What's good for the GOOSE...
Oil giant Iran became the latest nation to impose penalties, saying on Monday it would cut off all trade ties with Denmark. Reuters reported that Iran imports $280 million worth of goods from Denmark a year.Meanwhile...
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Qatar's Chamber of Commerce said it had halted dealings with Danish and Norwegian delegations, while in Bahrain, parliament formed a committee to contact Arab and Islamic governments to enforce the boycott.
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Iraq's transport ministry also said it was severing ties with the Danish and Norwegian governments, a move that includes terminating all contracts with companies based in those countries.
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Danish-Swedish dairy company Arla Foods told Reuters it was losing $1.8 million of sales a day in the Middle East. Its products were removed from Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait.
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"Not a single sachet of a Danish product is left on our shelves," the director of a Kuwaiti supermarket told Reuters.
[N]on-Danish companies have rushed in to tell consumers about the origin of their products in a bid to keep them on supermarket shelves.I feel bad for Danish companies that did nothing to offend Muslims. But, if one Danish newspaper thinks nothing of insulting millions of Muslims so that they can express their contempt for a few, then how can Danish companies complain when millions of Muslims express their contempt for a few Danish companies by making them all suffer.Switzerland's Nestle, Italy's Ferrero and New Zealand's dairy co-operative Fonterra were among the companies putting out newspaper ads showing their products were not made or imported from Denmark, according to Reuters.
What's good for the goose is good for the gander.
There are many Danish people (one at this blog) who expressed regrets for recent events. And I don't suggest that any government intervene and prohibit or punish people for showing such poor judgment.
But, if Danish officials (and other prominent Danes) had acted swiftly to distance themselves morally from those kinds of base attacks against an entire faith, then innocent Danish companies most certainly would not find themselves in the position they're in today.
Shit, even CNN knows better.
CNN has chosen to not show the cartoons out of respect for Islam.I hope this is all over soon. The concept of free speech was designed to advance civilization, not to obliterate it.
posted by qrswave @ Tuesday, February 07, 2006
14 Comments:
I wish the Jews had done the same thing when Hitler started to caricature them - when Europe last went into its xenophobic frenzied tantrum.
This is why it is not free speech but politics:
Jyllands-Posten, which originally published the series of 12 cartoons ... has the largest circulation of any Danish newspaper. Denmark's Muslim community, only 170,000 strong, is one of the most marginalized and beleaguered in Europe, and the governing coalition includes a large party that is explicitly anti-immigrant and implicitly anti-Muslim. The paper's culture editor, Flemming Rose, claims that the decision to commission 12 cartoonists to lampoon Muhammad was just an attempt to start a debate in Denmark on self-censorship in the media.
Right-wing government with neo-Nazi coalition partner - with their spokesperson newspaper - that is not free speech - that is opportunistic politics.
The Danish government then refused to meet with ambassadors. At some point, enough is enough, and the Muslim world excercised its free speech, in the only way that breaks through the cacophony of the MSM in the West.
Looking even deeper, the roots of the problems are even deeper - and that it the military hegemony of the US - that suffocates the world. That is the disease, the rest are symptoms.
One-sided military strength is like a giant force-field that skews democracy, free speech, economics etc. all towards the centre of that field. The Romans had it, the Spanish, French, British all had it. Now the US has it.
Even our most liberal intellectuals in the US will not address this issue - for it is unpatriotic and treasonous. So, until we have a world government, the US military will have to be neutralized if the world is to prosper, for right now it spends more than the rest of the world combined and occupies 90% of the world.
It is amazing how intellectuals (including those on this blog) don't see the bullying and the occupation.
That neutralization can be intellectual, co-operative, or through war.
Unless that threat is neutralized, the US economy can survive all issues, because the military option can bring in free oil, free slaves, free resources from the rest of the world, masking any issues until a later date.
Take your free speech in identical dose:
In a new twist, Iran's best-selling newspaper on Tuesday launched a competition to find the best Holocaust cartoon.
The daily paper Hamshahri said the contest was designed to test the boundaries of free speech, the reason put forward by European newspapers for publishing the cartoons of Mohammad.
qrswave,
I guess the problem that I have with all of this is that these cartoons were first published last September, and it has taken 6 months and a re-publishing for the extremists to organize against what could be described as idiocy on the part of the publishers. This is not an instant reaction to offensive items, but a well planned demonstration that is getting ugly. There is an agenda here, just haven't quite figured out what it is.
Cyclone
Akber, I agree that these types of defamatory cartoons cannot be accepted against any faith, and that this unipolar world is grotesque and unsustainable.
I invite you to contribute and share your knowledge about the economic conditions in other areas of the world that we should learn about.
I'm not sure that Iran's proposal is very helpful as it is equating two subjects that are not comparable. Besides which, the point is easily articulated in a few words and does not need to be beaten to death.
Cyclone, I agree. There is certainly a deliberate effort to pit the West against Islam and vice-versa. It's distressing how so many people (on both sides) can be led to do such stupid things.
However, the delayed reaction by Muslims can be explained by the fact that it was not well known until very recently, and then more so when the other papers gratuitously published them.
It's a very disturbing turn of events and does nothing to help a global situation that is already spiraling out of control.
As has been said above, the ‘Danish cartoons’ were commissioned and published in September 2005. The commissioner/publisher (for more about them & their Bilderberg links see here:
http://thetruthserumblog.blogspot.com
/2006/02/bilderberg-and-prophet-cartoons-plot.html), not content with the 'limited' reaction in Denmark, decided to intensify his campaign by publishing in Norway, and then by onward publishing the issue throughout Europe & publicizing the issue in the Middle East. This re-publication was all based on the completely bogus explanation of expressing solidarity with the free speech rights of their beleaguered Danish colleagues. Of course, free speech was never the issue.
The cabal wanted to provoke the kind of violent protests in the Middle East that it felt would be useful in promoting anti-immigration policies in Europe, and in furthering their twisted political goals. They would have kept publishing until they got the response they wanted.
From http://www.atimes.com/atimes/
Middle_East/HB07Ak03.html
Free press? How come we hear so little from the same free press about European governments helping the US ferry people for extraordinary rendition - on no fewer than 800 flights over four years, according to Amnesty International - to be tortured in places where it is legal to do so? How is it that nobody in the European free press is talking much about the fact that Iran stopped any further discussion of its nuclear program because the three EU leaders who were parleying with them reneged on their side of the bargain, by not ensuring Iran security in the event of a foreign invasion?
We hear nothing from the free press about the fact that the success of Hamas in the recent elections may have more to do with its schools and health clinics for beleaguered Palestinian communities (while the generous 'international community' has abandoned them) than with its purported Islamic fundamentalism.
The 'free' media in the West do not bother to investigate the analogous events of September 11, 2001, or allegations that the Central Intelligence Agency itself may have been involved in the Bali bombings of 2002. It does not make any demands of the Bush administration to release the more than 1,700 pictures and videos of tortures and humiliations at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo that the Pentagon has kept away from the public eye.
We have to hear from bloggers on the Internet about the US forces in Iraq kidnapping women and girls related to suspected insurgents. Needless to mention, no dead American soldiers are shown on the TV screens of the Western media (though there is no bar on showing those killed by suicide bombers in Baghdad). How often is it remembered, not to speak of responsibility taken for the fact, that genocidal UN sanctions prosecuted by the West killed more than a million innocent people in Iraq in the 1990s? The free media in the West keep secret from the public the fact that the US has for years given asylum to proven terrorists such as Orlando Bosch and Luis Posada, wanted by Latin American governments for blowing up planes and suchlike. They are exempt from the 'war on terror'.
Above all, the media do little to ask for the impeachment of the consummate liars and mass-murderers who occupy elected positions in more than one Western democracy today, even as they pretend to teach lessons in political morals to less fortunate countries.
Free press? Or cowardly media eager to please the wealthy masters?
I am glad to see other sites that aren't afraid to speak up...
Kudos..
THE DANISH COMPANIES DIDNT DO A THING ABOUT THOSE CARTOONS LIKE DENOUNCING IT UNTIL THEY WERE BEING HURT FINANCIALLY,JUST TO SHOW WHAT THEIR PRIORITIES ARE.NEXT TIME THEY SHOULD SHOW MUTUAL RESPECT TO PEOPLE WHO ARE MAKING THEM WEALTHY BY SPEAKING UP SOONER BEFORE THINGS GET OUT OF HAND.
these phoney "its just free speech" blowhards are full of pure B.S.....yea, its "free speech" if its any number of swindlers in the "media" attacking Christianity or Islam,,but if even a purely legitimate exposure of jewish or israeli trangressions occurs suddenly the "media" and our "politicians" are crying "hate speech, hate speech!"....greasy disingenuous sellout hypocrites!
Byrne
Great post!
"People demand freedom of speech as a compensation for the freedom of thought which they seldom use."
- 19th-century Danish Christian philosopher Soren Kierkegaard
Zainuddin
The guy who stirred up all these cartoons claims to have a 1st amendment agenda, but his association with Daniel Pipes (of Campus Watch) argues otherwise.
Mr. Rose is a "clash of civilization" adherent and, as such, revels in stirring up the Muslim rabble.
Loads of groups get insulted every day in loads of different ways, particularly editorial cartoons. And that includes their sacred cows ... specifically because of the impact. It's a tool.
The motives of the publisher are transparent. I am susprised, however, that so many Muslims have taken the bait. Turning the other cheek may not be quite the truism for Islam it is for Christianity, but with all the real problems facing them, you'd think they'd be able to prioritise.
And that Danish companies kept quiet until they were directly impacted is standard procedure, particularly for Scandinavian businesses -- stay neutral for as long as possible. I work for a Swedish company and I always find it amusing how they deride nearly all American actions, but are jostling to be the first in line when it comes time to make a buck off of the opportunities they create. The perceived neutrality of the company's country of origin makes for great marketing schtick (we are able to operate in places where US companies would get way more flak, if they could even get in), but if push ever comes to shove, the Swedes know what side their bread is buttered on.
CNN may not be showing the cartoons, but I also doubt that's out of any particular 'respect for Islam'. Prolly more of a tactical decision not to add oil to an out of control blaze, and to take the position as 'the news network that cares'.
In short, what a laugh someone must be having today. Invasions, prison abuses, security games, power plays and more go by with minor incident. But a few Illustrator files run through the offset kick it off. Pens mightier than swords and all that...
I think the timing is of no coincidence. While US-Israel is so eager to start nuking Iran in March, suddenly another event occurs which allows our oh-so free TV to show pictures of angry and hateful islam people burning flags because they hate our oh-so free speech. After France, now it is time to burn some flags of scandinavia. So when US-Israel (should we call them USrael or IsraelUS ?) screams "Nuke Iran!" then most TV savvy people in Europe will say in unisono "Aye, sir!". Let's nuke those barbarians that boycot our lovely products because they hate the free speech. Let our nukes bring the democracy to them.
It is so transparent infowar: first publish and republish over and over stupid cartoon untill it pisses off one billion muslims around the world, then show 300 angry dumbheads burning flags that they just found conveniently sitting around the corner in a package with warning "Highly flamable!" on it.
this is exactly what those who thrive on to divide and conquer and by deception creat war want, getting friendly nations and people to turn against each otherso the imposters survive while we kill each other and destroybusisnesses so they can consume them. they use there mass media propaganda to creat there illusions. what we all need to do is see this and embrace each other and get those responsable out of public office and out of the media and other busisness period my wish the the Danish and Islamic people to see what is being done and work together with all the other good people of the world and find out who these imposters are and arrest them for crimes against humanity
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