One of the last surviving monarchies, it has a thriving economy (probably because it stayed out of the Euro), provides the best argument against the American terror of “socialised medicine”, remains politically stable as well as mature (sufficiently mature to reject in a referendum most of the stupidities of the Maastricht Treaty that signed the rest of Europe up to German hegemony and the loss of national autonomy), and has maintained a successfully liberal society for decades.
Alas, in 2001, the right wing took over, and the usual right wing policies came to dominate: strict immigration controls, clamp-downs on Liberalism, etc. Nonetheless, Denmark remains one of the few countries in the world that are still worth living in, except that it’s dark for about a third of the year, and freezing cold for about a half.
Greenland and the Faroe Islands are self-governing territories that belong to Denmark, the latter disputed by both the United Kingdom, Iceland and Ireland, though the Faroese are also exploring the option of telling all of them to get lost, and going independent. This was about it for Denmark's appearance among the headlines, and given the nature of that dispute, the headlines tended to be on page 7, after the weather forecast but before the ice hockey. Until it all changed, and Denmark became a pariah state...
 |
| The original page in Jyllands Posten |
Because Denmark his the front pages, worldwide, with the publication of the "Mohammed Cartoons"in the newspaper "Jyllands Posten" in September 2005. Kurt Westergaard, who drew the most controversial of the twelve cartoons, the one showing Muhammad with a bomb inside his turban, survived an attack with an axe in 2010 and lives under permanent police protection. The latest incident happened on February 14th 2015, when a free speech debate at the Krudttonden cultural centre was attacked by a nutcase with a gun, who then killed a Jewish man outside the nearby synagogue; the free speech debate was being hosted by the Swedish cartoonist Lars Vilks, who also made his reputation with a cartoon of Mohammed, so we can assume that someone in the Moslem world will eventually claim responsibility, and that someone in the Jewish world will eventually use the event as a pretext to summon all Jews back to Israel (oh, they already have? both of my scenarios? but the incidents happened less than twelve hours ago!) Vive Charlie Hebdo!
Marks For: 8
Marks Against: 2
Copyright © 2015 David Prashker
All rights reserved
The Argaman Press
No comments:
Post a Comment