Agora

B.T. Saturday, February 18, 2006

Editorial

Danes are friendly and open-minded

An embittered political minority with a very loud voice claims that Denmark - and especially now during the ongoing cartoon crisis - has only itself to blame for the wave of wrath and destruction confronting Danish goods, tourists and embassies in the arab world and other Moslem communities.

These critics, which include the Danish daily Politiken and which is granted unproportional airtime on DR (Danish Radio and Television channel), allege that Denmark has become a closed and intolerant society under the influence of the present administration and the Danish People’s Party.

These allegations have no basis in reality.

And you don’t have to take my word for it:

Studies done by the Rockwool foundation by Professor Lise Togeby of Århus University, by the Catinet institute and by Eurobarometer have clearly shown that the Danes are more tolerant than most Europeans to immigrants - including some houndred thousand Moslems - and that this tolerance has become more widespread under the present administration. During the same period, foreigners in Denmark have experienced a less discrimination.

Add to that studies that show that noy only are the Danes the most content and happy in the world but also the most "friendly and approachable to others" and the most "open to new ideas and opportunities."

This last study is fresh off the presses from a very thorough international scientific examination of 51 countries done by 78 scientists through interviews with thousands of people in the various countries.

These results belittle the constant compaint about the "xenophobic" majority which has supported the Fogh administration since 2001 and which has become larger during the past few weeks.

The feelings which the wroth critics mistakenly interprete as "xenophobia", intolerance and closedness are in reality a simple but strong desire to maintain a uniquely succesful society - in a time where many in an insulated elite have become "faithless" to the cultural, religious and national communities and dream of a global "multiculture" for the elite to freely and luxuriously wallow in.

But even the most direct, modern and blunt evaluation can see the "danish values." Yesterday, Forbes’ Capital Hospitality Index published a survey which states that Denmark is the most investment-friendly country in the world.

The index evaluates the combined economic growth, international trade, and social factors such as poverty, bureaucracy, technological development and corruption.

Danes are friendly, open, rich and tolerant. We’ve even got the documents to prove it. If that causes hate in some people, it is tempting to think that some people are envious.

Flemming Rose has a piece in today’s Washington Post. An excerpt:

In January, Jyllands-Posten ran three full pages of interviews and photos of moderate Muslims saying no to being represented by the imams. They insist that their faith is compatible with a modern secular democracy. A network of moderate Muslims committed to the constitution has been established, and the anti-immigration People’s Party called on its members to differentiate between radical and moderate Muslims, i.e. between Muslims propagating sharia law and Muslims accepting the rule of secular law. The Muslim face of Denmark has changed, and it is becoming clear that this is not a debate between "them" and "us," but between those committed to democracy in Denmark and those who are not.

You gotta love this man.

Hat tip: Dansk-Svensk

B.T., Saturday, February 18, 2006

German royalists demonstratively back Denmark

A huge show of support for Denmark during the visit of the Crown Prince and Crown Princess in North Germany. Germans symbolically supporting Denmark in the Muhammed cartoon strife, German paper writes.

About 300 police officers were deployed to see to the safety of the royal couple in Slesvig-Holsten where the first German Moslem demonstration against the Muhammed cartoons took place.

According to a spokesman for Slesvig-Holsten, no more police was deployed than is usual for visiting heads of states when visiting. The royal couple started out their tour of Germany in Hamburg Friday.

The show of force was massive but so was the tribulation which greeted the King- and Queen-in-waiting.

According to the German daily Die Welt, the triumphant reception is especially important now, as Denmark is struggling for its reputation.

Ole von Beust, the Mayor of Hamburg, declared in his welcoming speech Friday Night that "we stand by Denmark in its fight for the basic rights of man and the freedom of the press."

This is what it is really about:

Law and power pitched against faith and fury

Sir, In a Danish children’s rhyme, a blacksmith commits a crime. Alas, as no town can exist without a blacksmith, a pardon is instituted and a baker executed to fulfill the demand of the law. All children react by saying how wrong that is. But essentially John Pontifex’s letter (Feb 2) contains the same message. Some Islamic hooligans commit crimes in Kirkuk and Baghdad, and he blames a Danish newspaper editor.

The notion of individual guilt and punishment is even more fundamental to Western civilisation than freedom of expression. The protests against the cartoons are not only out of proportion, they are also directed at innocent people. While publishing the cartoons may have been an insensitive act, the reaction seems to confirm all the worst prejudices about Islam.

Surely, the time has come for Europeans to reassert basic values and demand a sensible reaction from the Muslim communities.

JENS FREDERIK HANSEN
Attorney-at-law
Copenhagen

Jyllands-Posten, Saturday, February 18, 2006

Egypt orchestrated prophet-campaign

The Egyptian government played a greater role than previously known.

A memorandum from the Egyptian government shows that it began putting pressure on the Danish government immediately following the refusal of PM Anders Fogh Rasmussen to meet with the 11 Moslem ambassadors, Politiken writes.

The Danish ambassador was summoned to the Egyptian Foreign Ministry four days after the Danish refusal.

According to the memorandum which Politiken has in its possession, a high-ranking Egyptian official demanded that the Danish government distance itself from the cartoons "by publicly condemning ridiculing Islam or the prophet." The Danish ambassador was also warned of "a possible escalation of the matter," says the memorandum.

Former Foreign Minister Niels Helveg-Petersen thinks this is a liability to the Danish government.

Foreign Minister Per Stig Møller did not wish to comment. The Spokesman on Foreign Affairs for the Liberals, Troels Lund Poulsen has no information about the Egyptian memorandum and refers to Per Stig Møller.

"A Christian people which passively lets its ideals be trampled lets into its mind the cancer of decay."

"Truth is neither calm nor aloof. It bites and scratches and tears. Truth is not for the timid. They don’t need truth but a couch. The situation in Denmark will not improve before the people of Denmark learn from the courage of Christ."

Kaj Munk, a Danish Christian priest, refused to obey the speech laws during the Nazi occupation.

Hat tip: Thomas Lønbæk

Ann Coulter insults Ahamdinejad. And she’s a woman… I guess that must get his panties in a twist.

If you don’t want to get shot by the police, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, then don’t point a toy gun at them. Or, as I believe our motto should be after 9/11: Jihad monkey talks tough; jihad monkey takes the consequences. Sorry, I realize that’s offensive. How about "camel jockey"? What? Now what’d I say? Boy, you tent merchants sure are touchy. Grow up, would you?

ROFL!

Hat tip: E-nough