Denmark introduces Border Controls

The Danes are a powerful and rich people. If you have a lot of belongings you better take good care of them. Foreigners may come and steal your things.

On the other hand, Danes sometimes worry that they do not produce enough. GDP is too low, especially if you want to maintain a high living standard in your old age. The welfare, including pensions, risk running out. The Pension bomb is threatening the Danes. In order to avoid that, and to be prepared for the future, the government has passed austerity measures in the Danish parliament. It was, however, difficult to find a majority of votes without the Danish Peoples Party, the far right xenophobic party which is getting more and more popular. The party took a heavy toll for its votes to pass the welfare legislation, and that was the demand for border controls so the country can be protected from unwanted elements entering the country.

The passing of this legislation has been a big triumph for party leader Pia Kjaersgaard, who could celebrate the event with pink champagne and Danish flags. "It is a historic moment", she could announce. Development towards a more integrated Europe has been reversed. Now the Danes can again breathe freely in their own country.

The Germans and the European Commission are not so happy about the new legislation to introduce border controls. The deputy foreign minister of Germany wrote a comment about a "dangerous igniting of the flame of nationalism". This irked the stout lady, and she pulled the "nazi card". Seeing that she was being upstaged by a phanatical globalist she admonished that the Germans should know better, taking their historical experiences into consideration.

This has probably angered the Germans. And the foreign minister of Denmark has travelled to Berlin to do some damage control. As this is the diplomacy, it is hard to tell if she has been successful. Diplomats do not show feelings.

Denmark humiliates Clinton

Is Danish foreign policy invented and developed at Landsbyens Gadekær, Danes ask themselves after the foreign secretary, Lene Espersen, cancelled her participation in the informal Arctic Council meeting. She preferred to holiday in Mallorca with her family.

That is something of a snub to the prominent participant in the meeting, Hilary Clinton. Why does the United States want to be represented at such a high level at this meeting with Denmark, Faroe Islands, Greenland and Canada? - Evidently because the meeting is important. The Arctic Council is important. So you're represented at a high level. But that is not a Danish concern.

Landsbyens Gadekær is the pond in the middle of Danish villages, where the villagers used to meet in the olden days. The days when democracy was alive and vibrant. Those days are long gone. Now policy is made by arrogant ministers at a distance from the people. They do not even have to make policy when family is calling.

Mallorca is an ancient Danish tourist resort. You could say the Vikings have come back to claim their right to places faraway from Denmark. Here they can drink sangria and enjoy life in the sun. The sun isn't shining much in Denmark, only on posters from Lene Espersen's political pals in the Danish People's party. Do present day Vikings know how to defend their turf? That seems to be doubtful. Too much sangria and lying in the sun makes them lazy.

The meeting was only for the coastal states. Hilary Clinton has criticised that inuit peoples and other Scandinavian countries were not invited. That makes the Danish foreign secretary's snub even more appalling. Denmark was invited, but sent the less important minister for Justice. The Americans have got an opportunity to feel superior in the eyes of arctic peoples. They have already a very big foot in the door in Greenland (Thule base, investments). And the Danes foot the bill, nearly a billion $ a year in block grants to Greenland. Footing the bill, but giving up on furthering interests in this important region. Luckily it's April 1st. !!

Another Giant step in the development of Danish Poster Art

Who's in the driver's seat in Denmark? The priests, of course. Who else? You thought the Imams? No way. Or God perhaps? A special concept of democracy? Or just keeping up with the Americans?

And the flag is blue. With yellow stars. The places of worship are white. And they were built a long time ago. Who could be more innocent?

The talents of artistic expression are limitless. There is a concept for it. Danish design? No.

It is called Danish poster art.

What happened to the cows? Are they being milked? Or are they producing new posters? Nobody can tell. That's one of the secrets of organic farming!!

Racists want Racism Clause Abolished

Who makes the decisions in Denmark? The poster asks. What a silly question. You just read, on, and you'll get the answer.

Politics is the art of the ludicrous. Imagine a town hall with demonstrators before it, not understanding that they are demonstrating in front of a place of non-decision!
Anyway, that is what the Danish People's Party (PPP) seems to presume, when it comes to where the seat of power is. When it comes to actually deciding things, the people's own parliament is arguably a place of power. Who can understand this contradiction?

On the party's website there's a demand for the abolition of the ban in the penal law against racist utterances. Here is at least one law that is not passed in Brussels, but in the Danish parliament!

The spokesperson for the party, Mr. Soeren Espersen, has a charming way of putting it. It's a "demand to the government".
Who in Danish society, apart from the Queen, is so almighty that they can make such a request?

You guessed right: The Danish People's Party, and its chairwoman Pia Kjaersgaard. They call the shots. No Dane has any doubts about it. The party also wants the blasphemy clause done away with. This is more surprising, as the clause has seldom been used in Danish court rooms. But, as Mr Espersen puts it: It's a problem if you cannot make criticism of religion.

What about a civil discussion of the issues? Mr Espersen cannot distinguish between civil conversation and criticism!

No way, that is not DPP. When they criticise religion they really mean criticise religion. And it is not a laughing matter. You have the right to call muslims anything you want. If you had said to Jews some of the things DPP say about muslims, you would have been dragged in front of the UN and European Human rights councils and courts.

Some of the DPP people, for instance the representative in the European Parliament, Morten Messerschmidt, have got racism verdicts for statements about minorities. That has not been a hindrance for the Danish VK-government in its parliamentary affection for the party as a close and trusted ally. A position that has made Pia Kjaersgaard the most powerful woman in Denmark. Some people even mean she is the most powerful politician of all. When she looks inquisitive or when she raises her voice, the PM, Mr. Loekke Rasmussen is trembling. Good bye chauffeur driven limousine. Good bye all the perks of the premiership.

So now all Danish are expectant: Will the anti-racism and blasphemy rules disappear from Danish law.

The party with no longer accept "democratic debate being stepped upon", as Mr Espersen puts it. He doesn't go into any detail about other things in Denmark that get the feel of the big boot - and that can be understood in more than one sense!

Gender Separation in Danish old age homes?

The Danish People's party, the extreme right xenophobic party, has found a new worthy case for its hate speech against muslims in Denmark.

On its website it claims that The Municipal Council in Copenhagen is working to make old age nursery homes where men and women are separated. This has turned out to be a big lie. The issue was discussed a couple of years ago, but no initiatives were taken. Now the Danish Peoples Party member of the council Finn Rudaitzky claims that the council is working to promote this issue again.

There seems to be no shame in the DPP when it propagates "Danish culture" and "Danish values". It is even more shameful that the website brings the picture above to validate the story. It is not a picture of Danish muslim women, but of muslim women in Germany. The photo can be found on many German websites.

The national chauvinistic Danish fundamentalists are fabricating stories to propagate its hate speech against minorities in Denmark.

Some weeks ago the DPP member of the Danish parliament Jesper Langballe said on TV that "muslim men rape and kill their daughters and nieces". This was meant as a general characterization and not as a statement about some men. The DPP leader Pia Kjaersgaard expressed mild disagreement about this statement. She did not distance herself from it or exclude Langballe from the party for racist statements.

The DPP is part of the parliamentary basis of the Danish government. It is practically part of the governing coalition of Denmark. It is a sorry state of affairs that the country's government is dependent on racists to get a majority behind its legislation. Some years ago the finance minister in the government, who is from the liberal party Venstre, said in a newspaper interview that he shared DPP's values in the area of identity politics. - Even though these values are against the European charter of human rigthts and the EU charter. It's important to keep government positions apparently.

New Giant Step for Danish Poster Art - a small step for mankind

In our series on Danish poster art we got to this wonderful specimen. A protest from the Danish People's Party (DPP) against the Copenhagen City Council voting to permit the building of a mosque in Copenhagen. The DPP employs its usual and well-known charm in putting this delicate matter.

There is no doubting the intent, however. Nor is there any doubting the intent of Danish muslims. Have you noticed the two swords at the top of the postmodern building. What do they signify? Cosmic Duck promises a prize to anyone with the correct answer. Post a comment with the answer. It doesn't hurt!

A Good Laugh

Europeans must be getting a good laugh these days. The restrictive Danish immigration policy has come to the end of the road with the revelations of how the Danish ministry of immigration has handled applications for family reunion.
According to Danish law applicants for family reunion in Denmark must be 24 or older, and they must have a primary attachment to Denmark. The result has been that hundreds of young couples have settled acroos the bridge in Malmoe Sweden.
Now it has turned out that some of the applicants have cited European law of the common labour market as a reason for permission to stay in Denmark, but this has been turned down by the ministry, in blatant violation of European law. If people have been working for at least two weeks in another EU country they're entitled to stay in Denmark. People have not been informed of these rights, even if they have asked the ministry. The minister in charge, Birte Hornbech, is not available for comments. Nor is the prime minister, Mr. Fogh Rasmussen, who is having summer holiday in Southern France. He refuses to come home for such minor details as families with children being broken up, when husbands or wives are expelled from Denmark.
The restrictive immigration policy gets backing from all the "responsible" political parties in the Danish parliament. It's a malaise at the heart of the political system. Danish jurists are trying to find a way out. But actually Denmark must come to terms with the stark choice: Does it want to stay in the EU, or does it want to maintain a xenophobic, anti-humanitarian immigration policy?

(The picture is an election poster from one of the most "responsible" of the political parties. The text: When she retires, there'll be a muslim majority in Denmark. Instead they could ask the question: When she retires, what kind of society will she be living in?)