in the interests of the US and international security.
Mark, I can only suggest that you read the letter in full and double-check some of your history before attacking Zunes’ character or credentials. And watch that spelling and grammar or you’re going down.
Blaming the current rise of extreme Islamic fundamentalist hyper-extremism on the west certainly equates to drawing the proverbial long bow. In addition, making excuses for those who engage in otherwise indefensible behaviour usually outs itself as a counterproductive indulgence.
It would be nice to think that there are strong western leaders to stand up to the authoritarian fascists who insist that westerners follow their religious taboos. But they aren’t. Yet another indication that modern politics is a dead loss.
God, you and your appeasing heroes are such bores, DBO. I look forward to your reaction to the coming command that all women wear burkas in public, so not as to “offend” the poor, victimized Muslims who might faint at the sight of a female ankle. I’m sure you’ll find a reason to persuade your girlfriend it’s all for the best.
Posted by Andrea Harris, Administrator on 2006 02 22 at 07:47 AM • permalinkBW, attempting to understand causes is not the same as “making excuses” for perpetrators.
Bombing the shit out of Iraq and Afghanistan has not stopped anti-western sentiment, and some reckon it may have even assisted those who recruit young men to wage informal war against the “west”.
How much longer must this go on before root causes enter your thinking? Perhaps until it is your home being bombed.
Or perhaps if that happened in your street, and then the fella down the road, a pious man whom you respect, told you that the people who did the bombing were laughing at you, maybe then you would try to understand why these people are taking their anger to the streets. Maybe.
cartoons said to be disrespectful to Islam
Isalm is about 1,400 years old and has been interpreted by several million people. There are, at a minimum, Sunni, Shia and Sufi schools with who knows how many offshoots from each. About 1 billion people identify as Muslim.
It would seem that in order to not be “crude, criminal, and counterproductive” that all newspapers in the EU and USA should accept the rule of 1 billion censors?
Grievanaces genuine? Like Catholic Spaniards ruling Spain? Take your victimology and revel in it because those days are past. If Abdul wants to be treated like an adult he is going to have to start acting like an adult.
Posted by Peter Boston on 2006 02 22 at 08:13 AM • permalinkThe cauldron of Middle East tension is a direct result of decades (some would argue longer) of western intervention, either political or military or both.
Uh, no.
The “cauldron of Middle East tension” goes back millenia. Well before the Great Satan was even a gleam in the Lesser Satan’s eye.
To say otherwise betrays a complete and total ignorance of ME history.
Bombing the shit out of Iraq and Afghanistan has not stopped anti-western sentiment
Wow, when did that happen!?
If we bombed “the shit” out of those two countries, we must be really bad shots, given the number of living inhabitants there.
#35:
I may be misreading your comments but you seem to be assuming that the death cultists have the ability to think for themselves or self motivate?
There’s no freedom of thought, let alone freedom of speech in the islamist world. You think what you’re told to think, do what you’re told to do, believe what you’re told to believe, or you die.
For generations, the abilty to step out from the herd, think independantly or behave in any way other than scripted has been culled from the gene pool.
That’s the anchor of tribalism. That’s why tribal society never progresses, ever.
This is not true for the muslim world as a whole but for those pieces and parts that are at war with everyone else, including those “not muslim enough” it is definatly true.
How much longer must this go on before root causes enter your thinking?
Was Nazi Germany stopped by contemplating the “root causes”, or by bombing the shit out of them?
(And does anyone else notice how leftys always point to “root causes” that align with the leftys’ pet causes, and contemptuously ignore what the terrorists actually say?)
Posted by Rob Crawford on 2006 02 22 at 08:27 AM • permalinkThe USA and Australia were European colonies too. How come no “root causes” there?
Lefty bullshit about root causes is just another form of the noblis oblige. Abdul is too stupid to figure out why he can’t get a job so I, in my infinite wisdom, will figure it for him and tell him what to do.
Posted by Peter Boston on 2006 02 22 at 08:47 AM • permalinkOf course muslims are going to be offended. They probably should be. That of course is the point of the cartoons, to offend. More importantly, it shows who is simply offended and who is simply crazy.
I’d like to hear the cartoonist say it. He can apologize for offending muslisms without apologizing for the cartoons. Simply say, “I’m sorry to have offended the Muslim Community, but I felt it necessary to help distinguish the moderates and radicals in the community.”
They can also point out how reaction to the cartoons has done far more to promote negative stereo types than the cartoons do.
Andrea, I think Mike Jericho has hijacked your PC.
I’ll take that as a compliment, DBO, since I pretty much agree with everything Mike Jericho has said in the comments on this blog. (I mean, was that supposed to shame me or something? God lefties are stupid.)
Posted by Andrea Harris, Administrator on 2006 02 22 at 09:45 AM • permalinkWell it did take time for that lightbulb to go off, didn’t it. I rest my case.
Posted by Andrea Harris, Administrator on 2006 02 22 at 11:01 AM • permalinkKae — The only cartoons Clinton ever sees are in his subscription to Hustler Humor: “Hoo-doggy! Bush doing a line of coke off a soldier’s coffin! That’s some gooood cartoonin’...”
Posted by richard mcenroe on 2006 02 22 at 11:07 AM • permalink>OIC Secretary-General Prof Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu on Tuesday called on the European Union to invoke its existing law on offensive material over the publication of blasphemous cartoons and cautioned that failure to do so would put its credibility at stake.
Come on folks—EU “credibility”??? This PROVES Moslems have a sense of humor!
Q. How do you offend a radical Moslem?
A. Breathe
DBO, I have been researching the root causes that are the source, nay, the well-springs of your submission to intimidation by the bloodthrsty Muslies. And your obsessiveness with correct spelling. These root causes are many but here are just a few, preceded by your own words:
“I’’d love to see Hitchens debate Zunes on this issue.” Why would anyone sane want to wast time debating with a Leunigtic like Zunes? Root Cause (1) Brought up by Leunigtic like leftoids with whom you argued your way out of extreme abuse, such as wearing a suicide belt and sent off to finish off obnoxious Chritian neighbors.
“Bombing the shit out of Iraq and Afghanistan has not stopped anti-western sentiment” Root Cause (2): reading the western MSM which has not reported the rebuilding of both countries by the west and which failed to report that neither country had the “shit” bombed out of them.
” Zunes and those like him who write constructively about foreign policy options…” Root Cause (3): reasoning dyslexia.Yo, DBO, when the other guy is tryin’ to kill me, what am I supposed to understand?
Yo, DBO, when the other guy flies a bunch of airplanes into US landmark buildings, on a suicide mission, killing thousands, is there a “root cause” to the death and destruction perpetuated?
What don’t you—DBO—understand about the fanaticism demonstrated by these, and various other, actions?
Root cause?
Mental illness. The mental illness of Islam.
The Islamists are not killing infidels to get our attention, so as to negotiate some compromise with them, the Islamists are killing us so we are dead, and no longer exist.
You can’t make this up—it’s what the Islamists tell us.
Root cause?
We (non-muslims) are infidels. Take them at their word.
The search for “root causes” is now officially over.
>We (non-muslims) are infidels. Take them at their word.
That is for me the whole thing. I keep having leftie friends go on and on about “what does bin Laden [or any other radical Moslem] want?” as all of this is merely a miscommunication. They have TOLD US exactly what they want. Part of the problem is that we refuse to listen.
DBO,
Listen carefully, the root causes of the terrorism lie in the dysfunctional Arab and Muslim political culture. If you are one of those who cannot shake off the delusions of defunct Marxism and believe that the root causes are poverty or other economic causes, what is keeping the oil-rich Arab countries and Iran poverty stricken is the political culture of tyranny, authoritarianism, and kleptocracy. Three books which are very good on the causes of the current crisis are David Pryce-Jones’ The Closed Circle, and two by Bernard Lewis What Went Wrong and The Crisis in Islam. Lewis is the doyen of Western scholars of the Islamic world, and the first Western historian to be allowed to work in the Turkish archives back in the late 1940sThe intention of the Bush Administration is to catalyze the reform of that political culture into modernity and, in particular, consensual government (which Bush always calls democracy). That is the reason we “bombed the shit” out of Iraq, the key state in accomplishing that aim, because of the relatively modern character of its people. Iraq is the country that specialists in the Middle East have thought for decades was the best prospect for moderizing. In actual fact we did not “bomb the shit” out of the country, but took good care to limit the damage our forces did in the fighting. Much of the infrastructure of Iraq was already damaged or inoperable before the war, sometimes from even before the First Gulf War in 1990-91, something Saddam did nothing to repair with all that oil-for-food money he got.
So the Bush Administration has been addressing the root causes of terrorism, while its critics have been too stupid to understand what they really were.
I’m pretty cheesed off at the US government not supporting Denmark more. There is a way for the Danes to get back at the Syrians, Iranians, and Libyans (a government-stoked mob burned the Danish embassy there then went on an anti-government rampage; Qaddahffi has brought in elite troops and his principle enforcer, known for his murderous ways, to deal with the uprising). Granted it’s a bit dependent on Denmarks wishy-washy allies like the USA, but it seems quite feasible to me. Denmark should demand apologies and reparations from the governments of the countries where their embassies were torched. These are officially Danish soil after all, so these were acts of war if not repudiated and recompense made. If no such reparations are forthcoming, Denmark should invoke Article Five of the North Atlantic Treaty, which states that an act of war on one NATO member is an act of war against all NATO members. International law is all on Denmark’s side. If people in the West had cojones enough, this could be a casus belli against Syria and Iran, two of the biggest terrorism-supporting states in the world. I doubt this will be done, but it could be done. I’d go so far as to say it ought to be done. Outright war against Iran would be the quickest way to win the war on terror and prevent an Iranian nuke, which the mad mullahs want for purposes of genocide and imperialist conquest.
Posted by Michael Lonie on 2006 02 23 at 01:28 AM • permalink
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For heaven’s sake, will someone please show Bill the cartoons!