Hugin

Refuse to Shake Hands with a Woman and Get 6,000 Euros

2010-02-23T13:33:00.001-08:00

Earlier this month, a 28 year old Muslim from Skåne was awarded just over 6,000 euros by a Swedish judge because he had refused to shake hands with a woman. One can wonder whether the woman maybe should praise herself lucky. After all, she wasn't convicted for racism for the simple fact that she thought she could shake hands with a Muslim man.

More than four years ago, Alen Malik Crnalic entered a course with the Swedish Public Employment Centre (Arbetsförmedlingen, AF) in order to find a job. In May 2006, he was on an interview in Älmhult for a trainee job as a welder, and during that interview, he refused to shake hands with the CEO of the company. The CEO happened to be a woman, and as an active Muslim, Alen Malik Crnalic says he's not allowed to touch women outside his own family. Apparently, he also avoided eye-contact with the CEO during the interview, and rather stared to the ground.

It should probably not come as a surprise that Alen Malik Crnalic didn't get the job. According to the company and the Public Employment Centre, he wasn't qualified for the job. Later he also lost his employment benefits. Alen Malik Crnalic didn't agree with that, and instead appealed the decision to the National Labour Market Board (Arbetsmarknadsstyrelsen, AMS). The Board rejected his appeal, but then it was picked up by the Ombudsman for Discrimination (Diskrimineringsombudsmannen, DO), and brought to court. There, the judge overruled the National Labour Market Board's decision, and awarded the man a 6,000 euro compensation. According to the judge, the claim by the man that he cannot shake hands with a woman because of religious reasons is valid. He should therefore have gotten the job even though he refused to greet the company's CEO, and the Public Employment Centre should not have canceled his unemployment benefits either.

Interviewed by the Swedish public broadcaster SVT, the CEO of the company repeated that the man didn't get the job because he simply wasn't qualified for it. She also added that she felt insulted by the man's behavior, since he shaked hands with everybody else during the interview except her.

The Ombudsman for Discrimination Katri Linna on her side welcomed the court's decision. In a comment, she said that it is unreasonable to cancel somebody's unemployment benefits simply because he refuses to shake hands with a woman in accordance to his religion and beliefs. According to her, Sweden is a multicultural country now, and has to accept that people have different ways to greet other people. One could wonder though what would have happened if the CEO had refused to shake hands with a Muslim job seeker because of her religion or beliefs, or where the discrimination would have been if the CEO had been Muslim and the job seeker a woman. To be honest, I'm not sure whether I should shake hands with Katri Linna if I would ever meet her, because you never know whether maybe it could be insulting to Muslim job seekers in Älmhult…

Somebody who certainly didn't agree with the judge's decision is the liberal conservative politician Bo Frank in Växjö. Asked for his comments, he says the female CEO should feel humiliated – and she does. In Sweden, people greet each other shaking hands, he says, and immigrants who want to live and work in Sweden should do that too. After all, integration is not just something for politicians and Swedes, but for immigrants too. The Sweden Democrats (Sverigedemokraterna) should not get a monopoly on what 90% of the Swedish people think, he added, and confirmed that he agreed totally with what Nalin Pekgul from the Social Democratic Women in Sweden (S-kvinnor) had said a day earlier on Swedish public television SVT. His remark that the Sweden Democrats are probably the ones the most happy with the judge's ruling was echoed many places in the press and on the Internet.

A Religious Strike in Norway

2010-02-11T12:11:00.000-08:00

Last week-end, almost a thousand taxi drivers went on what could be called a religious strike in the Norwegian capital Oslo and neighboring municipality Bærum. Muslim taxi drivers parked their cars both on Friday evening and Monday morning as a protest against Wednesday's front page of the Norwegian tabloid paper Dagbladet. That day, the tabloid ran an article about some of the “dangerous” pages the website of the Norwegian security service PST links to, and illustrated that with a screen shot of a cartoon showing the prophet Muhammad as a pig trampling the Qur'an.

Let's not be naive: the tabloid Dagbladet knew very well that it would create a new controversy when it put the cartoon on its front page. By its very nature, this type of newspaper depends on shocking front pages. Just like its biggest competitor in the market, VG, you can't get Dagbladet delivered to your door every morning, but have to go out and buy it at a shop. Therefore, its front page usually carries a big fat title involving celebrities, sex and violence – if possible, all three of them together – but occasionally, politics or religion will do as well. Apparently, on 3 February, Dagbladet's best shot at getting as many copies as possible sold that day was to put the cartoon, which already caused a stir in the nineties of the previous century, on is front page.

Whether or not the 3 February edition of Dagbladet sold particularly well remains unclear, but it sure got plenty of attention. Attention is seldom a negative thing for a tabloid, but it may well be that Dagbladet got just a little bit more attention than it really wanted. On Friday evening, Muslim taxi drivers parked their cars in protest, and repeated their action once more on Monday morning. Some of the interviewed taxi drivers said they were Norwegian citizens, and therefore deserved respect. They also wanted to show how much power they have in today's society, and that Norway – in particular its capital Oslo – heavily depends on them. This is certainly true when it comes to low status service jobs like e.g. taxi driving and cleaning, where Muslim immigrants are heavily overrepresented. And they illustrated their point very effectively both on Friday and on Monday: both times their actions resulted in long queues near railway stations and other popular taxi stops. If they had involved all Muslim bus, train, subway and tramway drivers too, the Norwegian capital probably would probably have come to a complete standstill.

A question that could be asked is, whether this really was such a smart move by the taxi drivers. Certainly, when asked for their opinion, people in the long taxi queues expressed their sympathy for the taxi drivers, though certainly not all of them. I'm not sure what I would have said to an interviewer with a thousand angry taxi drivers in the background, if I was still planning to take a taxi later on. But during the last years, immigrant taxi drivers in Oslo have been hit by a series of scandals involving drivers running multiple licenses at the same time while still cashing in on welfare benefits. While they work multiple shifts in their taxis, huge luxurious houses – some qualify them as “castles” – were built in their home countries, usually Pakistan. Once they've managed to gather enough money, they leave the country before the Norwegian tax authorities find out what's going on. Needless to say, Norway has missed out on several millions of dollars of tax money money due to this sort of schemes. Remarkably, none of these scandals has ever resulted in a strike or protest whatsoever by immigrant taxi drivers.

Recently, another issue has been added to the controversies surrounding immigrant taxi drivers in Norway. As in many other Western European countries, there has been a lot of discussion in Norwegians press lately about niqabs and burqa appearing in the streets, and in general the control immigrant women from Muslim countries are subject too. As some of the participants in the still ongoing debate pointing out, this “moral policing” is often performed by Muslim taxi drivers, as many of them work during the evenings and nights and effectively can hold an overview over who's doing what where together with whom in their neighborhoods – and in effect the rest of Oslo too. I probably don't have to spell out to the reader exactly what the goal of this “moral policing” is, but it probably suffices to say that the picture drawn of taxi drivers in this controversy again wasn't a very pretty one. At least not as perceived by the vast majority of Norwegians, but this could of course be different in the eyes of the Muslim taxi drivers themselves. Anyway, not so many protests where heard, nor were there reports of strikes against the lack of respect.

I therefore doubt whether the Muslim taxi drivers, and by extension all immigrant taxi drivers, gained so much extra credit by their actions on Friday and Monday. In fact, as Per-Willy Amundsen, MP for the Progress Party (Fremskritsspartiet , Frp), the largest opposition party in the Norwegian parliament, pointed out, the strike was not only unacceptable, but also unconstitutional. Interviewed by commercial broadcaster TV2, he said that Dagbladet had the right to print the cartoon, and that the taxi driver's actions were in effect strikes against the freedom of press and opinion, which are guaranteed by the Norwegian constitution. He remarked that if these strikes should continue, they could have many consequences, e.g. with regards to the taxi licenses. It should be noted that the Progress Party shares power with the Conservative Party (Høyre), the other big opposition party in the Norwegian Parliament, in the municipal council of Oslo.

The religious strike by the taxi drivers wasn't the only protest against Dagbladet's printing of the cartoon. On Wednesday evening, what appears to be Turkish hackers brought down the website of the newspaper in a so-called DDoS attack. Eugene Brandal Laran from Dagbladet reported from his Twitter account that not only Dagbladet, but also its competitor VG, were hit by the attack.

Arfan Qadeer Bhatti, the first person in Norway that was brought to court on the suspicion of terrorism, called for a demonstration in the streets of Oslo for tomorrow, Friday 12 February. According to the Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten, he had expressed hopes on his Facebook account that the demonstration could remain peaceful. Another person who expressed hopes that the printing of the cartoon would not result into any violence was imam Malana-hafiz Mehboob-ur-Rehman, even tough he feared the worse after an, according to him, “disappointing” meeting with Dagbladet's chief editor Lars Helle about the matter. During that meeting, the chief editor of the newspaper had refused to offer his apologies to the imam.

In these matters, I always find it difficult to know exactly what these men are hoping for and what they are fearing, and whether or not they're trying to sow thoughts in the heads of potential demonstrators. Last year, Oslo saw its most violent demonstration in twenty years when demonstrators smashed windows and damaged other properties in the center of the city as a reaction to Israel's Operation Cast Lead on the Gaza strip. New violence in the streets of the Norwegian capital can therefore not be ruled out. However, we have to assume that the two are honorable man, and that they're sincere in their feelings.

The cartoon that Dagbladet used on its front page resulted in mass demonstrations, the burning of flags, and probably a suicide attack back in 1997, when a Russian immigrant in Israel, the then 28 year old Tatiana Soskin, had put it up all over Hebron. She had to appear in court, and was later sentenced to two years in prison. Lars Helle seemed not to be aware of the fact that it was the very same cartoon that he had put on his front page that caused the mass demonstrations in Hebron in 1997.

No Western Assault Rapists in Oslo's Streets

2010-01-14T13:38:00.001-08:00

The police in the Norwegian capital Oslo revealed yesterday that 2009 set yet another record: compared to 2008, there were twice as many cases of assault rapes. In each and every case, not only in 2008 and 2009 but also in 2007, the offender was a non-Western immigrant. At the same time, in 9 out of 10 cases, the victim was Norwegian, not just by nationality, but also by ethnicity.

— Two men followed me home. When I opened the door to my apartment, they assaulted me, and raped me one after the other, a young woman tells NRK, the Norwegian public broadcast service. She is one of the victims of an assault rape of 2009.

According to the police, not a single one of the offenders had a Western background. Four people have been arrested. In all other cases, the victims reported that the offenders either looked like non-Western immigrants, or they spoke a non-Western language. Not a single case has been connected to a Western man.

Twenty-one cases were reported in 2009, the highest number since police started recording them in 2006. Nine of out ten victims were Norwegian – ethnically Norwegian – both in 2009 (17 out of 21) and 2008 (9 out of 11). Hanne Kristine Rohde, the spokeswoman for the Oslo police, raises the question what sort of view these offenders have on women.

She knows that these statistics are very controversial. Asked whether it isn't stigmatizing for a whole community that the police releases figures like this, she replies that she wants to contribute to a better and safe world. That's why she wants the truth to be told, and hopes that the debate will focus on that, she told NRK.

Can Only White People On The Right Be Racist?

2009-03-30T12:58:00.000-07:00

Last week, Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva attributed the current financial crisis to «white blue-eyed» people at a news conference. Strangely enough, the press hasn't attacked him for making such an overtly racist remark yet, and the British government even tried to play down the incident. The contrast with the reception Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi received when he made a bad joke about the then president-elect Barack Obama is quite striking, and it begs the question whether this is so because Silvio Berlusconi is white, or because he belongs to the right side of the political spectrum.

Let's just go back a few months to recapitulate what it was Silvio Berlusconi said about Barack Obama: he's «young, handsome and even tanned». Notice that he said this in an effort to make Barack Obama a compliment –Silvio Berlusconi is in fact known to take great care of his own tan–, but nevertheless, journalists all over the world were at him because of this racist remark. And it didn't of course help much that he later was quoted saying that the journalist who accused him of racism where «imbeciles».

Now contrast what Silvio Berlusconi said about Barack Obama to what Lula last week said about «white blue-eyed» people being at the cause of the current financial crisis, and not Indians, nor black, nor poor people. British prime minister Gordon Brown reacted to Lula's accusations by saying that the blame for the financial crisis should not be attributed to individuals, but Lula didn't do that either: he attributed the blame expressly to, well, in lack of another word… a race? The British government later topped the silly reaction of Gordon Brown by saying that Lula's words probably weren't intented for the larger public, as if that would make the comment less racist. It doesn't make much sense either, since president Lula was quite happy to elaborate on the subject when asked about it by journalists.

I can't help but imagine the outcry it would have caused if somebody like Silvio Berlusconi would have said something similar to what president Lula said, say, a decade ago, just after the 1997 Asian financial crisis. Why this difference in treatment? Is it because Silvio Berlusconi is a European, or because he belongs to the right side of the political spectrum? It just seems to me that some people will always be racist in the eyes of the journalists, no matter what they say or mean, and others never will be, no matter what they say or mean either.

EU's Window of Opportunity Closed on Iceland?

2009-02-03T12:29:00.000-08:00

On Sunday, Iceland's new social-democrat Prime Minister Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir was sworn in after eighteen years of conservative government on the island. She is the first female Prime Minister on Iceland, the world's first lesbian government leader and will lead a leftist minority cabinet at least until the elections of 25 April. She announced that a special parliamentary commission will be set up to consider EU membership, with the delivery date for its report set to 15 April, ten days before the next elections. She reassured at the same time that Iceland won't join the union without a referendum first.

It is amazing how the EU has been able to ruin its golden opportunity to let Iceland become a member of the union over the past few weeks. As I reported earlier, before Christmas the island found itself in such a dreadful situation that it probably would have joined the European Union on the spot if it had been offered the euro at the same time. In a video conference, the European Commissioner for Enlargement Olli Rehn even offered a fast-track handling of an Icelandic membership application, but remained rather unclear about when the island would be allowed to adopt the European common currency. It has become clear by now, however, that the European Union will not accept any exceptions to its own rules, and Iceland will have to wait for at least two years after its admission to the EU before it can join the Eurozone, just like any other country, that is, if it is financially stable by then. Of course, this makes EU membership a completely pointless option for Iceland, since the island is desperately looking for a solution to its awful monetary financial situation, and not exactly to, say, such an overpopulation of fish in its coastal waters that it needs Spanish and Portuguese fisherman to come to the rescue immediately. One could say that basically, the European Union is offering Iceland a swimming vest if it first gives up everything it owns and then can prove that it doesn't need the swimming vest in the first place by swimming to the shore on its own for at least a couple of times.

Many of the islanders are therefore realizing that the European Union isn't the solution to their problem, and recent opinion polls suggest that support for EU membership has dropped again to the levels from the times before the current financial crisis hit Iceland. They also indicate more support for the left, which makes Iceland in fact somewhat unique in a European context. The far-left anti-EU Green-Left Movement (Vinstrihreyfingin-grænt framboð) in particular has seen a dramatic uprise in its support among the population, and this is clearly one of the reasons why the party entered the government last week.

But while the EU seems to be doing almost everything wrong to win the minds of the Icelanders, other solutions are being discussed, and some even offered from abroad. One solution would be to tie the Icelandic krone not to the euro, but to the US dollar or the Swiss franc. At best, these two countries would be flattered – at worst, they probably couldn't care less. A more interesting option would be, as proposed by the Green-Left Movement's leader and new Minister of Finance Steingrímur J. Sigfússon, to use the Norwegian krone on Iceland. In fact, Norway's Minister of Communication Liv Signe Navarsete from the Center Party (Senterpartiet, Sp) said in a reaction that she was very positive to the proposal, and added that it's Norway's duty to help Iceland in a difficult situation. In fact, she was quoted saying that «nobody should be forced into the EU and the Eurozone because of economical problems,» but as the Norwegian financial paper Dagens Næringsliv remarked, it was unclear whether her offer was available to countries like the Ukraine, Croatia, Serbia or Turkey too. Norwegian Minister of Finance Kristin Halvorsen, from Green-Left Movement's Norwegian sister-party Socialist Left Party (Sosialistisk Venstreparti, SV), rejected the idea fiercely only one year ago, but seems to have changed her mind now.

Norway's offer for a monetary cooperation between Norway and Iceland is to be taken serious. The advantages for Iceland are clear: this would be an easy way out of the current financial problems for the island without losing its national bank, even though some services would be taken over by Norway's Central Bank. In addition, Iceland would not be forced into the EU. But let's not forget the advantages such a solution would bring to Norway: first of all, it would keep Iceland out of the EU, thus keeping the EEA alive. And it would also strengthen Norway's position in the Arctic and Barents Sea, something not only the EU but also the US, Canada and maybe most of all Russia should worry about.

It's already clear that the coming months and weeks will be deciding not only for the future of Iceland, but also for Norway and the other countries around the Arctic circle. Let's hope the people of Iceland can keep their heads clear and make the right decision when they go to the ballot boxes on 25 April.

Even in Oslo They Use Children as a Human Shield

2009-01-11T13:46:00.001-08:00

On Saturday there was yet again a demonstration against Israel's recent actions in the Gaza strip in the streets of Oslo. New this time was that children, wearing shirts drenched in fake blood, were used as a human shield to avoid violence. The attempt was futile though, and riots erupted at the end of the demonstration near the Israeli embassy.

On Thursday there had been another demonstration that resulted in what was later in the Norwegian press described as the worst street fights since the eighties in Norway. Apparently, a lot of demonstrators were provoked by opposition party leader Siv Jensen from the far-right Progress Party (Fremskrittspartiet, Frp). She had pointed out in an interview on national television that Mads Gilbert, one of two Norwegian doctors helping Palestinians in a hospital in Gaza City and who has been used recently as one of very few sources of news from the Gaza strip, belongs to the Norwegian Maoist party Red (Rødt) and clearly has a political agenda. It is noteworthy that this doctor was not surprised by and even defended the 9/11 attacks because of US policies and the moral right of the suppressed to attack the US, but it should be added that he also regretted the attacks because of all the innocent victims. Nevertheless, pointing out the background of this questionable doctor who has been used as an authoritative source of news from the Gaza strip by virtually all Norwegian media for the last fews weeks was clearly, well, shall we say «disproportionate», and apparently a legitimate reason to throw stones at policemen, set fire to several garbage bins and ruin store windows in the center of Oslo Thursday night.

The Norwegian Palestine Committee didn't want a repeat of Thursday evening's riots, and therefore thought it would be a good idea to have some Palestine children at the front of the demonstration, hoping demonstrators would restrain from any violence. To add a bit of realism to the demonstration, the children wore shirts drenched in fake blood, but it could not be confirmed whether the committee also had considered adding a few adult men in black uniforms carrying some rocket launchers to the group. Anyway, even though there was no violence reported during the actual demonstration, but a group of demonstrators continued to walk to the Israeli embassy, and once again violence broke out in the streets of Oslo.

It's a strange thing, how many of these recent demonstrations for peace in the Middle East have ended in riots, not only in Norway but in the rest of Europe too. Norwegian newspapers noted that almost no ethnic Norwegians could be spotted in Saturday's demonstration, and during Thursday's demonstration two immigrant gangs were notably present among the demonstrators, which in fact was a risk factor for violence and a worry for police in its own right. Some commentators have already suggested that many of the immigrant youths have used the recent events in the Middle East simply as an excuse to attract some media attention again, the suggestion being that they therefore are to be excused and thrown some more money at.

Will Iceland Join the EU in 2009?

2008-12-27T07:59:00.001-08:00

European Commissioner for Enlargement Olli Rehn said earlier this month during a videoconference with Reykjavik from Oslo that the European Commission is already mentally preparing for a membership application from Iceland, and that a rapid treatment of the application could not be excluded. He mentioned specifically that the island could become a member of the European Union already before the end of 2009, even before Croatia.

Iceland came in serious financial difficulties this year as a result of the global banking crisis, which made the banking sector on the island collapse completely. One of the side effects of that collapse has been that the Icelandic crown's value has fallen like a brick, hitting a large part of the population, even those who didn't actively participate in the island's banking adventure. It's not uncommon on the island to have the loan for the house or the car in foreign currency, primarily the euro, and some islanders found themselves these last months paying more on interests on their loans than they earn in a month's time. Even those who didn't take loans in foreign currencies were hit by the crisis, because local interest rates went completely through the roof, and fixed interest rates on loans are virtually an unknown concept in the country. As a consequence, several demonstrations took place in the local capital Reykjavik in November and December, some of them even ending in riots, a rarity on the island, even though we're still far away from Greek-anarchic style “demonstrations”. It is worth noting though that some of the demonstrations mobilized as many as several thousands of protesters, a significant number considering there live only 300,000 people on Iceland.

The island is a member of NAtO, EftA, EEA and the Schengen Area, but has so far kept itself outside the European Union. Opinion polls have always shown a large opposition against EU membership, and therefore Iceland is the only Nordic country that hasn't even organized a referendum on EU membership. One of the reasons why Iceland never has wanted to join the EU are the rich fishing grounds around the island, but recently the strong and very expansive banking sector became an argument too. Now that the latter has collapsed completely, the argument has disappeared too, and the EU wind on the island has shifted direction radically. According to the latest opinion polls, there would now be a large majority favoring accession to the EU.

This shift in opinion is the reason why former Icelandic Minister of Foreign Affairs Jón Baldvin Hannibalsson directly asked European Commissioner Olli Rehn during the video conference how soon Iceland could become a member of the EU. The island is in an emergency situation, and therefore needs an emergency solution. The response of Olli Regn was remarkably direct too: according to him, Iceland could count on an express treatment, if it were to apply, and join the Union already during 2009 – and the same applies for Norway too, he added. Other countries, like e.g. Croatia, have to exercise much more patience to become an EU member, and may have to see how Iceland is allowed to take a shortcut right before their nose. Both Iceland and Norway are already members of the EEA, and about three quarters of EU legislation is therefore already in place in the two Nordic countries, Olli Rehn cited as the reason why he thinks an integration into the EU would be so easy to complete.

But is that really the only reason? Obviously, having such a large part of the legislation already in place does play a big role, but the advantages an Icelandic and Norwegian EU membership would bring to the EU probably play an even bigger role. The banking sector on Iceland lays in ruins today and the island is virtually bankrupt, but it's not like the country has become an underdeveloped country, or would become in the near future. Chances are it would become a net payer to the EU within a relatively short period, certainly when compared to countries like, say, Bulgaria, Croatia, or… well, even Spain or Portugal. And by the way, now that we're talking about those two last countries, their governments probably already calculated and checked once again exactly how much cod and other fish their fishermen would be allowed to capture in the Icelandic waters would the island become an EU member. If it were up to them, Iceland could probably join the EU already next week if it's already too late to let it join the Union before the end of this week. Sure enough, the EU might try to sell the story about the express treatment of Iceland's EU membership application as one about mercy and sympathy for the poor island up in the North, but it's better to put not too much faith in it.

In fact, I'd rather like to warn the population and the government on Iceland against rushing into an EU membership to solve a short term problem. Negotiations will show whether Iceland will be allowed at all to join the Eurozone on the same day it joins the European Union. I'm afraid though that in the “best” case, Iceland will be able to trade in its fishing grounds for an immediate introduction of the euro on the island, but in the worst case, it will be confronted with an “armada” of Spanish and Portuguese fisherman catching all the cod in their waters, without even having the right to protest against it, at the same time as it is being denied admission to the Eurozone before the country is financially completely back on its feet. In that case, it will be a very unpleasant awakening from the current Icelandic nightmare in a few months or years from now.

When Is a Joke Racist?

2008-11-09T13:46:00.000-08:00

Whether a joke or comment is racist or not, highly depends on who makes it. When Barack Obama tells a racist joke, journalists are laughing tears, but when Silvio Berlusconi tries to make a compliment (though as usual in his own peculiar way), they hang him in the highest tree.

When asked about the pet he was going to get his daughters when they move into the White House, Barack Obama answered on his first press conference after his election that his preference would be for a shelter dog. And added that «a lot of shelter dogs are mutts — like me.» According to unconfirmed sources, some pedigree journalist had to laugh so hard at this joke that they had to be carried out of the press room.

On the other side we have Silvio Berlusconi, and he is definitely not funny. Certainly not according to the same pedigree journalists. During a visit in Moscow, the Italian Prime Minister called Barack Obama «young, handsome and sun-tanned», a «racist remark» causing an outrage amongst Italians. Racist remark? I have no idea how Silvio Berlusconi, who is well known to care a lot for his own tan, could make a larger compliment than trying to relate the new president-elect to himself. And outrage amongst Italians? I bet most of them couldn't care less, but the media always like to pretend that the 0.1% of the Italian population that has literally nothing else to do than to try to interpret Silvio Berlusconi's remarks and comments in the worst possible way represents more than itself.

Of course, one could argue that Silvio Berlusconi could have said something else, and for once could have avoided to try to make a compliment with a joke, but my feeling is that no matter what Silvio Berlusconi could have said about Barack Obama's election, the journalists would have tried to make a racist joke out of it. If he hadn't commented or alluded to Barack Obama's race, it probably would have been racist too, just because then he wouldn't have commented it.

Silvio Berlusconi isn't right though when he says that those who didn't understand his joke are «imbeciles», because they aren't. They understand all too well what Berlusconi said, and that it isn't racist at all, but as always, any stick will do to beat the Italian dog. On the other side, Barack Obama isn't funny either, but the journalists like him, and therefore they laugh. And according to them, the rest of the world too. Even if a lot more racism can be construed in the Obama's «joke» than in Berlusconi's comment. After all, exactly what is it that Barack Obama meant when he said he preferred a shelter dog, a lot of them «mutts like him»? Doesn't he like dogs with a pedigree then, just because they aren't like him, or not enough like him? Sounds much more like racism to me, at least if that's what I want it to be. Barack Obama is lucky he isn't half a Berlusconi.

Racism in the 2008 U.S. Presidential Elections

2008-11-06T12:40:00.000-08:00

For months, the media has been been whining about the Bradley effect that could have spoiled Barack Obama's victory in yesterday's presidential elections. Basically, the Bradley effect says that when there are two candidates, one white and one black, a significant number of whites intends to vote for the black candidate and says so too when asked by a pollster, but nevertheless, once in the voting booth they vote for the white candidate. Racism! But where's the outcry about 95% of African-Americans voting for Barack Obama, clearly a racist vote?

Let's just do the numbers and make some estimates. Historically, African-Americans have always voted for the candidate of the Democratic Party. In 2000, Al Gore received 85% of the black vote, and in 2004, John Kerry received the all-time-high of 90% of the black vote, both of them receiving more than Bill Clinton did in 1992 or 1996. If we take John Kerry's score as the baseline, i.e. 90% of the black vote, we would expect to see 45 votes for the Democratic candidate fore every 5 votes for the Republican candidate. That leaves an estimate of about 50% of the black vote for Barack Obama as primarily based on race.

These calculations do not account for another effect that might have played a role: black voters who otherwise wouldn't have bothered registering to vote this year primarily because of Barack Obama's race. A jump in the participation by the African-Americans in these elections compared to previous elections would indicate this.

Did this make any difference for the final outcome of the presidential elections this year? In order to check that, we can assume that the 50% of the black vote due to Barack Obama's race otherwise would haven broken into another 5% of the black vote for John McCain, and the other 45% going to Barack Obama. Even though the African-Americans represent 13.4% of the United States' population, they account for only about 10% of the votes in presidential elections. Therefore, if John McCain should have received 5% more from the black vote, it means that in total, he should have received 0.5% more than he did. I don't think that would have made a difference large enough to change the final outcome of this week's elections.

Anyway, even if it didn't influence the outcome of the elections, it seems clear that a large part of the African-American votes were primarily based on one of the candidate's race. Even if it isn't 50%, but only 40% or even 30%, these numbers are still huge. Therefore, I expect to see a huge outcry over this in the media the coming days, with lots of analyses about how racist some parts of the United States' electorate have become, maybe even some demonstrations and many strong condemnations from all anti-racist organizations all over the world. Don't you?

Metock Case Ruling: The Irish Were Right

2008-08-11T12:16:00.001-07:00

Two months ago the Irish held a referendum on the Treaty of Lisbon, and we all now know how it ended. One of the elements in the run-up to that referendum was the Irish concern for their abortion laws. Not only are the Irish so old-fashioned that they have an abortion legislation that simply doesn't fit in the mind of most liberal journalists, those islanders were stupid enough to think that the Treaty of Lisbon could liberalize it against their will too. That's why the Irish voted No, some argue, even after so many explicit promises by politicians that there was absolutely no reason to worry. On 26 July, the Court of Justice of the European Communities (Ecj) proved the Irish were right though: national law is subordinate to whatever would be made up on the European level, and as a consequence, the Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen got himself a huge internal problem this summer: after the ruling in the Metock case, the Danish immigration legislation is in effect completely void and worthless.

Here's a verbatim quote from the press release from the European Court of Justice:

A non-community spouse of a citizen of the Union can move and reside with that citizen in the Union without having previously been lawfully resident in a member state. The right of a national of a non-member country who is a family member of a Union citizen to accompany or join that citizen cannot be made conditional on prior lawful residence in another Member State.

This ruling came after a lawsuit started by four men who had sought asylum in Ireland. Their application was ultimately rejected by Ireland, but in the mean time each of them had married a non-Irish EU citizen, and wanted to appeal to EU law to obtain a residence permit in Ireland. However, the Irish state ruled that the EU law didn't apply because they hadn't stayed in another EU country before coming to Ireland, but the European Court of Justice rejected that argument and ruled the four men should be given a residence permit.

Almost immediately after the ruling was made public, a number of couples showed up «spontaneously» at the city hall in Copenhagen to demand residence permits for their respective non-EU spouses. As the reader probably already knows, Denmark has greatly restricted the possibilities to immigrate to the country since 2002, but the ruling in the Metock case threatens to bring the entire Danish immigration legislation down. To make things worse, this ruling comes on top of a small scandal that came to surface last month, when it became known that candidate immigrants had not always been fully informed about all of their rights and possibilities to enter the country and obtain a residence permit by the Danish immigration officers.

But let's go back for a while to the background of the current –or should I write former?– Danish immigration laws. Just like most other Western European countries, Denmark has a considerable group of immigrants that doesn't exactly always slip in seamlessly with the rest of its population. Forced marriages at a very young age with cousins or nieces from the home country that depend on social welfare programs for years once they've moved to Denmark were unfortunately all too common, hence the Danish government introduced a few concrete conditions into its immigration legislation over the last couple of years to tackle the problem. Not much of these conditions is left now, and even the Indvandringsprøve (Immigration test) that was planned for 2009 and that can be compared to the German Einbürgerungstest, but for immigrants, now comes into question.

For the sake of clarity, the Danish public radio DR summarized the situation like this:

Until now, spouses or children who wanted to use family reunification had to have a permanent residence permit in another EU country prior to their arrival to Denmark. The Metock case ruling removes this condition.
A Dane who comes back from abroad together with his non-EU spouse had to have been working as an employee or freelancer during his stay abroad. This condition has been reduced to a period of just a couple of weeks.
Upon his return to Denmark, the Dane had to be able to support himself and his or her spouse. This condition was already removed in December last year due to the ruling in the Eind case, also delivered by the same European Court of Justice.
Moreover, the EU also allows family reunification without having to consider the Danish rules like the minimum age of 24, the presence of stronger ties to Denmark than to the home country of the spouse, good living conditions and sufficient income, financial guarantees and the nephew-niece rule.

In practice all this means that a Danish immigrant now can rely on his European rights to circumvent the entire Danish immigration legislation. To make things clear: it suffices to spend the honeymoon on the other side of the Øresund in the Swedish town of Malmö having some simple job –cashier at a supermarket or taxi driver will do– and that's it: you're ready to import your bride or groom into Denmark.

Needless to say that the Metock case caused quite a stir at the right side of the Danish political spectrum. Pia Kjærsgaard from the Danish People's Party (Dansk Folkeparti, DF) said the government should simply ignore the ruling from the European Court of Justice. The conservative Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen from the Liberal Party (Venstre) replied that the Danish People's Party should perhaps rather cool down a bit from the recent summer heat. According to him it would be irresponsible to defy the judges of the European Court of Justice, because on a longer term, it would lead to many chaotic situations in the EU. It should be noted that Anders Fogh Rasmussen's minority government usually relies on the oppositional Danish People's Party to get a majority in parliament.

But what do the people in the street think about this? An opinion poll for the newspaper Jyllands-Posten showed that a majority of 57% disagrees with the Prime Minister, and wants to keep the Danish immigration legislation as it is. Only 33% of the people interviewed said they wanted the Danish legislation to be adjusted to the European. These results are in sharp contrast to the results of another poll though, conducted for the business newspaper Børsen , that suggested there is still a solid majority to abolish Denmark's four so-called EU exceptions to the Maastricht Treaty. Anders Fogh Rasmussen now wants to try to solve the problem using diplomacy, and joined forces with nine other EU countries, including Ireland, Finland and Great-Britain, to convince his other European colleagues to detail the rules on the free movement of workers more precisely.

And that's exactly the core of the problem: the rules for the free movement of workers weren't detailed enough, thus giving the judges of the European Court of Justice the possibility to interpret them as broad as they wanted. This also means that when the Danish politicians promised their voters that Denmark wasn't giving up its sovereignty by joining the European Union and then implementing a whole series of treaties and other «non-constitutions», they probably did so in good faith. And to link back to the Irish referendum: if the Danish immigration legislation could be wiped out like this by a simple European Court ruling, who says the Irish or Polish abortion laws won't be next in turn to be brought down by some European judges?

By the way, the U-turn Maria Wetterstrand from the Swedish Green Party (Miljöpartiet de Gröna) did earlier this year is very illustrating. Officially, the Green Party still wants Sweden to withdraw from the European Union, but personally Maria Wetterstrand came to the conclusion that Swedish EU membership isn't so bad at all. The reason? The way one can work with environmental issues in the EU, and that the EU isn't afraid to use all its means at its disposal to force solutions down on its member states. They probably don't need any further explanation with that in Denmark right now.

For those who do need one though: the European Commission seemed to be pretty excited about the Metock case ruling. But why on earth the Irish had to vote No to the Treaty of Lisbon so massively is still a complete mystery to them though.

Pakistan's Ambassador: «Mohammed Cartoon is Terrorism»

2008-06-07T03:52:00.000-07:00

Pakistan's ambassador to Norway Rab Nawaz Khan has formally submitted a complaint with the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs after the publication of a Mohammed cartoon in the newspaper Adresseavisen earlier this week. «Terrorism is carrying out an act that draws strong reactions. Muslims across the world are insulted by this cartoon, and therefore it is an act of terrorism,» the ambassador said in an interview with the Norwegian commercial television station TV2.

It seems like some Muslims just don't want to understand that an insulting cartoon can't be more than just that: an insulting cartoon. Saying that a cartoon in a Norwegian newspaper is the same thing as blowing up the Danish embassy in the capital of Pakistan only shows the distorted world view some of them have.

In the interview with TV2 Pakistan's ambassador says he is «concerned», since the publication of a cartoon in Adresseavisen may put the lives of Norwegian citizens all over the world in danger. Furthermore, he points out that a number of Norwegian companies have offices and commercial interests in Pakistan. At the same time he rejects the explanation by the editors of Adresseavisen that the cartoon doesn't show Mohammed but someone who poses as Mohammed. According to Arne Blix, chief editor of the newspaper, the cartoonist wanted to demonstrate that someone who commits terror in religious clothes in the name of religion is totally unbelievable, but it seems Pakistan's ambassador isn't able to grasp that statement at all.

Erna Solberg, leader of the opposition's Conservative Party (Høyre), said in a reaction that the ambassador is completely overreacting. According to her diplomats in Norway should study the Norwegian situation and the Norwegian freedom of expression more carefully, and the Norwegian government should not apologize for the publication of the cartoon. Instead the government should try to explain that there is freedom of the press in Norway, and that it is not a terrorist act to use it. The ambassador may of course dislike the cartoon, but he's wrong to say it's terrorism.

Ethnic War in the Streets of Brussels

2008-05-23T14:58:00.000-07:00

Friday evening, riots broke out in the streets of Brussels between Moroccan youth and supporters of the football club RSC Anderlecht. Thursday evening, a blog had called for attacks on the «white» supporters of the club, and «to burn pubs, houses and cars».

The official story is that the problems began on Sunday, after the Belgian Cup Final between RSC Anderlecht and AA Gent. RSC Anderlecht won the Cup, but after the match its supporters and Moroccan youths had clashed near the metro station of Saint-Guidon nearby the Constant Vanden Stock Stadium where the match was played. Since then, the atmosphere had been tense in and around Anderlecht, but on Thursday, a blog was created on Blogspot calling for attacks on the «white» supporters of the football club and to burn pubs, houses and cars.

It seems there may be more to this story than the media are tellingus. In a reaction to a blog posting by an Anderlecht supporter using the nick da_reflect, a suggestion is made as to the reason why riots between Moroccans and supporters of Anderlecht broke out on Sunday evening: a user called RSCA_SpideY asks whether today's riots had something to do with «that Moroccan guy who tried to rob an Anderlecht supporter on Sunday evening and was beaten up by other RSC Anderlecht supporters afterwards». There's no confirmation of this story in the mainstream media though, but they're not citing any another reason why riots broke out on Sunday either.

Another interesting aspect of the story is that there is no information about the author of the inciting blog yet. It seems remarkable that the Centre for Equal Opportunities and Opposition to Racism hasn't commented on the case yet since the posting clearly must have been in violation with the Belgian anti-discrimination laws. After all, according to the press, the word «white» was specifically mentioned in the posting. One could expect that the mentioned Centre would not leave any stone unturned to find out who the author is and bring him to court. Others have received warrants, in a «knock on the door» fashion for articles that were far less offensive or explicit, as the readers of this blog already know. It should be mentioned that I didn't succeed in finding the address or a copy of the blog posting, so I assume it's already removed from Blogspot's servers.

«Young Immigrants Largest Threat to Society»

2008-03-15T08:28:00.000-07:00

The children of immigrants are the largest threat to Danish society, says Torsten Hesselbjerg , head of the Danish police, in an interview with the morning newspaper Jyllands-Posten . They are responsible for the heaviest forms of crime, drugs dealing, but for them, honor, prestige and power are parts of the game too.

Torsten Hesselbjerg has been the head of the Danish police since 2000, as the so-called rigspolitichef. In an interview with the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten Saturday morning he says that a list of 141 names forms the largest challenge for the Danish police right now, but young migrants worry him the most as he sees them as the largest threat to order and rest in society.

These young migrants commit all sorts of heavy crime, but focus particularly on drugs. However, for these people, concepts like honor, prestige and power are part of the game too. Right now, Danish police tracks fourteen criminal organizations with a total of 141 members at «level 1», a term the Danish police uses for the most influential and active criminals in the underworld of organized crime. According to a police report, these criminals have access to weapons and explosives, and are prepared to use both of them in their struggle to keep control over the drugs market and to maintain their own version of honor.

Torsten Hesselbjerg points out that the Copenhagen district of Nørrebro and the area West of the Danish capital (known as Københavns Vestegn ) were hit particularly hard at the end of 2007 and in the beginning of 2008 by shootings and unrest amongst migrants, but no persons at «level 1» were involved in these incidents. Both Nørrebro and Københavns Vestegn are housing large groups of migrants.

Not only young migrants but also organizations like the Hells Angels and Bandidos participate in organized crime, but at the same time, these groups have come more and more under pressure from young migrants. This is one of the reasons why the Hells Angels recently have started a new group, A81, recruiting mostly among younger people.

Finally, Torsten Hesselbjerg thinks that the largest challenge for the Danish police next week will be to prevent young migrants from setting fire to the streets in Denmark again during the Easter school holidays, just like they did during the last school holiday in February.

Why Kosovo Should Be Allowed to Become Independent

2008-02-20T13:13:00.001-08:00

Recently, there have been some postings on The Brussels Journal arguing against Kosovo's independence. I don't agree with them, probably because I have a completely different background as a Flemish nationalist. But I think I have some good arguments in favor of Kosovo's independence too.

Michael Huntsman called Kosovo the EU's bastard child, and uses some historical reasons why Kosovo should not become independent from Serbia. Sure enough, Kosovo is of immense national importance to Serbian identity and heritage, but why then did they start to leave it a long time ago? It's true that Albanians in Kosovo have committed atrocities to the Serbian minority too, and not only vice versa, but fact is that the Serbians became a minority long before that. It seems to me that the Serbian people, man by man and woman by woman, decided a long time ago that Kosovo wasn't that important to them after all, and today's regret only comes after the fact.

There's a parallel here to intellectual property rights. If you make an invention, you can obtain a patent for it to make sure that you, as the inventor, get a fair chance of making some money out of your work. However, if you neglect that chance, i.e. you don't use your patent or you don't try to stop your competitors from using your invention without paying you your rights, you simply loose your rights. The same is true for peoples and their countries: if enough individuals give up a part of their country and move out, voluntarily, thus leaving it to another population, you can't really blame the newcomers from wanting to govern that part of the country the way they want to once they've become a large majority, and in the long term, even declare its independence from the rest of the country.

But what if we accept the argument that Kosovo should be a part of Serbia because of historical reasons? Much of the reasoning behind this seems to be that we shouldn't start to change borders just because populations have moved over time. But what does this say about, for example, the Ukraine? Indeed, the history of Russia doesn't start in what's the Russian Federation today, but in Kiev, with Kievan Rus'. If Kosovo can't be independent from Serbia, does that mean that the Ukraine should become a part of the Russian Federation? I know there's at least one presidential candidate in Russia who thinks that would only be fair.

And here's another one: Northern Ireland – how is it possible that it is part of Britain, when not just history but the name in itself already says it's part of Ireland? It turns out that not even the etymology of the name of Kosovo (of косово поље, kosovo polje, blackbird field) makes a clear argument against Kosovar independence.

Does this mean that it suffices to move enough people into a part of another country to gain rights to declare independence or event annex that part to your own country? Of course not: there's a clear distinction between what happened in Kosovo (the Serbians moved out) and what happened in e.g. Tibet (the Chinese moved in, first with brutal force, then with a clear policy to become a majority in the population). Seen from that perspective, one could wonder why China is refusing to recognize Kosovo's independence.

In another article, John Laughland uses the argument that Kosovo's independence would stir up trouble, making references to a.o. the Serbians in Bosnia, Northern Cyprus, Transnistria, South Ossetia and Abkhazia. First of all: I don't think it's a good argument to do some injustice to the Kosovars too, just because the EU does some injustice to the Serbians in Bosnia. Secondly, the situation on Cyprus is so complex that I really don't know whether it makes an argument for or against Kosovo's independence. Next, Transnistria is in such a mess that it's not clear to me whether its population really wants independence from Moldova or not, but my feeling is that the same goes for them as for the Serbians in Bosnia. And finally, as for the case about South Ossetia and Abkhazia, yes, why not call Russia's bluff and clear out the situation in those regions, but only on the condition that there would be held some fair elections or a fair referendum. And while we're at it, make sure the same happens in Chechnya too. But there's no reason to keep Abkhazia and South Ossetia part of Georgia just because they're a part of Georgia, and Georgia happens to be our ally – at least for now.

John Laughland has also another argument against Kosovo's independence, or more correctly, he asks why Kosovo declared its independence now, after eight years of relative peace and calm. First of all, it seems to me that the right on self-determination necessarily includes the timing of the declaration of independence, but apart from that, it should be clear that it's much easier to declare independence in a period of relative peace and calm then when you're under attack and you even haven't got a properly elected government or parliament. East Timor didn't declare its independence in the worst of times either, but when things had more or less settled down. Furthermore, it is clear that the current government of Kosovo has used its time to make sure enough countries will recognize its independence from Serbia so that it doesn't become a pariah state like e.g. Northern Cyprus, and I really don't know what would be wrong with that either. Finally, the successful independence of nearby Montenegro surely played a role too in the timing of the Kosovar government.

Speaking of Montenegro, Joshua Trevino argues in his article that Kosovo isn't ready for independence, nor politically neither culturally. But didn't they say the same thing about Montenegro almost two years ago? So far, Montenegro's independence has been a success. (And let's hope it continues to be!)

In his article from December last year, Fjordman is concerned that an independent Kosovo would become an Islamic state, a «new thug state [that] will serve as a launching pad for Jihad activities against non-Muslims, just like an independent Palestinian state would do in the Middle East». This may very well be the case, but I'm not sure that the solution to this is to keep Kosovo inside the Serbian republic. In fact, the Serbians already have enough problems on their own, that we shouldn't give them an extra problem of trying to keep al-Qaeda out of a province over which they haven't had much control anyway. On the contrary, those elements in Kosovo who used the Kosovar struggle for independence as a cover for their real agenda, will have to find a new cover, or be open about what their agenda is.

Whatever their practical arguments are against Kosovar independence, no one seems to argue that the Albanian speaking population in Kosovo is part of the Serbian nation. Like I already said in the beginning of this article, it has probably a lot to do with our different backgrounds, but this simple fact tells me that the Serbian and Kosovar people shouldn't be forced to live together in one state. If the Kosovars want to go their own way, or even join Albania in a few months or years from now, they should be allowed to do so. As for the Serbians, the best thing they could do is to get over this as soon as possible, how difficult that may be, and rather look to the future than to the past.

Walloon Party Leader Threatening Flemish MPs

2007-09-21T09:17:00.000-07:00

Didier Reynders, party leader of the Walloon Conservatives (MR), threatens Flemish Members of Parliament in an interview with Walloon public television RTBf and the magazine Le Vif/L'Express. In the same interview he demands that the Flemish winner of the elections Yves Leterme (CD&V) denounces his party's and region's interests.

Wednesday evening, Didier Reynders was invited for an interview organized by the Walloon public television station RTBf and the magazine Le Vif/L'Express on the occasion of the reopening of the political year. Asked for a comment on the ongoing political crisis in Belgium, and in particular the problems to conform the election constituency of Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde to the constitution, Didier Reynders said the following:

They [the Flemish Members of Parliament] do not always know they're putting a knife on their own throats while there's an explorer [i.e. Herman van Rompuy] trying to find a solution. I hope they'll have the wisdom to give him a chance.

He also qualified the behavior of the Flemish MPs as «suicidal».

It's unclear how conforming a constituency to the Belgian Constitution could be «suicidal» behavior. It seems to me that from a Flemish perspective, it looks more like a form of resurrection of Flemish authority over the whole Flemish territory than suicide. In fact, if the Flemish MPs don't split the constituency according to the regional borders, they continue to leave thousands of Flemings at the mercy of Walloon politicians who want to annex large parts of the Flemish Region.

In another part of the interview, Didier Reynders, who has openly solicited for the job of Prime Minister, demands Yves Leterme, the clear winner of the elections by gaining about 800,000 votes in Flanders, to take distance from his own party, the Flemish Christian-democrat CD&V, and the Flemish people. If Yves Leterme fails to do so, he would not be acceptable as the new Prime Minister to the Walloons, Didier Reynders implied. However, if that's true, it would be interesting to know whether also Didier Reynders is prepared to denounce own party and his own people to become the next Prime Minister of Belgium. Maybe giving up all your principles is a condition to which only Flemish politicians must adhere if they want to play a significant role in a Belgian federal government, and certainly if they want to lead it. Of course, there are more than enough examples of Flemish politicians who did exactly that.

«Belgian» Muslims Better Integrated Than Thought

2007-09-06T13:44:00.000-07:00

While the mainstream media are trying to prove through some strange polls that Belgians don't want to break-up Belgium, Muslims are proving they're so well integrated into Belgian society that the Flemish Muslims want to break up the Muslim Executive of Belgium because of a huge corruption scandal involving its French-speaking vice-president Kissi Benjelloul.

On Tuesday, Flemish public television (VRT) published the results of a poll showing that 70% of Belgians don't want a break-up Belgium. However, if we zoom in on the results, it turns out that the results are quite different in the North and the South of Belgium: 91% of the Walloons, quite understandably, want to keep Belgium together, but almost 40% of the Flemings wouldn't mind if Belgium were put to an end today. It's true that this means that on the average, 70% of the Belgians don't favor a break-up, but that figure is of course enormously misleading. Furthermore, even though VRT points out that there isn't a majority for separatism in Flanders (yet?), I wonder whether they really think such high figures can be considered to be normal at all.

Ironically, while Belgium is going through one of its worst existential crises, the Muslim population is proving it is much better integrated into Belgian society than previously thought. The Muslim immigrants, many of them holding the Belgian nationality thanks to mass naturalization laws and practices, have always been considered to be the last hope of Belgium. If there have never been Belgians but only Flemings and Walloons, as Jules Destrée pointed out 95 years ago, why not make some Belgians out of those immigrants, the motto seemed to be, especially in Brussels where they could join and support the local French-speaking majority. Now it turns out that even these immigrants aren't Belgians, but only Flemish Muslims and Walloon Muslims, to such a degree that one could start to wonder whether maybe the Muslim Executive is infiltrated by a separatist group that's trying to prove a point.

Take on the one side the French-speaking vice-president of the Muslim Executive, Kissi Benjelloul. Currently he's under the investigation of the police for trying to cover up debts using fake invoices issued by the restaurant Le Caire. Apparently the Muslim Executive let the restaurant bill invoices for an amount of about 15,000 euro for all sorts of things. It's not the first time Kissi Benjelloul attracted the attention of the police: last December he had to spend a night in jail because of abuse of government money. Seems like he would fit well in Charleroi's municipal council, half or more of its (socialist) members being in jail or soon to be because of various corruption scandals.

The other side is represented by the imam and council member Taouil Nordine. He was quoted saying that the Muslim Executive isn't taking its responsibility in this matter, thus ruining the Muslims' image. «The Flemish Muslim community is furious because of this. We don't want to have anything to do with those Walloon corrupt people any more.» He's lucky he's a Muslim though, because otherwise he would already have been qualified as a racist for making such remarks.

«Tired of Bad Weather? Vote for Us!»

2007-09-03T10:24:00.000-07:00

No kidding: the Norwegian Socialist Left Party (SV) is really promising better weather if people vote for them in the upcoming local elections. There's a little problem with the slogan though: bad weather usually refers to cold weather, while SV wants to stop the global warming. And after having one of the worst summers in Oslo in man's memory, people aren't exactly that scared by the idea of global warming any more if it would lead to some local warming too.

The Socialist Left Party, a member of the Norwegian coalition government since the 2005 elections at which it gained 8.8% of the votes and 15 of 169 seats in the Norwegian Parliament (Storting), has always profiled itself as the climate party in Norway. For the local elections this year, to be held next week, one of the slogans is «Lei av dårlig vær? Stem SV!», which translates to «Tired of Bad Weather? Vote SV!». But does this slogan make sense at all?

Traditionally, bad weather has always meant cold weather, rain, snow, hail, ice, fog, floods, etc, but never warm or hot weather, not even heath waves. Coincidentally, Oslo has had one of its worst summers in man's memory, i.e. the last five years or so, and people are indeed getting tired of the bad weather. Newspapers had been predicting the arrival of summer for two or three months, constantly scheduling it two or three days ahead, until they gave up somewhere in the middle of August. Not to worry though, the autumn will be warmer than usual, and in fact, by the end of this week, temperatures will be higher again. No really. Seriously. In any case, if you want to find somebody in Oslo who's still afraid of global warming, not to mention local warming, it won't be easy to find one. My guess is that even some of the employees at the headquarters of SV have asked themselves these last few weeks, in a weak moment, where global warming is when you really need it.

So is there anything more behind this election slogan? Well, for one thing, SV proves again that green parties like to play on the emotions of the not-so-well informed people who can't or don't like to think for themselves. They do the same thing in the nuclear debate or the debate about GMOs. Taken plain literally, the slogan doesn't make any sense at all, but I have to admit that it does sound good if I turn my brain off for a moment. Another thing is that their supporters make strange arguments to defend the slogan, like they do in other debates too. There are in fact two arguments going around for why this election slogan is supposed to make sense after all. The first one is that global warming supposedly causes local cooling in Norway, in particular in the area around Oslo. This theory was rejected years ago, but it never really died in the minds of people. The second argument is that the bad weather in the slogan doesn't refer to the bad summer we've had in Oslo, but to the bad weather in the rest of the world. The problem with that argument is that it isn't clear why people living in Oslo should be tired of bad weather on the other side of the globe, except maybe for all the media fuzz around it caused by, exactly, environmental organizations and green parties like SV. Seems more like an argument why not to vote for SV, if you ask me.

Surreal Belgium: Country in a Deep Existential Crisis, King Goes on a Holiday

2007-08-23T14:01:00.000-07:00

Believe it or not: Belgium has been in a crisis for about two months now, a crisis that topped last week-end when King Albert II himself had to intermediate between the parties and that became even worse last night after a difficult meeting that lasted until 4.30 AM. In the mean time, newspapers and websites are organizing polls about whether Flanders should become independent or even join the Netherlands. So where do you think the King is while all this is happening? In his palace in Laken, listening to the radio every hour or checking the news bulletins on the television? Nope, he's having a vacation in the South of France. Ceci n'est pas un roi…

So what is it a Belgian king is supposed to fill his time with? From time to time, he has to make a speech on the radio and television, watch a military parade, nominate peers, administer the oath of a federal Minister, produce some off-spring, sign some laws, and, well, that's about it. And yes, play the post-electoral theater piece every four years consisting of appointing, interviewing and discharging those royal negotiators that are supposed to form a new government.

Considering all this, one would think that while Belgium is going through one of the worst existential crises of the last decades, the King would stay in the capital making sure he's available every single hour of the day in case the negotiator needs some assistance. After all, if Belgium would break up, he would be the first to lose his job. Or more correctly: he would be retired, and his eldest son and Crown Prince Philippe would be the one taking the real hit. But if you look at his behavior of the last days, it seems he doesn't really care. Where was he, even though everybody in Belgium knew since this morning that chances were very high that Yves Leterme , the current/former negotiator, would be forced or willing to step down some time in the afternoon or evening? In the South of France! Apparently, nobody had even bothered to warn him that maybe it would be a good idea to return to Belgium, just in case, instead of drinking cocktails in the sun somewhere near a swimming-pool. Talk about getting your priorities right.

The result of all this: Yves Leterme had to wait for several hours until the King finally decided the time was right to come back from the South of France and accept his resignation. Not only did the King show to everybody that he has absolutely no interest in what's supposed to be his full-time job, he even managed to block the process of forming a new federal government in Belgium for several hours. If a president would do something like that, he would probably have to resign too.

Some say a king is much cheaper than having a president. If that's true, Belgium certainly got what it paid for…

Danish Candidate MP: «OK to Attack Danish Troops in Iraq»

2007-07-24T13:29:00.000-07:00

The Danish-Palestinian politician Asmaa Abdol-Hamid caused quite a stir in the Danish media yesterday when she said in an interview with the tabloid newspaper B.T. that she supported the «resistance» movement in Iraq and had no problems with Danish troops being attacked. Asmaa Abdol-Hamid plans to run for the extreme-left Red-Green Alliance (Enhedslisten) at the next elections for the Danish Parliament (Folketinget).

Asmaa Abdol-Hamid told B.T. that «she supports the Iraqi resistance movement against the occupation forces» and that «they have the right to live in a country where they can make their own decisions». She therefore does not want to distance herself from Iraqis using weapons against Danish forces in Iraq either. In a reaction to the controversy her first interview started, she maintained her support for the Iraqi resistance, and even went as far as to compare them to the Danish resistance movement against the German occupation during Second World War. She thinks resistance against a foreign occupation is not only legitimate but even a human right.

Naser Khader , the founder of the new conservative political party New Alliance (Ny Alliance) said in a reaction that Asmaa Abdol-Hamid is a confused young woman who has already said so many things and contradicted herself numerous times. He points out that she's completely wrong in this case, since the Iraqi government is legitimate and recognized by the United Nations, and therefore should be supported over the resistance movement. Other politicians from other parties agreed with Naser Khader.

Asmaa Abdol-Hamid was backed up by her own party, the Red-Green Alliance, with Frank Aaen , MP for that party, saying that in Iraq, combat against amongst others Danish soldiers is legitimate. He adds though that he's against terror in general, and assumes Asmaa Abdol-Hamid is too. The Danish imam Abdul Wahid Pedersen, who backs Asmaa Abdol-Hamid's candidacy for the Danish Parliament on the Red-Green Alliance's list, supports her too, saying he still thinks she'll make a good Danish MP. According to him, what she has said isn't controversial at all.

Asmaa Abdol-Hamid came to Denmark as a Palestinian refugee in 1986 together with her family. She is a social worker and made first national headlines when she refused to shake hands to a male colleague after she got elected as a deputy member of the Odense city council in 2005 for the Red-Green Alliance. She was later the spokesperson for 11 Muslim organizations acting against Jyllands-Posten in the famous cartoon controversy, and hosted in 2006 a TV show called Adam and Asmaa on public television together with journalist (and atheist) Adam Holm. That show caused a debate too since she wore a hijab, thereby being the first TV host on Danish television to do so. She has already announced that if she gets elected for the Danish Parliament, she'll wear the hijab in the Parliament too.

In the interview with B.T. she also said she has never had any boy-friend, but she has already said no to many men. She doesn't know how the perfect man for her should be like, but for her, the more important question is how she'll meet him – e.g. through «the traditional way where another family knows her family, and she can learn to know their son».

Hippocratic Oath and a Lot of Hypocrisy

2007-07-03T14:36:00.000-07:00

There has been some debate in the media about the fact that many of the suspects involved in the car bombs in London and Glasgow last week were physicians, in particular with regard to the Hippocratic Oath. But does such an oath really matter for terrorists? And what's the Hippocratic Oath worth anyway, especially in the West?

Let's start with the terrorists: why wouldn't they plan or carry out a car bomb attack in Great-Britain, or Iraq for that matter, just because they're physicians who have taken the Hippocratic Oath? I'm a civil engineer, and I never got the impression at university that it would be OK for me to harm people as part of my job, on the contrary. Furthermore, the Hippocratic Oath never stopped the development of biological or chemical arms, even though I'm sure there were (and probably still are) a lot of medical doctors involved in that. Not to mention Josef Mengele, who, I'm sure, took the Hippocratic Oath too, just as well as Ayman al-Zawahri, al-Qaeda's No. 2, George Habash of the PLO and Mahmoud al-Zahar, the Hamas strongman in Gaza, as Thomas Wagner from Associated Press points out.

The fact that so many people are puzzled by the fact that many of the suspects were physicians who had sworn not to harm any people says more about the people who are puzzled than the suspects. It seems that some people just haven't got it yet, even after both 11 September 2001 in New York, 11 March 2004 in Madrid and 7 July 2005 in London. There's a war going on, and contrary to what some people in the media want us believe, it wasn't the West that started it. In fact, being a physician is just an easy ticket in if you want to enter the United Kingdom, and the following quote from The Sun sums it up quite well:

It was a perfect cover. Who could possibly suspect a doctor of wanting to inflict death and injury on innocent people?

My guess: the Israeli's could,and probably would too. Actually, it's a lesson they learned years ago, and maybe we should rather start learning from them instead of blaming them for almost everything that's going wrong in the Middle East.

Finally, about that Hippocratic Oath: how much is it still worth in the Western world anyway? The classical version explicitly bans both euthanasia and abortion, but references to it aren't even accepted any more as arguments in a «modern» debate about those two issues. In fact, in Belgium physicians are still allowed to refuse to perform abortion or euthanasia on moral grounds. That is, at least for the time being, because the previous, liberal government didn't really give the impression it appreciated those difficult physicians very much. And Marc Cosyns, the doctor who announced last week he was planning to perform euthanasia in an illegal way as to renew to debate, wasn't confronted with his Hippocratic Oath at all. If that's not in conflict with the Hippocratic Oath, why would killing infidels be?

«Moroccan» «Jokes»

2007-04-16T11:55:00.000-07:00

During the war, Saddam Hussein wanted to launch missiles from the Moroccan coast to the US, but when he pushed the button, nothing happened. Turned out there were so many Moroccans hanging on to the missiles that they simply couldn't lift off.

Sitting-down comedian of the evening is Mostafa Chendid, about whom we already reported yesterday following his interview in the Danish weekly newspaper Weekendavisen. He told the joke because the journalist asked for one just to show that Muslims do have humor. He didn't want to tell a joke about Muslims though, because religion is a serious thing to them, so he replaced «Muslim» with «Moroccan». Here's the other joke he told:

A young Moroccan marries a thirty-year old, rich woman. She's completely in love with him and insists on meeting his parents. He agrees to it, after a long time, and they travel to Rabat, where they take a walk in the streets. Suddenly she stumbles and falls on the ground. Another Moroccan passes by and says: «Be nice and pick up your residence permit, would you?»

Of course, the woman is supposed to be Danish, if you didn't guess that. The journalist didn't. Anyway, I wonder why these two jokes are supposed to be funny. Maybe because there's absolutely no connection to reality?

«All Women Should Wear A Veil»

2007-04-15T07:33:00.000-07:00

According to Mostafa Chendid of the Danish Islamic Society (Islamisk Trossamfund), not only Muslim women but other women too should wear a veil. Why? Because five up to ten percent of all men can't control themselves when they see a woman without a veil.

Mostafa Chendid is considered to be the successor of Ahmad Abu Laban, one of the imams who was involved in the affair around the notorious Danish cartoons. Ahmad Abu Laban was one of the leaders of the delegation that traveled around the Middle East and that had added three drawings to the original cartoons in its report to «give a clearer picture of the climate against Muslims in Denmark». Mostafa Chendid is doing well to become just as famous as his predecessor, and the interview that he recently gave to the Danish weekly newspaper Weekendavisen certainly isn't going to reduce the controversy around his person.

Earlier he had already succeeded to draw attention to himself by saying to Jyllands-Posten (that's right: the newspaper with the cartoons) that not only Muslim women, but all other women too, should wear a veil, on... International Women's Day. Of course, this resulted in a lot of reactions, and as a matter of fact his remarks in Jyllands-Posten were the direct reason for the interview with Weekendavisen, where he repeated them once more and commented on them. He said for example that wearing the veil is a woman's duty to God, because that's what's written in the Koran. However, that doesn't mean that he thinks that a woman with a veil is a better person than a woman without a veil.

According to him the veil also serves as a signal: women with a veil are «not for sale». Moreover, the veil protects against rapes, he says: in the US for example, every half minute a woman is raped, and according to him that's because women continuously tempt men by going onto the streets without a veil. Maybe not all men have a problem to control themselves when they see a woman without a veil, and perhaps there's only a problem with five to ten per cent of the men, but he says that's nevertheless enough for all women to wear the veil.

When asked whether men shouldn't cover themselves too, so they don't seduce women either, the imam basically evaded the question. But maybe the journalist should have gone even further and asked if it wouldn't be much simpler if the men would stay inside and weren't allowed to go out unless accompanied by their wife or a female family member. After all, it's the men that are the problem, not the women, and to me it seems rather bizarre that women should walk around with a veil because men can't control themselves. No doubt, it there wouldn't have been a prophet but a prophetess, Mostafa Chendid never would have set a step outside his door! Maybe it would have been better for Islam's image too if he wouldn't do that anyway.

Notker Wolf on European Islamization

2007-04-09T09:27:00.000-07:00

Notker Wolf, the Abbot Primate of the Benedictine Order, in an interview with the German newspaper Welt am Sonntag about the islamization of Germany and Europe:

Welt am Sonntag: What do you think about the influence of Islam on the western world?
Notker Wolf: There are certainly some groups that have set out the islamization of Europe as their goal. I think that's in itself a serious thing. In Germany the Turkish association Ditib recently demanded that the «Word on Friday» be broadcast on public television. I only ask myself: How can it be that these people demand all rights in Germany for them self, while at the same time Christians are gravely discriminated in Turkey? Why aren't we, Christians, allowed a theological faculty in Turkey? Why aren't we allowed to have any church property there? Meanwhile, the mayor of Munich even breaks building regulations to approve a mosque, just to win the votes of the Turks. That is unbelievable! Tolerance is good, but it doesn't mean we should surrender.

It goes without saying that the mayor of Munich, Christian Ude belongs to the social-democratic SPD, but I mention it anyway.

Degree of Employment amongst Oslo's Immigrants

2007-03-10T05:38:00.000-08:00

On International Women's Day the Norwegian evening newspaper Aftenposten Aften published an interesting article with a graph showing the degree of employment for the immigrants in Oslo, split up by gender and nationality.

The graph doesn't need any further comments, but as a matter of fact it is very consistent with the results of research done by Tyra Ekhaugen two years ago showing a clear link between the number of years an immigrant has lived in Norway, the reason for his stay and his background, and whether or not he was living on public support. In the meantime we're kindly requested to believe that we'll need more immigrants to pay for our retirement pensions.

Muslims Six Times Overrepresented in Oslo's Rape Statistics

2007-03-02T13:26:00.000-08:00

Norway's most important paper Aftenposten ran a story earlier this week saying that 65% of the rape crimes in Oslo were committed by foreigners, even though they only represent a mere 23% of the population in the Norwegian capital. The article was prompted by a call by the Rape Commission (Voldtektsutvalget) to the imams to put rapes and the attitude against women on the agenda.

Foreigners are more than six times overrepresented in crime statistics concerning rapes in Oslo. During the first two months of this year sixteen rapes and rape attempts have been committed, and the three men the police are looking for in connection with four of those cases have one thing in common: they all have a foreign background. Especially Somalis and Iraqis seem to be well represented in the statistics.

Even though the article doesn't do much more than quoting some simple basic facts, it was nevertheless a bit controversial. The social democratic minister Bjarne Håkon Hanssen reacted quickly to condemnthe tone of the article since it made a link between rapes and Muslims. According to him, asking the imams for help is wrong, «because we don't ask Norwegian bishops for help either when a Norwegian rapes somebody». Apparently the man hadn't noticed that the debate had started precisely because of the enormous overrepresentation of Muslims in the rape statistics. And I wouldn't even dare to suggest he could have another agenda then trying to reduce the number of rapes in the Norwegian capital.

Muslim Policewoman Refused to Shake Hands

2007-01-21T13:43:00.000-08:00

Just three months after Alexander Basha's request to be transferred to another section of the police so he wouldn't have to guard Israel's embassy in London, a new police row is in the making in Great Britain: a Muslim policewoman refused to shake hands with Sir Ian Blair, head of the Metropolitan Police Service, because it was against her religious beliefs. Apparently Sir Ian Blair wasn't very amused.

The case is very clear for the policewoman though: she is a woman, and Sir Ian Blair is neither close family nor her husband, and therefore she refuses to touch him. In order not to spoil the ceremony for the others, the policewoman was granted her request, though Sir Ian Blair questioned whether it could be valid at all. The other question that pops up is how she'll be able to carry out her duties if she doesn't allow herself to have any physical contact with men.

A spokeswoman for the police has already said that the woman, described as a «non-Asian Muslim» and wearing a hijab-uniform on the ceremony, will have to do her job properly if she wants to stay with the force. Furthermore, the Metropolitan Police Service has started an inquiry into what really happened and what the consequences will be. It's clear though that this sets yet another precedent, but perhaps next time they'll be better prepared when they're suddenly confronted once again with multicultural society during a ceremony.

In the meantime several Muslim leaders have already taken up the defense of the policewoman. Massoud Shadjareh, chairman of the Islamic Human Rights Commission is one of them. He confirms that women should try to avoid all physical contact with men, whenever possible. However, in the context of their job, this should not lead to any problems. According to him the problem is rather one of cultural and religious ignorance and misunderstanding.
In fact, the woman confirmed that she'll put her duty as a policewoman before her religion, but it remains to be seen what will happen the day she'll have to arrest a man. Massoud Shadjareh added to his comments that shaking hands doesn't make or break a relationship, but if this is true, he should have explained too exactly what would be the problem if the woman had shaken hands with Sir Ian Blair. But I guess that just proves my cultural and religious ignorance.

Lithuania Demands Russian Compensations for 1991

2007-01-20T13:59:00.000-08:00

On 16 January the Lithuanian Parliament, the Seimas, voted on a resolution demanding compensations from Moscow for the Soviet-Russian attack of 1991. On 13 January that year troops stormed the television tower in the capital Vilnius, while thousands of unarmed Lithuanians tried to defend the building, hand-in-hand. Thirteen people lost their lives, and hundreds were wounded.

For the sake of clarity, it wasn't the today so much criticized president Vladimir Putin who was in charge in the Kremlin, nor was it Boris Yeltsin who ordered the raid in his usual but not so sober condition. The Soviet Union still existed at that time, even though it was becoming clear that union was coming to its end. And the head of state at that time was still, indeed, Mikhail Gorbachev. In fact, only a month earlier he had been in Oslo to collect the Nobel Peace Prize, and in the West he never had to account much for the attack on Lithuania and the deaths it caused. The intervention in Lithuania came a few days after an ultimatum he had given to Lithuania to respect the constitution of the Soviet Union and withdraw its declaration of independence of 11 March 1990. A month later though, on 9 February 1991, 90.47% of Lithuanians voted in favor of independence in a referendum, and yet another month later Lithuania's de facto independence was already recognized by a range of countries. Estonia and Latvia followed soon the Lithuanian example, and today the three Baltic states are members of both NATO and the European Union.

But sixteen years after the facts, no compensations have been paid yet for the victims of the attack, and the events continue to cause conflicts between Lithuania and Russia. The Russian Federation is internationally recognized as the legal successor of the Soviet Union, and therefore Lithuania sent the damage claim to Moscow. Already in 2000 a special governmental commission had estimated the damage of the fifty year occupation to roughly 28 billion dollars. The bill the Lithuanian Parliament sent to Moscow this year mentions 24 billion euro. In 1992, Lithuanians decided in a referendum that the government should try to collect compensations for the events of January 1991, but until now not much has happened.

As could be expected, the Russians aren't amused by the new Lithuanian initiative. Liberal democrat (Russian style) Vladimir K. Gusev (LDPR), first deputy chairman of the committee on economic policy, business and property of the Russian Federation Council , told in a reaction that «before adopting such resolutions politicians should have counted how much all the former Soviet republics have invested in Lithuania's development». According to him, Lithuania owes Russia a sum exceeding Lithuania's claims dozens of times, recalling that the Soviet Union built two thirds of Lithuania's industrial facilities, including petrochemical plants, the Klaipėda seaport and several arms manufacturing plants.

Valery T. Kadokhov, first deputy chairman of the committee on federation affairs and regional policies shares Gusev's view. «If we extend Seimas's line of thought, the damage can be calculated since the times of the Lithuanian Principality's hit-and-run raids against Russia,» he said. The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs wasn't impressed either by the Lithuanian resolution, and said it ignored all legal, historical and political realities.

«Uppsala University Guilty of Anti-Swedish Discrimination»

2007-01-10T11:45:00.000-08:00

At the end of last month, Uppsala University has been found guilty of discrimination against Swedes by the Swedish Supreme Court (Högsta domstolen). Three years ago, the university had refused to enroll Cecilia Lönn and Josefine Milander to its Law Faculty, even though they had better grades than thirty other students with a foreign background.

In 2003, thirty of the available places for the law courses had been reserved for students with a foreign background. Cecilia Lönn and Josefine Milander, both with better grades than all of those thirty students who were allowed in, were refused by the university. The two young ladies didn't leave it with that, and sued the university. They won two times in lower courts, but now the Supreme Court too has ruled in their favor and acknowledged them a compensation of SEK 75,000 (approximately €8,200). The court expenses they made, about SEK 41,000 (approximately $4,500), will be reimbursed too by the state.

Nor the Supreme Court, nor the two women question the principle of positive discrimination, as long as it is practiced between candidates who are otherwise equivalent for the studies, or the job for that matter. This becomes different when somebody with an ethnic background is favored even though the Swede had better grades, since this is not positive discrimination any more, but just plain discrimination. Therefore the Supreme Court wanted to set a clear example this time of what cannot be considered to be positive discrimination and therefore is illegal.

Of course, the two students have had two tough years, but ironically the whole case may rather be an advantage than a disadvantage to them at the end of the day. As law students, they have now practical experience in bringing a case to court and conduct it, up to the level of the Supreme Court. Moreover, they have had the possibility to profile themselves in an important case, and this will undoubtedly help them when they start looking for a job.

A Throne in Brussels

2007-01-08T14:33:00.000-08:00

Good thing the anti-monarchistic Vlaams Belang (Flemish Interest) didn't take over power in the city of Antwerp after the last local elections, because that certainly would have hurt Belgium's reputation abroad…

CNN: Belgian royal linked to fraud case
International Herald Tribune: Belgian court agrees to call king's youngest son as witness in fraud case
Euronews.Net: Belgian Prince caught up in fraud scandal
People's Daily Online: Belgian prince implicated in fraud scandal

Terra España: El fiscal pedirá que se tome declaración al príncipe Laurent por supuesto desvío de fondos
El Financiero: Inicia juicio por fraude financiero en la Marina belga

Le Figaro: Un prince dans la tourmente judiciaire

Handelsblatt: Finanzaffäre erschüttert belgisches Königshaus

Sami Alphabet in The Norwegian Curriculum

2007-01-08T13:55:00.000-08:00

Today the Norwegian social-democratic Minister of Work and Integration Bjarne Håkon Hanssen officially opened the «Sami Finger Posts», created to help the teaching of the Sami alphabet in Norwegian schools. He did this by going back to the school desks at Slemdal skole to learn the Northern Sami alphabet in a class of twelve year olds.

In the summer of last year it became public that the Sami alphabet was added to the Norwegian curriculum for the seventh grade of the primary school. This led of course to quite some discussions, in which especially party president Siv Jensen of the Progress Party (Fremskrittspartiet) was noticed saying she didn't even know Sami was an official language in Norway, and that she didn't know whether she should laugh or cry. A lot of people didn't know in their turn whether they were supposed to laugh or cry with Siv Jensen's remark.

A lot of response came from a number of pedagogues too. In their typical May '68 style they proclaimed that learning the Sami alphabet was just a waste of time. Learning any information at all is actually taboo in the Norwegian schools: pupils do not attend school to learn things, but to acquire social skills and have fun. It may therefore not come as a surprise that in international tests, Norwegian education usually doesn't score very high, especially when compared to its neighbor Finland, where old fashioned concepts like diligence and discipline aren't banned from school yet. They even teach Latin there! As a comparison: if I really want to scare my colleagues, I tell them I had six years of Latin during secondary school. This doesn't mean that these Norwegian pedagogues become somewhat humble when they are confronted with those international comparisons: each time the Norwegian education system gets a bad mark, they are quick to point out that the social merits of the Norwegian system isn't taken into account in those tests. I don't think they'll ever get it.

There's of course another problem: thousands of teachers who have never learned the Sami alphabet, let alone anything more about the Sami language than that it's awfully difficult, will have to teach the Sami alphabet to their pupils. But that raises the question how that Sami alphabet looks like. Is it like Chinese, with thousands of strange little drawings? Or is it more like Cyrillic or Georgian, consisting of a dozen or two of funny scribblings that look like letters? Well no, because even though there are three variants of it, it is based on the Latin alphabet, just like the Norwegian, and most of the letters are actually completely identical to the Norwegian. One can therefore wonder what a teacher is doing in front of a class-room if he can't figure the Sami alphabet out in an evening or two, and whether it really will hurt these twelve year olds children that much if they will be confronted with it for a few hours. I'm actually more surprised --but maybe that's just my Flemish reflex speaking-- that they're not supposed to learn more, like some basic grammar and a bit of vocabulary, so they would be able to say hello to their fellow-countrymen if they would happen to end up in the far North one day. But perhaps that's not the sort of social skills that fits will in the world of those Norwegian pedagogues, because then those poor children actually will have to learn something at school…

Muhammad Yunus No Saint

2006-12-19T14:04:00.000-08:00

This is what can happen if you give the Nobel Peace Prize to a still active business man: he tries to use the PR around the prize ceremony to push through a transaction.

In 1997, Norwegian Telenor started a joint venture with Muhammad Yunus to set up GrameenPhone. The company gives women, through those famous micro-credits, the chance to buy cellular phones so they can set up small phone centrals and earn some money for their living. At the same time, these small phone centrals give the until now isolated rural communities a possibility to communicate with the rest of the world. Or two birds killed with only one stone.

The original plan was to obtain 250,000 customers in the course of the first ten years, but today GrameenPhone has 10 millions customers, almost two thirds of the market share in Bangladesh. Actually, a fifth of those customers got in during the last quarter. The estimated value of GrameenPhone is 1.2 billion euros, with Telenor owning approximately 62% of the shares.

The agreement made in 1997 contains a phrase in which Telenor expresses the intention to sell out of the company in the long run. Today Telenor says there was no obligation connected to it. Muhammad Yunus has another opinion, says Telenor is «greedy», and wants Telenor to give up the control over the company. Jon Fredrik Baksaas, CEO of Telenor, points out though that it is remarkable that Muhammad Yunus didn't raise his claim until now: only recently the risk in GrameenPhone was reduced substantially.

I cannot make any judgments on the case at hand, but there is the fact that Telenor is no charity organization and as such would have to explain a thing or two to its shareholders if it were to give away millions of euros to another company. On the other hand, this case shows that Muhammad Yunus is a smart business man who wants to pick up some profit when he gets the opportunity. That's of course no problem, and in fact, I think it's to his credit, but things get a bit different when he tries to use the ceremony of the Nobel Peace Prize to blackmail a business partner. He even wrote a rather threatening letter to Telenor lining out a press release that would have been damaging to the company

A person who certainly isn't afraid to share his opinion with the rest of the world without being properly informed is the former Norwegian Prime Minister Thorbjørn Jagland of the social-democratic Labor Party (Ap). According to him, Telenor had «the moral obligation» to sell its GrameenPhone shares. He recognizes that without Telenor, perhaps there wouldn't have been a GrameenPhone, but it seems that if a Western company just for once does some charity and even can make a profit out of it, the company is morally obliged to renounce that profit. Or in other words, the investment in GrameenPhone never was an investment, but only a donation. Making profit by abusing the Third World is wrong, but making profit on investments in the Third World is wrong too. That is, if you're a Western company, because for exactly the same thing, Muhammad Yunus and Grameen Bank got the Nobel Peace Prize this year.

Airport Security: No Empty Bottles, Please

2006-11-28T13:34:00.000-08:00

Yesterday afternoon I returned to Oslo from a short trip to Flanders. These days, airport security is mostly focused on preventing people from bringing any potentially liquid substances on the plane, so I emptied the little bottle of water I had before I proceeded to security control. I didn't help though: the empty bottle was confiscated, because as it happens, empty bottles are on the black list too. I'm not sure whether it were the remaining drops of water inside the bottle, or the possibility that I would fill the bottle up with water again afterwards, but I certainly wasn't allowed to take it with me.

The present airport security measures can be best described as systemized nonsense. One thing is that it is very well possible that the result of the current «war on liquids» is that it now has become easier than ever to smuggle solid explosives onto a plane. Another one is that the metal detectors currently seem to react at such a low threshold that you don't need much more than a simple watch to be taken out of the line for an extra check. Much time to watch how people are behaving during security control can't be left, even though that's how the real terrorists will have to be stopped.

As to the liquids, my impression from a few hours of reading on the Internet is that one can, with large certainty, exclude that it would be practically possible to blow up a plane using liquid explosives. Basically these kinds of explosives can be divided into two classes: either they're so unstable that you need half a chemical laboratory to bring them onto the plane in a safe way, or they're so stable that you need such a detonator to start the explosion that it would be noticed at the security control. Conclusion: the present security measures have been motivated more by incompetence and panic –always a bad combination– then by anything else. That some British would be terrorists had absolutely no sense for practical chemistry doesn't seem to be a good enough reason to me to confiscate tubes of toothpaste and bottles of water at airports all over the world.

But let's say though, for the sake of the argument, that there would be a case to screen for all sorts of liquids, would it then still make sense to confiscate empty bottles of water? None of the people involved yesterday afternoon doubted that my bottle really was empty, i.e. that there was no liquid in it and that I couldn't do anything dangerous with it on the plane. Actually, you can buy lots of bottles full of water a few yards from the security control. The message I got was that empty bottles were on the list, and therefore I couldn't take it with me. I wonder who put it on the list in the first place. The only thing I can imagine is that empty bottles are forbidden by association: liquids are dangerous, liquids can be transported in bottles, therefore bottles are dangerous too. What will be next? Am I still allowed to carry empty boxes with me? You never know there's a terrorist out there planning to smuggle explosives onto a plane using a box…

Imam Raed Hlayhel Leaving Denmark

2006-11-10T10:46:00.000-08:00

The controversial imam Raed Hlayhel, who was very active one year ago stirring up the mood against Denmark in the Arab world, said Monday he's leaving Denmark and will never come back:

I have said the whole time that if the Danish courts don't punish the morning paper Jyllands-Posten, then I will leave this country. And I won't come back.

As far as I know nobody has asked him to come back yet. I wonder why…

Quota for Homosexual Clergymen?

2006-11-04T08:24:00.000-08:00

Not everybody in the Norwegian Lutheran Church has accepted homosexual clergymen yet, but nevertheless, the Norwegian Association for Lesbian and Homosexual Emancipation (LLH, Landsforeningen for lesbisk og homofil frigjøring) yesterday said that it would like to see quota introduced for them. Another organization, the Open Church Group (Åpen kirkegruppe), stated that in dioceses that had a positive view towards homosexual clergymen should actively go out and recruit them for their parishes.

The LLH notes that homosexual clergymen aren't everywhere welcome yet, and in some cases their applications aren't even considered when a new vicar has to be appointed. The spokesman of the association, Nils Riedl, even made the point that the fight for homosexual clergymen can be compared to the fight for female clergymen. Therefore the association wants to improve the position of the lesbians and homosexual within the Norwegian Lutheran Church by imposing quota. In a reaction to the proposal both the social democratic Labor Party (Ap, Arbeiderpartiet) and the conservative Right (H, Høyre) said they supported the organization's objectives, but not the quota. They think they would damage the interests of the homosexual in the long run.

One can be irritated by the demand of the LLH, or react in a rather humorous way and wonder whether we'll soon see a demand for atheistic clergymen too. If you opt for the latter approach, maybe you should be reminded of the story of the Danish vicar Thorkild Grosbøll a few months ago. At first he had expressed he didn't believe in God, but after a row and a short suspension from his job he seemed to have regained his faith in God and could continue his work.

So what else could there be in this tale of quota and surrealistic proposals? Some Muslim clergymen perhaps? Believe it or not, but in Sweden the question whether the Swedish part in the name of the Svenska Kyrkan should be removed has already popped up because it may be too hostile against immigrants. Some say that in a multicultural society, the Church should become multicultural and hence include immigrants too. References to the Swedishnes of the Swedish Church should therefore be avoided. I assume that once they start to go down that road, Muslim vicars shouldn't be excluded either.

Two thousand years ago, Christianity was founded by a white, young, religious man, and if there's any truth in The Da Vinci Code, He was heterosexual too. If for example the Open Church Group gets it as it wants, soon enough vicars like Him will rather be the exception than the rule in the «enlightened» dioceses. Next time God wants to save the world, He'd better send His black lesbian daughter who doesn't believe too much in Him or her brother.

Paris Burning, Brussels Smoldering

2006-10-29T11:26:00.000-08:00

These last few days, there have been some «small fires» –small indeed– in the Brussels area, but today the fire-brigade was lured into an ambush in Sint-Jans-Molenbeek. There were no casualties, but apparently we'll have to see a few dead before it will be possible to reflect seriously on what's really going on in Brussels. Authorities didn't want to confirm a connection to the fires in Paris, but didn't dare to deny it either.

From the events of today and the last few days it is clear that things are getting out of control in some parts of Brussels. When even the fire-brigade becomes the target of these «youngsters», as they are usually called in the Belgian press, the conclusion can only be that it's already five past twelve, not alone in Paris, but in Brussels too.

Surely, one can argue that the identity checks by the police are not always completely justified, and sometimes too frequent, but I find it hard to believe that the immigrants could have any reason at all to throw rocks at firemen who are just trying to do their job. If this continues, people will die sooner or later, and then the fire-brigade's latent racism will of course be blamed for not having gotten some Moroccan family out of its burning house quickly enough, or extinguished the fire in an apartment block, or something else that went terribly wrong. Therefore, sociologists and other professional anti-racists, otherwise always keen enough to give us their opinion about what's going wrong in the immigrant districts, should give us their explanation rather today than tomorrow about what the fire-brigade has done to deserve being targeted like it was this afternoon, and why youngster are allowed to play with other people's lives like this.

From «Victim of Society» to Menace to Society

2006-09-30T14:22:00.000-07:00

Three weeks ago, shots were fired with an automatic rifle at the synagogue in Oslo. In the aftermath of the events, there was a huge debate in the Norwegian press, in which some interesting comments appeared.

On 17 September, in the night from Saturday to Sunday, somebody fired about ten rounds at the synagogue in Oslo with an automatic rifle. Four men were later arrested, and according to the reports of the police, which had had the car of the suspected bugged for already quite a while, the attack on the synagogue was only exercise for the real thing: an attack on the Israeli and American embassy in Oslo.

The attack resulted in a huge debate in the Norwegian media, and some interesting statements and views were reported here and there. Like for example the analysis of a number of Al Qaida cells by researcher Petter Ness of the Norwegian Defense Research Establishment (FFI, Forsvarets Forskningsinstitut), published in a report called «Jihad in Europe; recruitment for terrorist cells in Europe». In his analysis he describes how a typical terrorist cell looks like: usually there is an entrepreneur, his protégé, some people from the edge of society, and finally some loose elements. The entrepreneur and the protégé often are very religious, and their acts driven by political resentment and frustration. Usually the entrepreneur has had higher education, and he is the key person for the existence of the group. In many cases he is also the one who actively recruits new members for the group. The other members on the other hand can be part of the group out of loyalty to one of the other members, or simply because they belong to the same social network as the others. All this seems to match well with the cell that fired on the synagogue in Oslo.

Professor and researcher Tore Bjørgo of the Police School in Oslo presented another analysis. He notes that the leader of the group, a 29 year old man from Pakistani origin, used to be a member of the Young Guns, a violent Norwegian-Pakistani gang, and has already been convicted several times for cases of violence. It seems that the problems often start when a group of young people want to acquire status and an identity by means of violence, which evolves after some time into crime for economical reasons, and eventually leads to politically motivated violence. This pattern follows the personal development of the members of the group, who, as they become older, get other interests: first they want status, later money, and finally they start to interest themselves in politics. It should be noted though that some terrorist groups undergo an evolution in the other direction: they start with political violence, but then they get used to the money and continue with their economical crimes.

So is there any conclusion in here to suppress the appearance of Al Qaida cells in the West? It can in any case be called ironical that the policy of using soft gloves to handle minor criminals and the treatment of hard criminals with penitentiary leaves and early releases eventually can lead to terrorist cells that turn against the very society in which they have nested themselves so comfortably. And whereas criminologists and sociologists in Belgium in the aftermath of events around Victor Hoxha stumble over each other's feet in their hurry to tell the public that building new prisons is not a solution, and the exclusion of access to an early release would be T O T A L L Y
I N H U M A N E, researchers in other countries seem to be occupied with completely different things – like how the world out there really looks like, for example.

Fascists in Sweden

2006-09-20T14:16:00.000-07:00

At the Swedish elections of last week-end, the far-right Sweden Democrats (SD, Sverigedemokraterne) got their highest score ever: 2.9% on a national basis. The party is mostly concentrated in the South of Sweden, in Skåne, and that's probably due to the influence of the nearby Danish People's Party (DF, Dansk Folkeparti). However, the party was the victim of some attempts by the antifascists to sabotage the election process.

The most remarkable part of the story is perhaps that the Antifascist Action (AFA, Antifascistisk Aktion) can document and brag about its sabotaging the election process at several places, while the police (or the press for that matter) doesn't seem to do anything against them. Here's a shortlist of some of their «heroic» deeds of the last weeks before the elections:

The party's election posters were systematically removed from the streets;
The party's election propaganda was systematically removed from the libraries;
The party's election propaganda was taken out of people's mail boxes;
Election candidates of the SD received (personal) threatening letters to withdraw from the elections, and as a result some actually did withdraw because they couldn't take the pressure;
An election speech in Västerås by the National Democrats (ND, Nationaldemokraterne), another party of the far-right, was effectively disturbed.

The most serious part is probably that the voting ballots for the SD were systematically taken away from the polling-booths, both on the day of the elections and before. A short note about the Swedish voting process can explain why this is a problem: In every voting-booth, there is supposed to be a pile of voting ballots for every party, with either the list of the party's candidates or just the party's name. You can use the latter type of voting ballots if you just want to vote for a party without any special preferences for the order in which its candidates will be elected. So if you want to vote for a particular party, you take one of its ballots, put it in an envelope and put the envelope in the ballot-box. However, if there aren't any ballots for your party left, you still have a third option: you can write the name of your party on an empty voting ballot, which is of course more complicated, and more prone to errors which can make your vote invalid.

I do not know enough about SD, ND or similar Swedish parties to judge whether they have fascists in their ranks or amongst their voters, but it's clear that there must be some fascists member of the AFA. Their methods surely can't be called very democratic if you ask me.

The Moral Victory of The Pope

2006-09-17T09:42:00.000-07:00

The events of these last days concerning the speech Pope Benedict XVI gave at the end of his journey to Germany have resulted in what some could call a «knee fall» for Islam. I think that in reality, he is the moral victor of the conflict, but whether the Islamic religious and political leaders who have mobilized against him ever will understand (or be able to understand) that is another question.

The whole story is in fact rather bizarre. In the speech it is clear that the Pope never intended to make any judgment about Islam in general or Jihadin particular, but nevertheless churches are being attacked in the Middle East and ambassadors are called back from Vatican City. At least one striking parallel with the notorious Danish cartoons can be noted: those who lash out the hardest against the Pope, are exactly those who are the less informed.

The Secretary-General of the Central Council of the Muslims in Germany (Zentralrat der Muslime in Deutschland) Aiman Mazyek for example saidhe couldn't understand why the speech should imply any insult to Muslims. But a better illustration of what has been going on was the statement made by Ali Bardakoğlu, leader of the Turkish Presidency of Religious Affairs (Diyanet İşleri Başkanlığı): at first he had demanded apologies from the Pope, but later he had to admit that he had done that only on the basis of the first, incorrect press releases about the speech. However, he didn't admit his mistake entirely spontaneously, but only after some harsh comments by Mehmet Yılmaz in the Turkish newspaper Hürriyet. The comments of the latter didn't apply to Ali Bardakoğlu alone though, but to the rest of the Islamic world as well.

The intervention of the German Chancellor Angela Merkel goes in the same direction as that of Mehmet Yılmaz. In essence she said, in a diplomatic manner of course, that the Islamic leaders who are demanding excuses from the Pope should either first read the text of the speech, or they simply do not understand the meaning of it at all. If those leaders ever come back to their senses, they will maybe realize that in fact they made fools out of themselves. And perhaps the already quoted Tasnim Aslam will realize too what sort of nonsense she really said.

But there is a more fundamental question in this story too: how did it come so far? Maybe the Pope is the moral winner for those who are able to read, but on the other side, did he have much choice but to apologize for something he never said? After all, there was the threat of brutal violence, or better, it had already started with attacks against some churches in the Middle East, some of them not even Roman Catholic! Maybe a reference to Luke 6.29 («To him who strikes you on the cheek, offer also the other.») should be made here. But that he saw no other option than to express regret over the fact that he had caused such anger in the Muslim world also says something about the weakness –unwillingness or incapacity?– of the political West to bring or force the Islamic world to reason.

Commentators in the German press too react with surprise about the intensity of the responses coming from the Islamic world, and wonder whether the clash of civilizations perhaps already has started. Fact is that today, large parts of the Islamic world apparently do not need any reason any more to mobilize against the Christian world, and incorrect reports can spread through the region at the speed of light while religious or political leaders do nothing to calm down people or bring them to reason again. In stead they bring more wood to the fire and try to beat each other in making yet bolder statements. Quite some moral and intellectual bankruptcy, and how convincing as the ultimate proof that Islam is all about peace and love.

Norwegian Imam: «Bush behind 9/11 Attacks»

2006-09-15T15:54:00.000-07:00

On 11 September, the leader of the Norwegian imams Zulqarnain Sakandar Madni caused a controversy in Norway claiming that George W. Bush and the US were behind the 9/11 attacks. Moreover he denies that there exists something like al-Qaeda, and he says the video messages that are supposed to be from Osama bin Laden are recorded in a studio. The controversy didn't exactly calm down when it became clear that the imam received support from other imams in Norway and ordinary Muslim people in the street.

The Norwegian national newspaper Aftenposten invited imam Zulqarnain Sakandar Madni for an Internet discussion at the occasion of the commemoration of 11 September 2001. During the discussion, the imam said that according to him, not Muslims but George W. Bush and the US were behind the attacks of 9/11. Islam stands for peace, and does not permit citizens to be killed or wounded, and therefore the 9/11 attacks cannot be done by Muslims. Furthermore, he doubts whether Al-Qaeda and Osama bin Laden really exist, and thinks that the video messages that are supposed to be coming from Osama bin Laden in reality are recorded in some studio. Finally he refers to the movie Loose Change that argues that Muslims aren't responsible for the attacks of 9/11. In relation to this, he stresses the point that the movie is in fact American.

Now imam Zulqarnain Sakandar Madni isn't some imam pulled out of an obscure mosque, but the leader of the United Ulama of Norway (Jamiat Ulama-E-Norway). In fact, the imam is supportedby other imams, among them imam Hafiz Mehboob-ur-Rehman of the Islamic Cultural Center and imam Syed Ikram Shah of the World Islamic Mission. The latter claims that even if the hijackers had Muslim names, the West cannot prove they really were Muslims. Another imam, imam Nehmat Ali Shah of Central Jamaat-e Ahl-E Sunnat points out that even after five years, nobody has been found guilty for the attacks by an independent court, and therefore he cannot know whether the people responsible for 9/11 were Muslim or not.

Street interviews showed that ordinary Muslims aren't really convinced that Muslims were behind the 9/11 attacks either. On the other hand, some immigrant politicians have clearly distanciated them selves from the imam's statements, like e.g. Afshan Rafiq of the conservative Right (Høyre) and Khalid Mahmood of the social democratic Labor Party. The Ministers for Foreign Affairs and Integration, Jonas Gahr Støre and Bjarne Håkon Hanssen, both social democrats, said they were very skeptical about the statements of the imams. Jonas Gahr Støre told Aftenposten that the freedom of speech must be respected, but at the same time the statements of the imams are speculations he doesn't share.

According to the cultural historian Kari Vogt, one of the best experts on Islam in Norway, the statements of the imams show a double problem: on the one hand there is the discomfort and the shame connected to the fact that Muslims are linked to such crimes, and on the other hand their distrust towards Western politicians who feel there is clear prove that Muslims planned and executed the 9/11 attacks. She also notes that these kinds of conspiracy theories have been around since 2001, not only in the Muslim community, but also elsewhere in Norway and the rest of the world. But she also thinks that only a small minority actually does believe in those theories, also amongst Muslims, and that most Muslims have a political feeling and sense of reality that functions well.

If the latter really is true, it is remarkable that prominent imams and Muslim leaders can make such statements that for the larger majority of their supporters must look like complete nonsense, without it having any considerable impact on their position within the community. Also, it is striking how easy they can get away with it, which cannot be said of pope Benedict XVI who seems to have angered the complete Islamic world by simply making a quote from which he distanciated himself in the same sentence. Tasnim Aslam, the spokeswoman of Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs was even quoted with a contradictio in terminis one doesn't read every day:

Anyone who describes Islam as a religion as intolerant encourages violence

A religion that's truly tolerant wouldn't cause any problems when it is described as intolerant, let alone that such a statement would encourage violence. And that's even more so true if the statement was made in good faith and doesn't describe the religion as intolerant at all. If it does result in violence though, as is the case here, one can wonder whether maybe something is very wrong with the at least the leaders of that religion.

Failed Attacks in Germany

2006-09-12T14:22:00.000-07:00

The unsuccessful train attacks in Germany have almost entirely disappeared from the news, and certainly they have had no impact at all on politics. It's remarkable that only a small technical error by the terrorists makes the difference between a failed attack and an attack that causes a crisis that lasts for weeks, not only for the country but a whole continent. In both cases, however, the intent of the terrorists is exactly the same. The failure of the terrorists has been very convenient for one side of the political spectrum though.

These last days, the anti-American propaganda machine has been very active again in Europe. Many comments on the events related to the commemoration of 9/11 carry a certain undertone stating that after all, the imperialistic US got what it deserved in 2001. And if they didn't already deserve it before the attacks of 11 September 2001, then they certainly did afterwards because of the intervention in Iraq.

The explanations for the reasons behind the attacks in Madrid and London come cheap too. The attacks in Madrid were caused by the José María Aznar's foreign policy, too much in line with the US. He had even sent Spanish troops to Iraq. And the attacks in London were Tony Blair's fault, because he behaves like George W. Bush's «poodle». The conclusion is therefore simple: states with a policy of appeasement towards Islam and the Arab world are safe, the others not.

There's however a problem to make those failed attacks in Germany fit in this picture. First of all there is the simple fact that the attacks occurred in Germany. Certainly, Angela Merkel's Germany isn't the same as Gerhard Schröder's, but Angela Merkel hasn't sent any troops to Iraq either. Moreover, the social-democratic SPD is still in power, even though it has to share that power with the conservative (and more Atlantic) CDU/CSU instead of the Green Party. But the foreign policy wasn't the reason for the attacks either: the publication of those famous Danish cartoons in German newspapers was the main reason, the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi being the secondary one. So what should Germany have done to prevent the attacks?

The only possible answer to that question seems to be that Germany should have forbidden the publication of the Danish cartoons in German press as soon as the controversy started. In that case, the terrorists wouldn't have had a reason to plot an attack in Germany. Such a policy goes much further than just an appeasement though: it is in fact a submission to the dictates of some imams and their particular interpretation of Islam. A hopeless case, by the way, for as far as it would be desirable at all, there will always be some imam who's more radical and making higher demands than the others. This doesn't even consider the different faction within Islam, since e.g. Sunni's and Shia could drink each other's blood.

But once you start to go down that road, introducing censorship against the Danish cartoons under the cover of showing respect for Islam, the question is how far one can go. The next step could be a ban on drawings about pigs, the introduction of Shari'a courts for Muslims (which are already in place in Canada), the problems around headscarfs and burqas, and before you know it, you're supposed to help destroy Israel. And when you're done with that, there is still Kashmir and Aceh, and Nigeria.

It's clear that the failure of the attacks fits a certain group of people quite well. It would have been very difficult to put some sort of anti-American spin on them without looking like a useful idiot for the islamization of Europe. The possibility to simply ignore the attacks because they didn't succeed is therefore very convenient for some people.

Microsoft CEO Saked «after» TBJ Article

2006-09-10T12:44:00.000-07:00

I don't want to jump into a Post hoc ergo propter hoc conclusion, but it is a remarkable coincidence: just the day after the publication of my previous article on The Brussels Journal about Microsoft and its support to 0110, its CEO Bruno Segers got sacked. The reason for his sudden departure is not entirely clear, but rumors say there have been problems between him and the Executive Board for some time. Initially there was nobody to replace him, but the company has now announced Jørgen Bardenfleth will take over Segers' task. Now suppose the article (or more correct: the sponsoring) was used as a stick to beat the dog, would that have been a correct handling of the case by Microsoft?

Let's go back about one year in time, to a case where we know for sure that somebody was fired because of political reasons: Herman de Bode. He had put his signature under the famous Manifesto of a Flemish think-tank called In de Warande, named after the place where they usually meet. In the Manifesto, the think-tank lists, page after page, simple facts about the social-economical differences between Flanders and Wallonia, concluding that independence would be in the interest of both parties. As a result, Herman de Bode was forced to resign from McKinsey & Company Benelux, even though he had not used his position to promote or endorse his private political opinion. The reason for his resignation was said to be that his opinion was in conflict with the interests of one of the biggest clients of the company, the Walloon Region. One can regret this or be pragmatical about it, but there is a sense of a lack of reciprocity here: A French-speaking person expressing an anti-Belgian opinion would never have to fear for his job, even if the Flemish Region would be the most important customer of his company.

Compare this to the case of Bruno Segers, who regularly expressed his opinion about the anti-immigration and Flemish-secessionist Vlaams Belang (VB, Flemish Interest) on his personal blog. In principle this is not a problem, even on the contrary: the more people openly declare their political opinion, the better for the political debate, and the more clarity there will be about where everyone stands. However, this changes if he uses his job to promote his opinion or even financially support it with the company's money. If the shareholders agree, there is no problem, but if that's not the case, some conclusions should be made one day or another. Maybe this is what happened on Friday, and in that case, Microsoft has unarguably acted correctly. But it can of course just as well be that Microsoft couldn't care less about this blog, and that he was fired because he was caught stealing a pencil or a paper clip for personal use.

It would be good thing though if Microsoft would give us some more clarity about its sponsoring of 0110, and how it should be understood. Would the software company rather not see any of the voters of VB as its customers anymore? And if VB would gain power in one of the municipal councils, should the municipality then start looking for another platform for its IT services?

Microsoft Supporting Concerts against Flemish Interest Party

2006-09-07T15:05:00.000-07:00

On 1 October, a week before the local elections in Belgium, an organization called 0110 will organize concerts in Antwerp, Brussels, Charleroi and Ghent. Officially the concerts are pro-tolerance, but there's no doubt about it that in reality, they are directed against the right wing Flemish Interest (Vlaams Belang) party.

About a year ago, Tom Barman, lead singer of the Belgian group dEUS, told in an interview with the Flemish weekly Knack more than a year ago that he wanted to organize something against the Flemish Interest party before the local elections of 8 October this year. This resulted in an initiative called 0110, which plans to hold concerts in Antwerp, Brussels, Charleroi and Ghent. Tom Barman managed to enroll quite a few main stream artists for these concerts, and even got the attention of the Belgian National Lottery, that wanted to sponsor him. The Flemish Interest party caused a row over the participation of the artists, pointing out that since they represent about a quarter of the electorate, the artists would loose some of their fans, and it even threatened to boycott them. for a while it actually turned quite ugly since some of the artists were attacked rather personally. In the end, however, artists are private persons too, and if they want to make a political statement on a stage, they should be allowed to do so in a free country.

For an organization like the National Lottery, that's completely different of course. Since it owns the state monopoly on gambling in Belgium and is managed by the Belgian government, it should abstain from involving itself in political concerts like these. They're using the pretext that the concerts are a cultural event, though that's obviously not the main goal of 0110 as expressed by the organizer Tom Barman. The social-democrat State Secretary Bruno Tuybens (sp.a), responsible for the National Lottery, was quoted saying it was «a positive thing that the National Lottery supported an initiative like 0110 that's pro-tolerance and anti-racist, even if the concerts are only one week before the elections». In other countries, election observers from the OSCE would certainly make some comments about this type of practices in their report.

But it gets even worse. In the weeks before the concerts, and the elections of course, a publicity spot will be shown on almost all national and regional television channels, including Eén (One) and Canvas, for free of course. Again, commercial television channels do whatever they want, but Eén and Canvas are part of Flemish public television VRT, and that makes things different: they're using the tax-payer's money to let an organization agitate against a political party representing about a quarter of the population. Where one can argue that if you don't agree with the National Lottery's policy, you can simply choose not to gamble anymore (which is a good idea anyway), you can't choose not to pay taxes that would go to the VRT. Anyway, I don't think this would look good in a OSCE report either.

Finally, there are also some private companies supporting 0110. One of them is the Belgian branch of the bookstore Fnac, another one the ethical insurance company P&V, the third one the ethical mobile virtual network operator Ello Mobile. So far only usual suspects: Being a customer of them doesn't really fit with voting for the Flemish Interest party. I'm not sure whether the same could be said about MSN (Microsoft Network). Apparently Microsoft Belgium thinks it is a good idea to sponsor an organization that is opposing against about a quarter of its customers. Maybe they think voters of the Flemish Interest party don't use computers, or they use Linux anyway. In that case, maybe the Flemish Interest party should get better in touch with its voters and start to advocate open source software.

Irrepressible?

2006-08-30T13:59:00.000-07:00

Would a quote from The Brussels Journal make a chance to appear on Amnesty International's irrepressible.info website one day?

Readers of The Brussels Journal already know that the Belgian government has been harassing Paul Beliën for quite a while now, first in a rather direct way through the CEOOR (Center for Equal Opportunities and Opposition against Racism), and later in an indirect way in connection with home schooling. One certainly gets the impression that the goal seems to be to shut down The Brussels Journal one way or another,and recently both The Washington Times and The Wall Street Journal have reported about this in an editorial and an article respectively.

If the Belgian government would succeed one day, it would be interesting to see if Amnesty International would take the cause of The Brussels Journal. In July, AI launched a global campaign against Internet repression, accompanied by a website called irrepresible.info. Would a quote from The Brussels Journal be included as an example of censored material that participants can include on their own websites? Actually, maybe the correct question should rather be whether perhaps The Brussels Journal already qualifies for this as things stand right now. Anyway, something says me this is not going to happen: I'm quite confident that the local Belgian chapter of AI, well being a part of the establishment in Belgium, would make sure that the campaign headquarters would be «properly informed» in order to avoid a mishap. Just imagine…

Polish newspaper men in Denmark

2006-08-27T14:49:00.000-07:00

After the Polish plumber in France, one of his countrymen almost made it to Denmark: the Polish newspaper man. Until some politicians got involved in the matter, and some unemployed Danes were put to do the job in stead.

This summer two new free newspapers were launched in Denmark: dato («date») and 24timer («24 hours»). These free newspapers weren't just going to bedistributed on the streets, but also at home in the capital region of Copenhagen and some other Danish cities. But in order to distribute a newspaper, you need newspaper men, and since this isn't exactly a job with a high status in Denmark, the distribution company BS Distribution ApS, which was responsible for the distribution to the homes, ran into a problem: There weren't enough Danish candidates who wanted to go around with the newspaper early in the morning, and as is often the case with these kinds of problem jobs, the company tried to solve the problem by recruiting people from Central and Eastern Europe, more specifically Poland and the Baltic countries.

Of course, this initiative from the distribution company attracted the media's and the politicians' attention. On the one hand Denmark has a problem with lots of unemployed people who can't find a job, whereas on the other hand a company cannot find people for some vacancies for which the qualifications cannot be said to be very high. After all, what do you need to be able to do as a newspaper man? You must be able to read addresses, obviously, and in addition have a pair of good legs and a fine back. And be willing to get out of your bed early in the morning to go out and earn your own living in stead of simply pocketing unemployment benefits for months and months. And according to quite some politicians, it was rather the latter that was the real problem in this case once it became clear that the distribution company wasn't operating with wages that were ridiculously low, but at a normal, Danish level.

That does not mean that people didn't start to blame each other for the problem. The Danish employment agency complained that the distribution company had been much too late to ask for help. The liberal minister of employment Claus Hjort Frederiksen (V) from his side said that the municipal agencies often were to «lax» to put unemployed people back to work. The director of the job centre in Copenhagen Flemming Stegmann recognized that of the 22,000 unemployed people in Copenhagen, only about 5,000 of them were really available for the labour market. According to Jakob Axel Nielsen of the Conservatives (K), this is indeed a big part of the problem, and this also explains why so many companies don't use the employment agencies when they are looking for new employees: «The companies have no faith in the services, and a lots of unemployed people have nested themselves in the benefit systems because they are not fit for the labour market.»

The left sees things completely differently though. According to the Social Democrats (A) and the Socialist People's Party (SF) the real problem is that the system to find a job has been made «too complicated», and they also say that Minister Claus Hjort Frederiksen should take at least a part of the blame. He «ruined» the system of the employment agencies by using too many resources in internal controls and statistical measurings. Their solution for the problem: a government campaign aimed at the employers, so that they can rediscover the employment agencies as a place where they can find new employees. Apparently for the left there's no problem that big that it can't be solved by yet another government campaign.

Israeli Complaint against Norwegian Cartoon

2006-07-27T10:41:00.000-07:00

Israel's ambassador to Norway, Miryam Shomrat, has filed a complaint at PFU against the cartoon in Dagbladet about Ehud Olmert. She also said she was «disappointed» in the Norwegian government because it has neglected to react against the assault by some Arabs against a Jew some time ago. Meanwhile, the bishop of Oslo has urged the government to officially condemn what happened.

PFU (Pressens Faglige Utvalg) is the body in Norway where everybody can file complaints against press articles. Israel's ambassador has now filed a complaint against the cartoon that appeared in Dagbladet comparing Israel's treatment of the Palestine people with the Holocaust against the Jews under the World War II. According to her, the cartoon shows a lack of historical knowledge about the Holocaust, which she finds absolutely unacceptable. Lars Helle, editor in charge of the newspaper, is rather confident about the case, and says the cartoon clearly is within the borders of the freedom of expression.

This case has some clear resemblances to the case about the Danish Mohamed cartoons, but there are some striking differences too. First of all, Israel's ambassador filed a complaint at PFU, thus following the correct way to do this. She hasn't asked for an intervention from the Norwegian government, nor demanded a meeting with the Prime Minister. Lars Helle and Finn Graff can enjoy the warm summer weather without having to fear for their lives or their security, or of their family. Furthermore, it is not much probable that some Norwegian embassy will be under attack or burnt down any time soon because of the cartoon. As a result, I'm having the impression that the Israeli ambassador is an offended, but otherwise civilized person. That does not mean that I think she's right about filing a complaint: regardless of one's opinion about the cartoon, it would be unacceptable if every cartoonist would have to check and ask the approval from every embassy involved whenever he wants to draw a cartoon about an international event. Moreover, the Israeli ambassador is paying much more tribute than necessary to Finn Graff, particularly considering his comments form less than a year ago about, exactly, those Mohamed cartoons.

In an event somewhat related to this, the ambassador said in a Internet conversation with the readers of the Norwegian newspaper Vårt Land that she was «disappointed» because the government hasn't made any official comment on the assault against a Jew in the streets of Oslo not so long ago. It has, however, already more than once expressed concerns about the military actions of Israel in Lebanon. In the Internet conversation she received much support from the readers of Vårt Land, for which she was very grateful. A couple of days later Ole Christian Kvarme, the (conservative) Lutheran bishop of Oslo, followed up saying he too is disappointed about the lack of reaction from the Norwegian government. He added that the ambassador's call should be completely unnecessary in a country like Norway. According to him, the assault was an anti-Semitic act and totally unacceptable.

The Christian-democrat Ingebrigt S. Sørfonn (Krf), president of «Friends of Israel» in the Norwegian parliament Stortinget agrees that the Norwegian government should react officially. He asks the government to contact the representatives of the Jewish community in order to discuss the situation. He also said the media and the political parties bear a lot of responsibility because of their repeated calls for a boycott of Israel the last months and years, and points in particular to the local groups of the Socialist Left Party (SV) in South Trøndelag and Bergen. The president of SV in Hordaland, Jørgen Melve, disagrees, and says Sørfonn is talking nonsense when he tries to blend anti-Semitism with one's opinion about the state of Israel and its behavior in one and the same discussion.

Morten Høglund of the Progress Party (Frp), also a member of «Friends of Israel», criticized the position of SV and the Labor Party (Ap) too. He accuses the two parties of speaking with two tongues: one in the government on a national level, and one on a local level in the provincial councils, and says it contributes to the confusion about what the two parties' real opinion about the matter is. He also accuses them of being biased against Israel since they never have called for a boycott of Syria or Iran.

Convicted Soviet Spy Member of Swedish Left Party

2006-07-23T06:04:00.000-07:00

The former Soviet spy Stig Bergling has been member of the Swedish Left Party (v, Vänsterpartiet) since the beginning of this year, it became clear in an interview he gave to the largest Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter. Officially it is no problem for the party that a convicted spy has become an active member, «because has done his time in prison, and everybody deserves a second chance».

Who's Stig Bergling? He started to work for the Swedish security service Säpo , but as an officer in the military reserves he also worked for Defense and had access to secret information about Swedish military installations. During a mission for the UN in Lebanon in 1973 he sold documents to the GRU, the military intelligence service of the Soviet Union, but after his return to Sweden he continued to work for the Soviets. Eventually he was arrested in 1979 by the Mossad in Israel, and that same year by a Swedish court sentenced to lifetime in prison for espionage.

In 1987 he managed to flee from prison in Norrköping in a spectacular escape, and through Åland and Helsinki he found his way to his old employer, the Soviet Union. He lived for a while in Moscow and later in Hungary, but left for Lebanon in the autumn of 1990. He voluntarily returned to Sweden in 1994, and did his remaining three years in prison.

In his interview with Dagens Nyheter he says he did it mainly for the money, and calls himself not a communist. The latter is a rather hot potato in the former communist Left Party since the controversy around Lars Ohly in 2004. In a research and an interview for the Swedish national television channel SVT some rather undemocratic aspects of the current party president had come to the surface, and he was questioned and attacked about them in the interview. He defended himself by saying that someone who calls himself a communist not necessarily endorses a Soviet style communism. However, further research had shown that he had called himself a Leninist until as late as 1999. In the aftermath of the interview almost all national Swedish politicians, from the right to the social democrats, insisted that he would stop calling himself a communist, but he refused. Only a year later, on 30 October 2005, Lars Ohly said on Swedish television that we would stop to do so.

Whether the president of the Left Party isn't allowed or doesn't dare to call himself a communist any more – it seems to me more important what his real ideology is rather than how he labels it – today, the party has a former and convicted Soviet spy in its ranks. Officially this is not a problem for the party: he has done his time in jail, and just like everybody else he deserves a second chance. (And asked whether they were afraid he would sell the party strategy to political opponents, they said they were confident that would not happen.) However, a question that immediately pops up in my mind, is whether the party would be equally forgiving if Stig Bergling had sold Swedish military secrets to, let's say, the CIA. Or is it possible that the party makes a difference between a peccadillo (spying for the Soviet Union), and mortal sins (spying for the United States)? Maybe even more remarkable is that the party allows someone to become member who didn't spy out of pure conviction, but first of all for the money. Or at least claims he did so. Does this for example mean that if the Americans had offered him more money, he would have sold the information to them? Perhaps something the Left Party can reflect upon this summer.

Currently, the Left Party supports the social democrat minority government of Göran Persson, together with the Green Party (mp), from the opposition. It has however announced that it will not support a new left government after the general elections in the fall of this year, unless it can join the coalition, because it wants to have more influence on government policies. The party labeled itself communist until 1990, the year of the fall of Iron Curtain.

Jews being harassed in Norway

2006-07-20T14:44:00.000-07:00

The Mosaic Community in Oslo advises its members to leave the kippah at home for the time being. Only last Saturday, a Jew was attacked in the streets of Oslo by some Arabs, and the Community therefore recommends its members to act carefully.

Only about 1,300 Jews live in Norway, but because of the tensions and the current events in the Middle East, they too run the risk of getting attacked. According to the Norwegian newspaper Vårt Land, a Jew was assaulted by some Arabs in the streets of Oslo last Saturday. As a result, the Mosaic Community has sent out an advice to its members to leave the kippah at home, or cover it under a cap. It is also warning its members against speaking Hebrew in public. During the last days, the Community has received several threats and other unpleasant messages.

The Jewish journalist Mona Levin declared she was shocked by the Mosaic Community's recommendations. In a reaction she said she was going to put on her Star of David again: «We should not hide that we are Jewish. If we do that, we betray ourselves.»

At the same time, the cartoonist Finn Graff saw a chance to place an anti-Israeli cartoon in the popular Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet. The cartoon shows Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert as a Nazi commander in the concentration camp of Auschwitz. The scene comes from the movie Schindler's List, in which the commander shoots down a random Jew from his balcony. For the sake of clarity: Finn Graff is the same cartoonist who declared only half a year ago that he would not draw a cartoon about Muhammad out of fear and «respect». Apparently he has no problems with his fear, nor does he need to show any respect when he can insult Jews or Israel, or Christians for that matter.

EU and Western Sahara

2006-05-25T12:55:00.000-07:00

Last week, the EU endorsed a fishing deal with Morocco. This wouldn't be a problem if it weren't for the fact that the deal includes the coastal waters of Western Sahara, a territory that has been occupied by Morroco for more than thirty years.

In the same week that the people of Montenegro had to produce a special qualified majority in order to have its independence recognized by the European Union, that same European Union sends now some very dubious signals to the indigenous people of Western Sahara. It endorsed a fishing deal with Morocco worth 114 million euros, and didn't object to the coastal waters of Western Sahara being included in the deal. According to international law, an occupying country isn't allowed to make deals that include the natural resources of occupied territory. The only European country that objected to this deal was Sweden, though the Netherlands stated that «the benefits of the deal should also accrue to the indigenous people of Western Sahara». Whether this has any value is very doubtful. If Morocco would be interested in the fate of the people of Western Sahara at all, then maybe it wouldn't occupy the territory, let alone try to «morocconize» it. Ireland and Finland gave also some support to the Swedes, but at the end of the day they and the Netherlands decided to approve the fishing deal just like the other EU members.

What's the matter with the European Union? Where are all those advocates of the Big Principles, those who object to war and occupation, even when the goal is to overthrow a merciless dictator? In the end, this fishing deal is a de facto recognition of the Moroccon occupation of Western Sahara, and some sort of stipulation that this would not be the case is completely worthless: we're asked to listen what the EU says, but not to watch what they do at the very same time. The only conclusion can be that apparently, fish and oil are two different things to the in its own eyes moral superior Europe.

But on a more fundamental level, this case shows once again that the European Union doesn't care much about a people's right to self-determination when its own interests are at stake. The rights of Western Sahara have to make place for the trawlers of Spain, Portugal and France. In Montenegro, the EU's interests weren't economical, but internal political: countries like Spain, France and Belgium are allergic to referendums about independence, and therefore the European Union would have preferred that Montenegro would have kept quiet in its union with Serbia. Imagine that one day 55% of the Basques would vote for independence in some sort of referendum – how is the EU supposed to handle something like that? That's why it shouldn't come as a surprise that the EU doesn't have much trouble getting over the occupation of Western Sahara when it signs a deal with Morocco. The Kurds, the Catalans, the Basques, the Scottish and the Welsh better watch out.

The European Union and Montenegro

2006-05-20T03:39:00.000-07:00

On Sunday, Montenegro's population will vote on whether to become independent or not. However, the European Union has demanded that at least 55% votes in favour, or it will not recognize Montenegro's independence. What is going to happen if the result of the referendum is between 50% and 55% remains unclear.

The latest polls indicate that the diference between Yes and No are rather small, and it is therefore quite possible that the referendum will end in the so-called «grey» zone between 50% and 55%. There are even those who suggest that this is exactly the reason why Javier Solana chose the threshold of 55%. Asked for a reason, his office made the following declaration:

This is not a referendum on whether people can smoke in a pub. Independence is a question you ask only once. You have to ensure that the outcome is solid enough to guarantee stability.

This is a very interesting statement, because it shows that a referendum on independence differs on at least two points substantially from the referendums on the so-called European Constituion: a majority of 55% instead of 50%, and no second referendum. After the French Non and the Dutch Neen, the European has been playing with the idea to organize at second referendum in both countries, so that the population can get another chance to come up with the correct answer. For those with a bad understanding, that should be a Oui and a Ja, not the real opinion of course. In fact, there is even a third point, because it leaves no doubt that the European Union would have preferred that the Constitution would be adopted by the parliaments of the Member-States rather than by referendum. Sure, the populations would still have had their say in the next parliamentarian elections, wbut then it would be too late. Anyway, the European Union has an internal practice that is completely different from what it now demands from Montenegro.

The conclusion can therefore be nothing else than that the European Union doesn't approve of a people's right to self-determination, and in effect acts like a state-nationalistic mother-in-law against peoples that want independence. Why doesn't Javier Solana turn things around, and demands a majority of 55% to continue the union with Serbia? For the European Union, stability seems to work only in one direction. Montenegro's neighbours, the Kosovars, should remember this for the future.

It would also be interesting to know the positions of some of the Member-States of the European Union on this matter. What's for example the position of the Baltic states, the Czech Republic and Slovakia? Does Slovenia share the opinion of Javier Solana? And what do Cyprus (776,000 inhabitants), Luxemburg (463,000 inhabitants) and Malta (397,000 inhabitants) say about the argument that Montenegro (678,000 inhabitants) is too small to become independent?

Furthermore, this case is directly relevant for quite a few people inside and outside the European Union aspiring independence, like for example the Kurds, the Catalans and the Basques, the Scottish and the Welsh, and the Flemish. To take the Flemisch case: in theory, the Vlaams Belang, N-VA, SPIRIT and CD&V have a majority in the Flemish Parliament to declare Flemish independence. It looks though like the European Union may require a referendum to be held before it will recognize Flemish independence. On the other hand, there is also something called Realpolitik, and the European Union may not want to start an open conflict with a Member-State that would be the 14th largest measured by population number, and the 11th by GNP. And there is also the geographical factor: Brussels is an island in the middle of Flanders, that is, if Brussels doesn't choose to join Flanders. This doesn't make things better though, because it would only show that the EU is not afraid to use double (or triple?) standards depending on the situation. But one thing is very clear: the European Union's position on Montenegro's independence cannot exactly be described as being the most sympathetic and consequent one.

Flemish politician puts video of criminals on the Internet

2005-08-05T12:11:00.000-07:00

A few days ago, Flemisch politician Filip Dewinter of the far-right Vlaams Belang put a video on the Internet showing some criminals breaking in to a car. The video shows two young criminals –minors– who first try to break in to the car, and when they succeed, they start taking things out of it. At the end of the video, they just run away.

It seems like the video is taken during the day from behind a window, and according to Filip Dewinter, it is taken by some neighbours tired of the ongoing vandalism in their street, the Somersstraat. The street has a history of vandalism and crime, and city council member Dirk Grootjans recently declared the neighbourhood a priority and ‘hot spot’. Filip Dewinter calls the video a proof of the failure of the current policy of the current Antwerp city council, but police said that the video dates from 24 April 2004, more than one year ago, long before Dirk Grootjans made his statement.

Filip Dewinter says on his website that he put the video on the Internet in order to get more attention for the problem. However, according to Belgian law it is illegal to publish and distribute material that can identify criminals who are under age. Belgian police has therefore already started an investigation into the matter. When Filip Dewinter informed himself about the possible consequences of putting the video on the Internet, he said he got different answers from different lawyers about whether it would be legal or not. And this is were the story relates to another story that happened a while ago in Seoul, the Dog Poop Girl: It seems that if the criminals in Antwerp had been adults, according to Belgian law it would have been legal to put the video on the Internet, even if the criminals could be clearly identified from the video.

Marburg fatalities slowing down

2005-06-18T05:20:00.000-07:00

Yesterday the WHO published a report about the number of Marburg cases in the Uige province in Angola. Combined with the previous report, this indicates 10 new cases and 10 new deaths. However, the rate of new fatalities due to Marburg is currently lower than it has ever been since WHO began reporting about the outbreak.

Marburg: linear growth in number of deaths

2005-06-08T09:48:00.000-07:00

A new report from the WHO shows that the number of deaths from Marburg continues to grow linearily, and has done so since the beginning of May. The current rate is 2.58 new deaths per day, with on average 3.79 new cases discovered each day. The minimal fatality rate is at 84%, but the WHO doesn't report how many people have actually recovered from the disease.

Microsoft ads on Slashdot's feed

2005-06-05T13:54:00.000-07:00

I think Slashdot is doing this on purpose, isn't it? They add ads for Microsoft to their RSS feed, and from time to time these ads appear right under articles specifically about Linux or Mac. I can't imagine anybody interested in the article would be interested in the content of the ad, or vice versa.

New Marburg cases jump

2005-05-28T01:40:00.000-07:00

The latest report from the WHO on the Marburg outbreak in Angola shows a new large jump in the number of cases. Currently the toll is at 399 cases, 335 of them fatal. The minimal fatality rate has dropped to just below 85%, but an explanation for this can be that many of the new cases are «fresh», and that a jump in the number of fatalities will come later.

As can be clearly seen from the graph, the rate is higher now than it has been the last month. For the moment it is at 3.5 new cases per day, and 2.6 new fatalities per day.

Marburg: Continued linear growth?

2005-05-21T13:39:00.000-07:00

According to the numbers released by the WHO on 18 May, the number of Marburg cases continues to grow linearily. The current rate is at around 3 new cases per day, and has been around that number since the beginning of April. On the one hand this means that the outbreak is not completely out of control since the numbers aren't growing exponentially, but on the other hand, the numbers continue to grow at a steady rate, meaning the outbreak isn't completely under control either. The minimal fatality rate is still above 90%.

WHO reports lower Marburg case numbers

2005-05-08T08:02:00.000-07:00

The WHO published a new report on 6 May confirming the earlier reported jump in the number of new cases, but the new number is lower than the numbers quoted in the press. On 3 May, the WHO had counted 308 Marburg cases, compared to the number of 313 reported by CIDRAP. The graph on the right is corrected accordingly.

This means that new Marburg cases have been discovered at a rate of 3.1 cases per day since 12 April. The minimal fatality rate is 90%, but the WHO hasn't reported any recoveries yet.

Marburg cases jump

2005-05-04T12:35:00.000-07:00

The WHO hasn't published any new reports since 29 April, but there are new numbers circulating on the internet. One of the reports if for 30 April, the other one for 2 May. If these numbers are correct, the number of Marburg cases has jumped this last week by a total of almost 40 cases, and there have been 25 new deaths. There is also a report about one recovery, which would be the first one so far for this outbreak.

The graph on the right contains the two new data points. The graph also contains the increase in new cases and fatalities taken over the last five data points. It is clear that the rate for the number of new cases per day has increased during the last week, but it is important to notice that the rate is still much lower than it was in the beginning of April.

Marburg Outbreak Slowing Down

2005-05-02T12:51:00.000-07:00

According to a new bulletin published by the WHO, the outbreak seems to be slowing down. Taken over de last five reports, there have been less than 3 new cases per day, which is the lowest rate since April. The slow-down is clearly visible on the graph to the right. The minimal fatality rate, however, is still well above 90% (currently 93%).

Marburg Outbreak (3)

2005-04-22T10:39:00.000-07:00

WHO reports today that there are no new cases, but five more deaths. This brings the current spreading rate of the outbreak to 4.5 new cases per day based on the last five reports. It may be an indication that the outbreak is more or less under control for now. The fatality rate is currently at 92%, but WHO still hasn't reported any recovery so far.

The picture above is an update of the previous figure, showing the data up to 20 April.

Marburg Outbreak (2)

2005-04-21T13:32:00.000-07:00

WHO published a new report about the Marburg outbreak in Angola today, showing a slow-down in the spreading of the disease. The rate of new cases per day is currently at 5.1 based on the data for the two last weeks, which is remarkably lower than what it was in the beginning of April. WHO still hasn't reported any recoveries from the disease though.

Marburg Outbreak

2005-04-16T02:21:00.000-07:00

WHO is reporting that as of 12 April, 215 people have died in the Marburg Outbreak in Angola. 235 cases have been reported so far, but nobody seems to have survived the disease, as WHO is not reporting any cases of recoveries. That means that the fatality rate so far has been 100%.

The picture above shows the evolution of the number of cases and fatalities starting from 23 March. The picture also shows a «minimal fatality rate», which would be the fatality rate if all cases not yet reported as fatal would lead to recoveries. Currently, that rate is about 91%.

The last weeks, cases have been reported at a rate of about 7.4 new cases per day. However, it looks like the number of new cases per day has been falling a bit in the last reports. For the last five reports, it has been at 6.0 new cases per day.