Something's rotten in Denmark.
Pascal-Adolphe-Jean Dagnan-Bouveret
Hamlet and the Gravediggers, 1883
No doubt there will be a million blogs with this title somewhere in the text.
But there is something rotten. The JYLANDS-POSTEN editorial board has caved and issued a dhimmi statement if ever I heard one. Not good.
Something is rotten and it's islamofascism. I'm having a very pre-WWII vibe recently and I feel the need to keep an eye on the sitch over there kind of closely. My love of history means I am conscious of things that have gone before. It's interesting. I am definitely getting the feeling that I am living in a significant times.
I've always romanticized the Scandanavian region. First, there was Heidi. And I don't mean Fleiss or Klum. One of the first history books about WWII I remember reading involved kids on sleds in Norway carrying secret information under the noses of the rotten nazis. I wish I could remember the name. I can't. I've also had occasion to have professional relationships with a Dane, a Finn and a Norwegian. Lovely people, each and every one. Back in the day, Liv Ullman, Ingmar Bergman, I was all over there cinematic behinds.
Dateline: Denmark.
Trade issues are bubbling up.
The EU warns Saudi Arabia not to give its official support to a boycott of Danish goods EU officials spoke out on Monday on the growing conflict between Denmark and Arabic countries over the daily newspaper's publication of caricatures of the prophet Mohammed.
"snip"
'If the Saudi Arabian government has called for a boycott of Danish goods, that would mean they have called for a boycott of the EU, and that would be a matter for the WTO,' said a spokesman for Commissioner Mandelson.
The EU has found itself walking a thin line in the dispute, which flared up in earnest on Thursday when Saudi Arabian stores began boycotting Danish dairy Arla's products in protest over the Danish government's reaction to a newspaper's publication of caricatures of the prophet Mohammed, an act considered blasphemous by many Muslims.
Here's the sad part...
"many commissioners have expressed their disdain for the newspaper's cartoons, some of which featured Mohammed as a terrorist. "
There's also this from Denmark
As the list of countries boycotting Arla grows, the dairy is forced to halt operations in Saudi Arabia An Arabic boycott of Danish products has forced Danish-based dairy Arla Foods to close its plant in Riyadh.
Arla is one of the largest international dairy food producers in the world and it has over 800 employees in Saudi Arabia.
Sales in Arabic countries have ground to a halt as the boycott spread from Saudi Arabia and Kuwait to states throughout the Middle East and North Africa, forcing the company to stop production.
Arabic countries are boycotting in protest over Denmark's reaction to newspaper Jyllands-Posten's publication of 12 cartoons in September, an act considered blasphemous by Muslims.
The majority of Arla's employees in Saudi Arabia are local hires. None risk losing their jobs for the time being, nor have any of the company's Danish workers been withdrawn.
Three dairies in Denmark are also affected by the strike, but Arla officials said it was still too early to say if any Danish employees would be laid off as a result.
Over the weekend, two Arla employees were injured in separate events when their trucks were attacked. The employees, both Arabic, were said to be shaken, but escaped unharmed.
Dateline: Norway.
Members of the al-Aqsa Brigade burned a Danish flag, and a Norwegian ForeignDateline: Finland.
Ministry official said the ministry has alerted Norwegians to the groups'
threats.
Anne Kjersti Shaw of the ministry said efforts had been made to contact aid workers "who we know are in the Gaza Strip. We have coordinated their travel out of the area."
At the same time, the ministry is advising Norwegians against travelling to Gaza "unless it is absolutely necessary."
The Arab League and the 57-nation Organisation of the Islamic Conference, meanwhile, have requested a UN resolution that would forbid attacks on religious beliefs and another that would impose sanctions on countries that don't abide by the resolution.
I searched and searched and could find nothing about the Middle East any where on their English version home page. I tried reading the Finnish version. Alas, it was all greek to me.
When a stranger on
the street smiles at you:
a. you assume he is drunk
b. he is insane
c. he's an American
Err... isn't he? This one is getting a bit dated, really. Nobody smiles at you on the street, but the reason is that they are too busy talking into a cellphone or downloading their e-mail from a PDA to recognize anything much more than a few feet of sidewalk immediately in front of their feet.
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