Visit Denmark: Tourism Bureau Unveils New Ads

Denmark Introduces Harrowing New Tourism Ads Directed By Lars Von Trier

On Denmark's editorial pages, "there has been a total agreement that it is a necessary war"

While the "popularity of the international campaign in Afghanistan has fallen across Europe and in the U.S.", writes the Wall Street Journal's Alistair MacDonald (tak til Vincent),

the Danes have largely maintained public support for the effort, selling the mission as a humanitarian effort rather than simply protection against a terrorist threat, and building consensus among political parties. They have reaped the benefits of a largely supportive media and the country has, to some degree, rediscovered its pride in an active military.

In addition, incidentally, the British criticism of the U.S. ignoring its allies in tales of war and combat is turned against the Brits:

"When I read a U.K. paper its just like, the U.K. and nobody else" fighting, [Danish Defense Minister Søren Gade] said.

Finally, a chicken hawk charge ("if you haven't served or aren't serving, you cannot support") is pointed out — in reverse.

When troops say, " 'We did a job and we did it good, and it is worth doing,' then it is very hard indeed for a lot of people to oppose, because those are the men and women who risk their lives," he said.

Danish Troops Storm Ship Captured by Somali Pirates

Danish special forces have stormed a ship captured by Somali pirates, reports the BBC, and freed 25 crew members.

…it was the first time a warship had intervened after pirates boarded a vessel.

Troops in inflatable dinghies moved in after a distress signal from the Antigua and Barbuda-flagged Ariella.

Update: "Denmark over the past few years has been increasing an emphasis on its special forces," writes Sharon Weinberger, "which consist of the Jægerkorpset, an Army unit similar to British commandos, and the Frømandskorpset, the rough equivalent of U.S. Navy SEALs. Not only have they grown their ranks; they are seeking action as well."

"Events happen rapidly in our field, and if we are to measure up to the best special forces out there, it doesn't do any good if we only train," the special forces corps chief, Lt. Col. Henrik Friis, said in 2005, according to the trade publication Defense News. "We need to get out and complete some missions."

R.I.P.

A Reformer in the NATO Henhouse

…what a surprise the ambassadors were dealt two months ago when the new secretary general, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, entered the alliance headquarters

writes Judy Dempsey.

Mr. Rasmussen, who gave up his job as prime minister of Denmark — the first time that a politician of such rank has taken over NATO — lost little time before he tried to change the internal workings of NATO.

There are fewer meetings. Agendas are shorter. Discussions are to the point. And Mr. Rasmussen, with pen in hand, ticks off what has to be done, by whom and when.

To the U.S.-led military alliance, whose structures and procedures have barely changed since it was founded 60 years ago by only twelve member states, these developments amount to a revolution.

And they come at a time when NATO, fighting its biggest war yet, in Afghanistan, urgently needs more efficiency in its deliberations.

“I am here as a reformer,” Mr. Rasmussen, 56, said in an interview. “I want to modernize, transform and reform so that NATO adapts to the security environment for the 21st century.” That means, he said: “In a rapidly changing security environment, we have to make sure that NATO is able to make rapid moves. Otherwise NATO will not maintain its relevance in the future.”

Previous secretary generals have attempted reforms. But they quickly came up against an unshakable lethargy.

… NATO is still agonizing over a new strategic doctrine to reflect its changing role. This is made more urgent by the war in Afghanistan. NATO also is involved in counterpiracy operations in the Gulf of Aden and is still heavily committed to Kosovo in the Balkans. And even though Mr. Rasmussen wants NATO to reach out to China and India, can it really do so if it lacks a new doctrine to explain its role in the 21st century?

That is why Mr. Rasmussen broke with tradition in yet another matter: He appointed an outsider, former Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright of the United States, to lead a group of 12 experts, independent of the ambassadors, to work out a new strategic concept for NATO. Mr. Rasmussen did so to break down the wall of exclusiveness and secrecy that is often associated with the alliance. The panel will be answerable to him, not to the ambassadors.

“I want discussions over NATO’s future to be the most open, the most inclusive consultation process in NATO’s history,” he said. “We have to address properly the new threats such as proliferation, cyber security and climate change, and move away from Cold War thinking.”

…Mr. Rasmussen wants to tackle other internal workings of the organization: What to do, for example, with the plethora of committees, “300 at least,” he said. All require decisions by consensus.

Then there is the sheer size of the military command structure, which has 13,000 personnel scattered across Western Europe at NATO’s many military bases. When France rejoined the integrated military structure in April, it was hard pressed to send 900 top-notch military staff to the various NATO commands. It needed them at home. Mr. Rasmussen said slimming down the military staff and all the NATO military headquarters “was included in my plans for transformation.”

Word Got Out That the Nazis Would Deport Denmark's Jewish Population

Today is the 66th anniversary of the rescue of the Danish Jews (mange tak til Larwyn)…

Anders Fogh Rasmussen répond aux questions du journal Le Monde

Dans une interview avec Nathalie Guibert et Jean-Pierre Stroobants, Anders Fogh Rasmussen répond aux questions du journal Le Monde. Par ailleurs (and totally unrelated), le tout premier numéro du nouvel hebdomadaire, Le Monde Magazine, a le Danemark en couverture…

We Are Red, We Are White, We Are Danish Dynamite!

Denmark's Anders Fogh Rasmussen becomes the next head of NATO, writes Berlingske Tidende (nearly all links in Danish). If finance minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen replaces the George W Bush ally (this [English-language] link seems to be proof that all (?) Bush administration photos seem to have disappeared from Obama's White House web site) as prime minister, as planned, he will be the third Rasmussen in a row (after Fogh and Poul Nyrup Rasmussen) to be prime minister of Denmark (Danish PMs have tended to be known by their middle names, recently — Nyrup, Fogh, Løkke)… In any case, you gotta love a guy who (for whatever reason) cancels a meeting with Barack Obama…

I strongly believe in the American dream: Danish common sense on "the type of witch hunt that is going on now"

I strongly believe in the American dream: Everyone should be allowed to pursue their goals in life through hard work, dedication and free choice and, just as important, they should be allowed to be proud of what they have achieved.

From Hellerup, Denmark, Peter Guldberg writes to the editor of the International Herald Tribune (last letter on the page, after a series of often much less sensible letters):

Even though I’m from Denmark, for a long time I have thought of the United States as my second home — at least in spirit. I have worked for a large part of my career either in the United States or abroad for American firms. My youngest daughter was born in New York and is an American citizen, a fact of which I am immensely proud.

I strongly believe in the American dream: Everyone should be allowed to pursue their goals in life through hard work, dedication and free choice and, just as important, they should be allowed to be proud of what they have achieved.

It is with this in mind that I feel ashamed when following the current debacle surrounding the A.I.G. bonus payments and reading the resignation letter of Jake DeSantis.

There have been a few low points in American history, which thankfully have been exposed and debated for a long time. Unfortunately, the type of witch hunt that is going on now has the potential to become another one.

It is so wrong that Congress should be allowed to circumvent legally binding contracts in order to cater to mob anger.

Statements made by the attorney generals of New York and Connecticut about making lists of people that should be publicly named and shamed are just frightening.

Commemorative Graphic Novel for Peter Madsen's Valhalla Series

Up in the great white North, Peter Madsen is bringing his 30-year-old graphic novel series, Valhalla (TV report in Danish), to a halt, which has given rise to a surprise party for the author, along with Thierry Capezzone's commemorative album by two dozen colleagues of his (including one by yours truly in collaboration with Sam Ménétrier)…

Although Peter Madsen is best known for bringing to life the Nordic gods of the Viking sagas and other trolls, he has also done stories about a God of a quite different character (along with the story of Job and a book series about the three most important feasts in the Christian religion)…

In Memoriam

The Images, the Allies, and the Spirit that the Media Has Overlooked

(Tak til Valerie)

Islamic Protestors in Paris Come Face to Face with an Unexpected Counter-Protest

"An eye for an eye! A tooth for a tooth!" Echoing protests around the world and wearing all kinds of costumes from the Middle East and the Muslim world, 4,000 Islamic demonstrators march through Paris denouncing the cartoons and the alleged (and convenient) lack of respect towards Islam.

When they arrive at La Nation, they are met with two figures wearing slightly different costumes and slightly different signs.

One, in red and white, is (silently) wearing a sign with the Danish flag saying "Support Denmark, Support free speech". Besides (silently) wearing a sign reading "Free Cartoonist" on it, the other, the founder of the BAF protest warrior-type organisation, is holding a (fake) severed hand, a pen among its fingers.

Voices start to ring out. "It's provocation!" "You tread on 1.5 million Muslims!" "Connards!" "Rat faces!"

"Ignore them, they are idiots!" reply others as a crowd starts to press around. A rhetorical question rings out: "Would they be carrying out the same provocations in other types of demonstrations?!" (Actually, Monsieur, yes we would and yes we have.)

The Danish American feels like replying that they have done the same to Chirac, to Mitterrand, to the civil servant salons, and to union demonstrations, but suddenly he and the French American start moving away. What has happened is that a short blonde Frenchwoman has tugged on their sleeves and gently but firmly started pulling them away.

"I will show you my ID 10 meters from here" says the plainclothes cop. "They are going to lynch you!" she adds, as she leads us into another street (in the movie taken by our valiant camera team, you can briefly see her wearing a brown coat, right after a bearded guy in white cap and tan jacket says "They are provoking us" and the camera turns).

"Sons of adultery!" "Hey, you two sons of the whore!" Uniformed policemen join us and start rushing us, more and more quickly down the street (I don't want to run, I tell them), with a growing crowd quickening their steps. A police van's door opens. "Go! Go!" shouts a policeman to the driver, "Foncez!" as sirens wail and the van rushes ahead.

"Are you out of your minds?!" ask the two officers. "Do you know how many of them there were?!" "Somebody's got to stand up for free speech", replies the French protestor. After staying with us for 20-something minutes, they let us out. (As a departing farewell, I say, "You know, right before you came, we almost had them surrounded.")

Watch the movie…

The Sad Reality of the Danes' Lack of Respect for Others' Culture and Beliefs

(Tip o' the turban to Zombie Time)

Strip Interview

Scandinavian readers may be interested to know that an interview with your webmaster has been printed in a Danish quarterly. (Then again, they may not care one way or the other…)

Proud to Be a Danish American

This flag is supposed to show smugness, condescension, and scorn with regards to Copenhagen's presence in the coalition of the willing besides the Danes' American brothers-in-arms, but never mind; as someone who is proud of Danish foreign policy in regard to the war against terrorism, I like Staffan Sommelius's banner anyway and intend to view it, and to take it, as I see fit…

Det er forbløffende mange steder nok at sige "amerikanske tilstande" og rulle med øjnene; al yderligere diskussion er overflødig

Anti-amerikanske argumenter hører i Danmark til blandt de allermest gangbare

skriver Henrik Dahl (thanks to Søren Johannesen).

Selv blandt mennesker, der opfatter sig selv som både dannede og følsomme. Hvad enten man taler om politik eller om USA's kultur og åndsliv, er det forbløffende mange steder nok at sige "amerikanske tilstande" og rulle med øjnene. Det øvrige selskab ved nøjagtig, hvad der menes. Al yderligere diskussion er overflødig.

Anti-amerikanismen bygger på fordomme og overgeneraliseringer, der er så horrible, at man ville blive slæbt i retten for overtrædelse paragraf 266b, hvis man gjorde noget lignende over for jøder og muslimer. Amerikanerne er primitive. Amerikanerne er som børn. Amerikanerne dyrker mærkelige plastic-religioner. Amerikanerne æder som svin. Amerikanerne har ingen kultur. Prøv at sætte en minoritetsgruppe efter eget valg ind i stedet for "amerikanerne". Det lyder ikke super-tolerant, oplyst og fordomsfrit, vel?

…At udtrykke sandheden om et verdensrige i nogle få sætninger – fordomsfulde eller ej – er dårskab. Og at være "for" eller "imod" er næsten lige så naivt som at være for eller imod vestenvinden. Til ethvert praktisk eller politisk formål er USA først og fremmest en kendsgerning, man må forholde sig til.

…USA har en anden politisk historie end Europa. USA var det første moderne demokrati og måtte opfinde sine demokratiske institutioner uden at skele til praksis i andre lande. USA blev til i selvforsvar mod den undertrykkende, britiske stat og blev befolket af mennesker, der flygtede fra undertrykkelse og fattigdom. Alt det er med til at forklare dyrkelsen af folkesuveræniteten, den nærmest forfatningsmæssige konservatisme i landet og traditionen for at dyrke den personlige frihed og være skeptisk over for staten.

…Betyder det, at man skal lade være med at kritisere USA? På ingen måde. …

Hvad jeg siger er, at vi skal fastholde vores politiske uenigheder med USA - men droppe enhver forestilling om, at Europa skulle være USA overlegen i moralsk henseende. For det første har ingen af de to verdensdele noget at lade den anden høre i moralsk henseende. For det andet er hele projektet forkert. Det er kun mennesker, der kan have et moralsk forhold til hinanden. Mellem lande hersker der politiske forhold, og jo flere moralske begreber, man blander ind i de politiske forhold, jo værre. Først bliver land X fremstillet som ondt. Så bliver indbyggerne i land X fremstillet som onde. Og så er indbyggerne i land X pludselig ikke slet ikke mennesker mere.

Det amerikanske folkevid er jævnt og ligefremt. Det siger blandt andet, at når man peger på et andet menneske, er der altid tre fingre, der peger på en selv. Det gælder i helt eminent grad for anti-amerikanismen.

Here we gø!
The start of æ new ådventure!