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Well, Rasmussen refused to meet with the Arab ambassador in September since there was no immediate threat involved.  He only met with the ambassadors now since the riots occurred and as prime minister he had a responsibility to do so.  
But, lets not forget that governments are also responsible for integrating their minorities and European governments tend to ignore problems related to their Arab population.  I am not justifying the riots, but just pointing out that European governments have helped the Arab marginalization, which in turn has led the Arabs to feel the antipathy towards the European countries where they have immigrated.  

In response to the comment by the Norwegian Chef


So it is in my mind very planned, orchestrated and targeted by the leadership, who rely then on carefully crafted mass hysteria from people who have nothing else to live for, largely unemployed, poor and idle and religious students and will do whatever their Fundamentalist leaders tell them to and try to outdo each other to see who can hysterise the best, loudest and most violent.

I know this is related to the situation occuring in the Middle East, but since you put so much epmhasis on the fact that the Arab leaders organize the masses, than shouldn't Rasmussen have used the opportunity back in September to talk to the Arab ambassadors and maybe through dialogue with the ambassadors, some of the recent events would have been avoided.

I just think that governments should not ignore the Muslim issue in Europe, even if they are right-wing governments and fear losing elections.  

by qika PR (qikadreqit@yahoo.com) on Thu Feb 16th, 2006 at 07:46:43 AM EST
[ Parent ]
There was a peaceful demonstration of 5000 muslims in Denmark in October. If four months later the newspaper was going to end up saying "we did no mean to offend but we're sorry if we did" they might have said so then. As it is, the "winners" within the muslim community are the radical imams, not the moderates who protested peacefully.

guaranteed to evoke a violent reaction from police is to challenge their right to "define the situation." --- David Graeber citing Marc Cooper
by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Thu Feb 16th, 2006 at 07:52:39 AM EST
[ Parent ]
In fact, that may not be so. The radical imams like Abu Laban (formerly known in the Danish press as "Mr. Islam") have been thoroughly unmasked as the hate-mongers they are, and in consequence, cut off from the access to the government they so enjoyed. Moderates led by Denmark's most popular politician, Naser Khader (RV), have taken their place. In turn, this - and the awareness among  Muslims that the cartoon war threatens to backlash on them - will diminish the popularity of the radicals within the Muslim population, aside from a slightly expanded faction of angry militants.

In recognition of this, they have even issued a mea culpa, assuming "one third" of the responsibility for the incidident. But like the newspaper, rather too late.


The world's northernmost desert wind.

by Sirocco (sirocco2005ATgmail.com) on Thu Feb 16th, 2006 at 09:05:34 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Well, if that is true it is certainly good news. I'll be curious to see how the competition between Naser Khader and the also quite popular Pia Kjærsgård  plays out.

guaranteed to evoke a violent reaction from police is to challenge their right to "define the situation." --- David Graeber citing Marc Cooper
by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Thu Feb 16th, 2006 at 09:15:09 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Pia is gaining in the short term. DF is surging on the polls, as must be expected in this type of situation.

The world's northernmost desert wind.
by Sirocco (sirocco2005ATgmail.com) on Thu Feb 16th, 2006 at 09:18:28 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Are they close to being the 2nd party if there were an election soon?

guaranteed to evoke a violent reaction from police is to challenge their right to "define the situation." --- David Graeber citing Marc Cooper
by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Thu Feb 16th, 2006 at 09:21:50 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Can't find any poll later than February 3; then they were only at 12 percent.

The world's northernmost desert wind.
by Sirocco (sirocco2005ATgmail.com) on Thu Feb 16th, 2006 at 09:43:56 AM EST
[ Parent ]
That's worse than their latest election result, but if they get all their supporters out to vote and there is 1/3 abstention they might end up getting up to 18%...?

guaranteed to evoke a violent reaction from police is to challenge their right to "define the situation." --- David Graeber citing Marc Cooper
by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Thu Feb 16th, 2006 at 09:52:35 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Dunno, but that's in 2009 anyway.

The world's northernmost desert wind.
by Sirocco (sirocco2005ATgmail.com) on Thu Feb 16th, 2006 at 09:59:44 AM EST
[ Parent ]

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