Agora

Thomas Koppel, Danish composer and musician, has passed away at the age of 61. During his too long life, Mr. Koppel was known in Denmark for his life-long support of all things foreign, except, that is, if they were American. When younger, Mr. Koppel took his band on tours of the communist world and Albania was often their destination. There they declared their solidarity with Enver Hoxha and his romantic revolution, which cost numerous human lives and untold human suffering. The people of Albania are no longer very sympathetic to Mr. Koppel though he supported them for all those years; ingrates I suppose.

Recently, he and his wife declared themselves against free speech, a move puzzling to observers since they seemed to use their right to free speech quite extensively. A quote from the late Mr. Koppel:

Neither the newspaper nor Anders Fogh have ever worried about freedom of speech before, and have done all they could to take it away. We don’t have freedom of speech in Denmark anymore, unless we’re prepared to take the risk to get treated like a "terrorist". The Danish "terror Law" is a constitution-breaking hoax, that hasn’t brought any terrorists out into the light, but has instead been used against freedom of speech (remember Greenpeace and "Foreningen oprør").

The case of Greenpeace being a case where Greenpeace as an organisation was fined 50000 DKK for breaking and entering in order to protest the manufacture of Gene Modified crops and the case of "Forening Oprør" (The Rebel Association) being a case of a website being ordered off-line because it was soliciting funds for terrorists organisations, such as FARC in Colombia and Hamas in the Palestinian areas.

This, of course, was all it took for Mr. Koppel to think that "all is fair in love and war" and to ordinary Danes it became increasingly clear that he was not on their side.

Though Mr. Koppel was often accused of oichophobia, he is quoted to have said: "I don’t have a problem with Denmark, I just don’t like Danes…."

Though he had a problem with the United States, he resided there for the last years of his life, enjoying the God-given constitutional rights of that country over the oppression of Red China, with whose politics he was infinitely more attuned. He did reside in California, though.

Rest in pieces and don’t come back, Mr. Koppel.

Piss be upon you.

In lieu of totally abandoning the one-worlders’ idea of the UN and demoting it to a forum for the has-been politicians to draw their checks from, this statement from John Bolton makes me want to embrace the man and appoint him Secretary General:

Envoy blasts U.N. ’sex and corruption’

NEW YORK — The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations said Saturday the world body is hobbled "by bad management, by sex and corruption" and a lack of confidence in its ability to carry out missions. John Bolton also criticized the U.N.’s budget, noting that two-thirds of members pay only 20 percent of the cost, in a speech at a symposium held by the Federalist Society, a conservative law organization. Bolton, a longtime critic of the U.N., has been leading U.S. efforts to reform it after the oil-for-food scandal and sex scandals involving U.N. peacekeepers.

Compare, please, with this statement from the current Secretary General who, while his troops are committing murder and rapine in several African nations, has discovered a sudden interest in cartoons:

In truth, the present conflicts and misunderstandings probably have more to do with proximity than with distance. The offensive caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad were first published in a European country which has recently acquired a significant Muslim population, and is not yet sure how to adjust to it. And some of the strongest reactions – perhaps especially the more violent ones – have been seen in Muslim countries where many people feel themselves the victims of excessive Western influence or interference.

The prick. Not only does the man have no sense of shame:

And I think the other thing that has hurt the organization, myself and the staff, is the distraction that has been caused by these politically-motivated campaigns against the UN and against instances of corruption by staff members blown completely out of proportion. In fact when you look at the records and the facts, up to $36 million of investigation, and the kind of scrubbing the UN was given, only one staff member was found to have, maybe have taken $150,000 out of a $64 billion programme. If there was a scandal, it was with the companies and not so much with UN individuals. There may have been instances of mismanagement, yes, maybe we didn’t manage it effectively, but not corruption. Accusations which have really hurt quite a lot.

He also has a son who has no sense of shame:

Wednesday’s report said the panel found no evidence that Kofi Annan had interceded on behalf of Cotecna and no conclusive proof that he knew of his son’s activities. But it provided fresh details suggesting that Kojo Annan, 31, may have obtained privileged information about U.N. business deals from his father’s personal assistant and from contacts in the U.N. procurement office. It also asserted that Kojo Annan abused his father’s diplomatic status to secure more than $20,000 in breaks on taxes and customs fees for a Mercedes-Benz he bought in Geneva in 1998.

I find the accused guilty of crimes against humanity and sentence him to ‘cruel and unusual punishment’. I know you US types have a problem with this sort of thing, so why not offer him an inspection tour of the facilities in Guantanamo?

Hell, if the Sudanese government were a bit less islamo-fascist, I might even sympathize with them for not wanting UN troops in their country. OK, I do sympathize with them on that count, but not for their reasons. When bureaucracy creates alienation of responsibility, who would really want soldiers controlled by bureaucrats in their country?

Hat tip: Filtrat

Michelle Malkin has covered this subject rather extensively, so here’s a few links to her stories:

UN rapes Haiti

UN rapes Bosnia

UN rapes Congo, UN prostitutes Congo, French UN official rapes Congo children

UN rapes Africa

UN rapes the UN

So, to revisit events, what happened was that Information on the Morning of Friday February 24 published an article containing among other quotes, these:

"The Danish government ought quickly to announce that Denmark does not accept denigration of the Prophet Muhammed such as the cartoons in Jyllands-Posten gives voice to. Denmark should apologize for what’s happened and make it clear that the Danish government wants nothing to do with the cartoons." So says Namik Tan, official spokesman of Abdullah Gül, foreign minister of Turkey.
[…]
"This issue is not about Freedom of Speech. This is no different than if these cartoons had anti-semitic content. If Denmark persists in insisting that this is about Freedom of Speech, it will be very difficult to proceed," Tan is quoted as saying.

The Danish government responds harshly in parliament while frantically trying to get some sort of clarification or verification of these.

Jens Rohde, spokesman for the PM:

"The Danish government can under no circumstances apologize for the actions of a private newspaper," Jens Rohde is quoted as saying to Ritzau.

"This doesn’t exactly make them more qualified to be mediators - nor does it help them qualify to be members of the EU, to be frank," Jens Rohde says of the Turkish statement.

The Turkish government backpedals big time, the spokesman quoted in Information saying he was "misquoted":

The spokesman Tan, however, negated the quote referred to him:

"I said nothing of the kind in my written statements. In fact, anyone would be sure to know that Turkey would not adopt such an attitude towards the issue at hand."

Notice the weaseling going on here. How about his oral statements? Is this man going to claim that oral sex isn’t really sex like Clinton did? That would be funny.

Later in the day, Abdullah Gül, FM of Turkey says this to a DR reporter:

He could say that: "Definitely there is a freedom press in my country. But at the same time we are not happy with these cartoons. We are not happy to see that these cartoons are insulting to others. So the freedom of press doesn’t mean that insulting to others’ identity or religion."

So this man is supposed to mediate for us? That might be fine if he was the pope and anti-Danish statements weren’t leaking from his Ministry like spunk from a freshly fucked goat (no relation, I’m sure).

On with the story, the Ambassador to Denmark of Turkey on Deadline, a Danish news program, says of the Turkish position on a Danish apology:

The Turkish government does not wish to revisit this aspect of the question. And we think that we should be looking into the future, we should be trying to find ways and means to defuse the crisis and should exert all our efforts in that direction.

[…]

We think that we… I think that my answer is clear. We think we should just look at the ways to defuse this crisis right now and move on in that direction. I think it is quite obvious.

Pressed by the host, the Ambassador says this:

No, I am saying that we have never made such a request. We did not make a request.

No you didn’t, the government would have known about such a request immediately. But a ‘high-ranking official’ of yours - in fact as high ranking as they get below the level of ministers - leaked that you think Denmark should apologize. And when you were confronted with this, you didn’t deny it. You did the weasel-dance. Evaded responsibility. Watching that ambassador evade the question may be the most lying show I have seen since the Clinton tapes.

In conclusion, since Information has yet to accept that they ‘misquoted’ Tan the Spokesman, I am going to assume that they quoted the spokesman correctly. I think there is only one possible conclusion to this; that Turkey really does consider a Danish apology to be something they owe to Moslem countries around the world; that Turkey is playing this issue low-key because they do not want to get caught like a rock between a rock and a hard place; and that a considerable group in the Turkish Foreign Ministry has no sense of what to say and what not to say. The SPOKESMAN of the Turkish Foreign Minister ought to be able to know what it is proper to say to the press.

This whole affair has been handled horribly by the Turkish Foreign Ministry. Apart from the fact that this should never have been leaked, for Abullah Gül to go on the air and give fatherly advice to Anders Fogh Rasmussen is a reversal of roles the like of which I have not seen for some time. And it only acts to spread uncertainty about the true position of Turkey - and that just after uncertainty has already been spread.

Turkey claims to be a secular democracy and yet they persecute the brave Kurds and imprison people who say that the Young Turks committed a genocide against the Armenians, when in fact they did. For us to ask them to ‘mediate’ for us would be folly in the extreme. They can mediate for us when a Turkish journalist shouldn’t worry about imprisonment with no chance of habeas corpus if they even mention the atrocities committed in the name of Turkey. Sure, the Turks are probably better than the Iraqis at upholding basic human rights, but that isn’t exactly saying a lot. We should stop treating these people like equal partners when the only place they are the equals of us is on the Soccer field. And we should send them a note asking them to please shut up.

And when Turkey applies for membership of the EU, we ought to show them off the premises in a brisk and efficient manner. These are not the kind of people we want completely open borders with. These are Slick Willies by the boatload.

I think that the fact that the Turks have so far vacillated speaks volumes of the importance of being firm with the Islamists. The Turkish Ambassador was after all one of the people who started the cartoon protests. Turkey was the only country we might expect any vacillating from, and when we stood firm, they broke. Now that we are having fits of ‘initiatives’ and such things, the Turks are yet again trying to play us.

This is a transcript of a segment by the Danish Deadline news program on DR. Link to Deadline homepage. This link will go dead after a week. To get to the segment I am transcribing, choose "fredag 24. feb. 2006"  in the drop-down menu on the right, then 22:30 in the box on the left. Then press the first link from the top to view the program and go to the timestamp indicated below.

It is indicated by DK when I translate from Danish

[02:45 into Deadline]

HOST[DK]: Turkey offers to help settle the conflict between Denmark and the Islamic World. But what is the position of Turkey on the prophet crisis? Is an apology from Anders Fogh Rasmussen needed? What is the position of the Turkish government? I have asked the recently appointed Turkish Ambassador to Denmark following a day of conflicting signals from Ankara.

VOICE[DK]: First a spokesman for the Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs said to the newspaper Information today that Denmark must apologize for the insult to the prophet Muhammed by Jyllands-Posten.

TEXT ON SCREEN[DK]: Denmark should apologize for what has happened and make it clear that the Danish government distances itself from the cartoons.

VOICE[DK]: The statement in the newspaper caused the Danish government to contact Turkey in order to get a clarification.

ANDERS FOGH RASMUSSEN[DK]: I have been informed that the Turkish government has denied making public any statement calling for the Danish government to apologize.

VOICE: Later today the Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs suggested that the Danish PM might say this:

ABDULLAH GÜL: He could say that: "Definitely there is a freedom press in my country. But at the same time we are not happy with these cartoons. We are not happy to see that these cartoons are insulting to others. So the freedom of press doesn’t mean that insulting to others’ identity or religion."

HOST: Welcome Mr. Akat. You are the Turkish ambassador to Denmark. Now there were a story in the Danish papers today that your Foreign Ministry wants an apology from the Danish government. Then there were new statements from Ankara. Now, can you explain to me: Does the Turkish government want a apology from the Danish government?

AKAT: Well, I also saw that news in the press this morning. And in the afternoon our spokesman from the Foreign Ministry made an announcement saying that he was misquoted and that we did not make such a demand.

HOST: But I am not asking you what the spokesperson said. I’m asking you: Does the Turkish government want an apology from the Danish government?

AKAT: The Turkish government does not wish to revisit this aspect of the question. And we think that we should be looking into the future, we should be trying to find ways and means to defuse the crisis and should exert all our efforts in that direction.

HOST: But you say you want to move beyond this question. That’s not really answering. Does the government of Turkey think that it would be constructive if the Danish government issued an apology?

AKAT: We think that we… I think that my answer is clear. We think we should just look at the ways to defuse this crisis right now and move on in that direction. I think it is quite obvious.

HOST: Mr. Ambassador, I think you understand that this is important to me. The question is… You don’t want tonight to say whether or not the Turkish government says that an apology would be in its place? Is that correct? You don’t want to answer that tonight?

AKAT: No, I am saying that we have never made such a request. We did not make a request.

HOST: Now, in the future, how would the Turkish government react to other governments demanding an apology from the Danish government - say, the Syrian government, the Saudi-Arabian government… How would the Turkish government comment on such a request?

AKAT: Well, I think we have made our position quite clear on this matter. We’ve had our Prime Minister, our Foreign Minister make statements. We’ve all talked many times that - yes - the caricatures have.. has offended the Moslem world. But on the other hand we have, we do not also condone the violence that has erupted in protestations against these. So, it is now in the interests of all to.. to find ways and mean to.. to defuse the crisis… and also trying to find strategies and educational approaches in the prevention of the recurrence of such incidents.

HOST: But, but, Turkey is also saying it would like to help, as you’re saying here, would like to find ways and means to go forward. One of those of course would have to be to address the governments who are asking the Danish government for a formal apology, for instance in the OIC, where, the all-Arab organization, Moslem organization, where Turkey has a seat. Now, how would you react to other governments who would still like an apology from the Danish government?

AKAT: Well, I can only talk, of course, for my own government. And I think that we, we have to dwell on, now as to how we.. what we must do, what kind of measures we must adopt for the prevention of these incidents happening again. Because it’s very important that we take the right lessons from this incident and go on from there.

HOST: And there is of course the suggestion that Turkey assumes some sort of role as a mediator. What exactly does that entail in your mind?

AKAT: Well, our Foreign Minister has been invited to a meeting of.. an inof.. an unofficial meeting of the European Union Foreign Ministers on the 11th and 2nd.. 11th and 12th of March where he will be able to discuss with his colleagues what we can do; perhaps our views on this matter. And only after that, I think, our role can be defined. First of all, there has to be a.. a.. willingness on the part of the European Union and the related parties for us to do something about this issue [HOST tries to interrupt] We have to discuss it with them and it is too early at this stage to what kind of a role we can play, but it is sure that we would like to play a constructive role if that role is given to us.

HOST: The Danish government has not been exactly jubilant about this, they haven’t really welcomed this in open arms, they’ve been rather reluctant. How do you read that?

AKAT: We have to see what happens on the meeting on the 12th and 3rd of March, because maybe the European Union countries will come to a decision all together in asking - or not asking - Turkey what to do. But I think that we.. I think that most people think that we have a constructive role to play, because we are the co-sponsor of the Alliance of Civilizations, an initiative that was last year initiated by the United Nations’ Secretary General and we co-chair it with the Spanish Prime Minister, and also there is a high-level group.. there of wise men which also a Turkish Minister of State co-chairs and there is a meeting tomorrow in Doha of this high-level group. Now, it will be.. we will be able to see what kind of… let’s say.. thinking comes out of that meeting as well. So we’ll be able to see what’s going around in that context as well.

HOST: Mr. Ambassador, thank you very much for coming.

AKAT: You’re welcome.

[10:17]